Periodic Reporting for period 1 - STRAITS (Strategic Infrastructure for improved animal Tracking in European Seas)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31
In order to protect and manage marine species and habitats, there is an immediate need for the creation of robust evidence-based methods and integrated platforms. Therefore, there is a need to undertake marine research projects that are developed and implemented collaboratively, strategically, and at a sufficient scale. Animal tracking is the study of animal movements across various spatiotemporal scales (local, regional, continental, global; minutes to decades). Although animal tracking is not a new field of research, only recently have these electronic technologies necessary to follow marine animal movements across larger and longer scales have only recently become widely available. Strategic Infrastructure for improved animal Tracking in European Seas (STRAITS) will leverage ongoing acoustic tracking projects across the four corners of Europe (i.e. North Channel, Danish Straits, Straits of Gibraltar and the Bosporus/Dardanelles) by expanding efforts to connect initiatives on species-based biodiversity management while developing data management plans and networking channels to deliver data to national and international governing bodies. Coordinating aquatic animal tracking and environmental observation efforts at a scale that will be usable to make progress on international marine management and planning, is a major step towards an operational European Tracking Network (ETN) that contributes to major European biodiversity initiatives, conservation, and policy.
The project was successful in its first year of activities. All planned technical and scientific deliverables were met. The project’s lead partner, Loughs Agency, established the necessary governance and reporting structures from the beginning and a consortium agreement was signed by all partners. Procurement of all necessary equipment across the partnership was successful. Both the staff recruitment and procurement of necessary equipment across the partnership was successful.
In terms of the delivery of arrays, three of the four strategic, regional arrays were deployed ahead of schedule (Danish Straits, Turkish Straits and Straits of Gibraltar). The North Channel (Irish) array is still on track for deployment in early 2024 as originally planned. Two supporting arrays in Norway and Portugal were also successfully deployed as planned. The project's first iteration of fish tagging was undertaken across all partners as well. In total, over 300 specimens were successfully tagged and released across all of the partner areas (e.g. Atlantic salmon, sea trout, bluefin tuna, blue shark, bluefish, meagre).
Thanks to the successful collaboration with STRAITS partners (ATU, EGE and IEO-CSIC) the project also successfully integrated and deployed passive acoustic monitors (PAMs) for the first time in the Gibraltar and Bosporus arrays. This will allow for the monitoring of marine mammal and anthropogenic activities in those areas.
All year 1 deliverables and milestones for the data management work package have been met with data management plan (D4.1) and data set inventory (D4.2) achieved on schedule. The data management partner (VLIZ) were also able to deliver a milestone early (M11 Training materials). The activities in year 1 have laid the foundation for accurate recording and ingestion of data and metadata from across the partnership. In October 2023, VLIZ hosted an online data management workshop for staff which explained in detail how staff can upload their data collected to the ETN data portal as well as how they can access historical data. VLIZ staff then arranged a series of one-to-one follow up meetings online with scientific officers from each beneficiary to ensure that they understood the protocols and helped answer any questions they may have had regarding the data management plan for the project. VLIZ have also been integral in developing and promoting the European Tracking Network’s (ETN) data portal to external researchers. This has been done collaboratively through events like the “Discover STRAITS” webinar and through participation in online meetings with other projects/researchers. External researchers who were interested in utilising the STRAITS infrastructure and sharing data naturally had several questions about how the data could be shared and managed appropriately. VLIZ were able to provide clear answers and examples of how this can take place and enable external researchers to participate.
In terms of the delivery of arrays, three of the four strategic, regional arrays were deployed ahead of schedule (Danish Straits, Turkish Straits and Straits of Gibraltar). The North Channel (Irish) array is still on track for deployment in early 2024 as originally planned. Two supporting arrays in Norway and Portugal were also successfully deployed as planned. The project's first iteration of fish tagging was undertaken across all partners as well. In total, over 300 specimens were successfully tagged and released across all of the partner areas (e.g. Atlantic salmon, sea trout, bluefin tuna, blue shark, bluefish, meagre).
Thanks to the successful collaboration with STRAITS partners (ATU, EGE and IEO-CSIC) the project also successfully integrated and deployed passive acoustic monitors (PAMs) for the first time in the Gibraltar and Bosporus arrays. This will allow for the monitoring of marine mammal and anthropogenic activities in those areas.
All year 1 deliverables and milestones for the data management work package have been met with data management plan (D4.1) and data set inventory (D4.2) achieved on schedule. The data management partner (VLIZ) were also able to deliver a milestone early (M11 Training materials). The activities in year 1 have laid the foundation for accurate recording and ingestion of data and metadata from across the partnership. In October 2023, VLIZ hosted an online data management workshop for staff which explained in detail how staff can upload their data collected to the ETN data portal as well as how they can access historical data. VLIZ staff then arranged a series of one-to-one follow up meetings online with scientific officers from each beneficiary to ensure that they understood the protocols and helped answer any questions they may have had regarding the data management plan for the project. VLIZ have also been integral in developing and promoting the European Tracking Network’s (ETN) data portal to external researchers. This has been done collaboratively through events like the “Discover STRAITS” webinar and through participation in online meetings with other projects/researchers. External researchers who were interested in utilising the STRAITS infrastructure and sharing data naturally had several questions about how the data could be shared and managed appropriately. VLIZ were able to provide clear answers and examples of how this can take place and enable external researchers to participate.