Dear MARMAM subscribers,

Please see the following data request and form. The form requests specifics of metadata descriptions. However if you hold data and it is not feasible at this stage for you to detail your data holdings due to resources for example, would it be please be possible for you to give a general statement acknowledging that you hold data which may be releasable in the future or supply a standard form which you may already have?

At the next EDAPoMM meeting I can ask if resources could be made available in order for data holders to process detailed metadata.

It may be that we request a more general overview of data types such as density data rather than opportunistic sightings for example.

Apologies to those who I have contacted already individually who may also subscribe to MARMAM.

EDA PoMM marine mammal database - request for information

The European Defence Agency Protection of Marine Mammals project (EDA PoMM) is a joint project between the Ministries of Defence for Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The project aims to protect marine mammals against the impact of active sonar deployed by European Navies by the implementation of robust risk mitigation measures (both in operational planning and at sea). To contribute to this aim, the EDA PoMM project will establish a comprehensive common marine mammal database containing the information needed for risk assessment, planning of naval maritime activities and operational decision aids. The database will focus on the abundance, seasonal distribution and density of marine mammal species in all areas of operational interest for European Navies. In addition aspects of marine mammal acoustics will be databased to aid further work of the project to improve the detection algorithms and classification of marine mammal acoustic signatures.

We are contacting you as we are aiming to identify all the sources of marine mammal data in areas of operational interest to European Navies. For the common database established by EDA PoMM to be successful, it should include as much information as possible, from both military and civilian sources. It is hoped that you will be able to provide us with some summary information about your marine mammal data holdings to allow the EDA PoMM project to establish an overview of available data of interest and assess if and how the data can be made available for risk mitigation. At this stage we are not looking to collect data, merely to identify metadata on what information is held and by whom and if there are any restrictions on the use/ sharing of this data.

We would be very grateful if you would be able to provide us with some summary information about the data that you hold:

what type of information you hold (e.g. opportunistic sightings, effort related observations, distribution maps, modeled abundance, density etc.),
what species you hold data on,
the geographical area covered by your data,
the date range of your data,
any restrictions you have on the distribution/ sharing of your data (e.g. all data releasable to all requesting, releasable for certain purposes or to certain users (PoMM use only, certain PoMM partners only), data not releasable, metadata only etc.)
what information you would be interested in exchanging with the PoMM database and what you would be interested in return (geographical area, species of interest, data types etc).

The EDA PoMM common marine mammal database has been designed to allow data to be held by the project, but not necessarily shared or viewed by all parties, as there are often security caveats associated with military data that limit its use and distribution. Similar controls will be placed on data from external sources to control the use and distribution of any data that you may choose to share with this project.

For more information about the EDA PoMM project or this request for information, please feel free to contact me.

Yours faithfully

Stuart Flynn

On behalf of the European Defence Agency Protection of Marine Mammals project.

Stuart Flynn

Marine Biology Data Analyst

Defence Maritime Geospatial Intelligence Centre

Admiralty Way
TAUNTON
Somerset
TA1 2DN

Tel: +44(0)1823 337900 [ext 3551]
Email: stuart.flynn@ukho.gov.uk

www.ukho.gov.uk

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EDA PoMM marine mammal database – Metadata descriptions

Please return via E-mail to: marine.life@ukho.gov.uk

Please feel free to fill out multiple copies of this form to describe separate datasets if this is easier for you:

Organisation:

Point of contact (name & contact details):

Geographic coverage: (Global, regional (e.g. Mediterranean), etc.)
Type of data: (Opportunistic sightings, effort related surveys, distribution, density, model output etc.)
Date range of data:
Species: (All marine mammals, specific species, group etc.)
Temporal resolution:
Spatial resolution:
Data format:
Institution/ source: (Who produced the data? Which institution or scientist?)
Data owner:
Restrictions on data sharing/ releaseability:
Additional information

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