Webinar: Linking Ocean Fronts and Biodiversity for Evidenced Marine Spatial Planning
Thursday 19 June 2025
14:00–15:15 BST
How can we protect marine wildlife while scaling up offshore wind?
Join us for a free webinar presenting findings from the FRONTWARD project (Fronts for Marine Wildlife Assessment for Renewable Developments), funded by The Crown Estate.
The FRONTWARD project investigated the locations, dynamic nature and climatic trends of ocean fronts, and linkages between frontal characteristics and detectable biodiversity of highly mobile species – such as fish, seabirds and mammals – in UK waters.
Its outcomes, datasets and recommendations can help inform future spatial planning in marine sectors such as offshore renewable energy, balancing the conservation of marine animals with the acceleration of offshore wind in the UK.
The methods developed are applicable to other regions beyond the UK.
Webinar agenda:
- Welcome from Sarah Wren (Marine Evidence Manager, The Crown Estate).
- 10-minute presentation on The Crown Estate’s Whole of Seabed Programme, the evidence underpinning their Marine Delivery Routemap, and where this project originated.
- 30-minute presentation of the project’s key outcomes, including contributions by project co-leads:
- Dr Peter Miller, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML);
- Prof Beth Scott, University of Aberdeen;
- Dr James Waggitt, Bangor University.
- 15-minute live demonstration of FRONTWARD datasets, including how to extract and use the data from the Marine Data Exchange.
Dr Peter Miller, Principal Earth Observation Scientist at PML, and co-lead of the FRONTWARD project, said: “It’s rewarding that our FRONTWARD project to support conservation of mobile marine animals is contributing to the UK effort to accelerate offshore wind energy.”