Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme Data

The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme project aims to collate, analyse and report data for all cetacean, marine turtle and basking shark strandings around the coast of Scotland and the UK; to determine the causes of death in 100 stranded cetaceans each year; and to undertake surveillance on the incidence of disease in stranded cetaceans in order to identify any substantial new threats to their conservation status.

The information helps to ensure compliance with a number of national and international agreements/obligations, including the Habitats Directive and the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic and North Sea (ASCOBANS).