Fauna Monitoring

Fauna monitoring is the systematic survey and tracking of animal populations to detect change in abundance, distribution, or behavior over time. Marine methods include visual line-transect surveys, passive acoustic monitoring for cetaceans, satellite and acoustic telemetry tagging, baited remote underwater video for fish, and benthic grab sampling for invertebrates. Standardized, repeatable protocols and a reference baseline let analysts separate the human signal from natural variability, which is required for impact assessment, marine protected area effectiveness checks, and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive biodiversity descriptor. ICES coordinates fish and plankton survey series across the North Atlantic, and OBIS aggregates the occurrence records.