Abstract
Technological developments over the last few decades have resulted in an ability to track animals in high resolution at sites of ongoing and planned industrial development and use. The resulting animalborne tracking data (e.g. GPS, biologging, telemetry) provides multi-scalar and often high- resolution information on individual habitat use and behaviour. This can be used to predict species vulnerability as well as assess negative effects such as displacement, disturbance, and collision risk. This potential is acknowledged by both developers and governments with calls for increased use of archival datasets as well as in the generation of new data. However, in the experience of the conveners, the use and understanding of such data varies widely between interested parties and there is ample opportunity for misuse and misinterpretation of any results yielded. We therefore organized a workshop at the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS) Annual Science Meeting (ASM) 2024 to bring the Scottish marine wildlife tracking community together to identify gaps and opportunities in its use for marine and offshore renewable energy impact studies. Over the course of 3 hours of discussion and brainstorming around thought-provoking questions, attendees identified a number of challenges in the current use of tracking data as well as concrete steps to improve efficiency. Tracking data needs to be used in a way that maximizes its strengths while acknowledging its limitations. To prevent misuse, there needs to be standardisation and guidelines for its incorporation into decision-making processes (e.g. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs), marine spatial planning), including specifying the questions it is most suited to answer. For example, tracking gives insights into the drivers of behaviour and predictive models of “risky” behaviours could be developed for development areas based on such data. Tracking can also be well-suited to cumulative and interacting effects studies as movements of an individual year-round and beyond one development site can often be followed. Attendees also identified that while there are existing datasets from priority species in key areas (i.e. Moray Firth, Orkney, Inner Hebrides), there is a need for this information to be more readily accessible to practitioners. To address these needs and progress understanding, it was agreed that the creation of a Special Interest Group within a MASTS Forum (i.e. mobile species) would be investigated following the workshop conclusion and dissemination of its contents to the wider MASTS community.