NatureScot Commissioned Report 468: The development of a framework to understand and predict the population consequences of disturbances for the Moray Firth bottlenose dolphin population

Human activities in the marine environment are increasing and diversifying rapidly. We now use coastal waters for recreation, leisure, oil and gas exploitation, renewable energies exploitation, and shipping. This is leading to increased interactions between marine species, such as cetaceans, and these activities. These interactions can lead to behavioural disturbances for these wild populations and therefore we need to manage these activities in order to minimise the biological consequences of these disturbances. This project aimed to progress the development of a management tool that can be used to make robust decisions about the expected effects of new developments in an area occupied by cetacean populations that have been the focus of behavioural studies