ES RDE 079 - Using partnership working to scope a lowcost, permanent estuarine t

Natural England Self-Service Direct Award.

NE’s collaboration on South Coast telemetry projects has rapidly delivered high-quality evidence for protected-site management and multi-species, ecosystem-based recommendations. Having demonstrated the value of acoustic telemetry, this project aims to embed it into long-term monitoring. A permanent array would cut start-up costs and provide high-quality, long-duration data on movements and habitat use of mobile species. This work package will strengthen estuarine and inshore coverage by testing a cost-effective, semi-autonomous, partnership-run array. The project will also create a coastal collective of regional partners to maintain equipment and manage data, using existing

platforms and exploring a centrally funded, regionally delivered UK model.