Marine Scotland Science: directory

Robert Watret

Renewables and Energy Programme
Renewables and Environmental Advice Group
GIS Analyst

E-mail: Robert.Watret@gov.scot 

Marine Scotland Science, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen, AB11 9DB, UK

Pronouns: he/him/his

Details of specialism

As a GIS analyst I am interested in the accurate and informative representation of data. I provide GIS support and facilitate clear communication of spatial outputs to my peers. My work is predominantly focussed on offshore renewable energy developments and their interactions with the environment and marine industries.

Within the broad topic area my particular focuses currently include:

• the use of AIS and VMS data to represent vessel activity in Scottish waters 
• provision of diverse spatial representation for planning future surveys
• application of multi-criteria analysis to visualise marine environmental interactions
• contribution to Scotland’s sectoral marine plans
• mapping the extent of seabirds and their pressures for the Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy

Main policy links

• marine planning and strategy
• planning and environmental advice
• Marine Scotland licencing operations team

External committees and responsibilities

• member of the Scottish Government resilience room emergency
• member of MSS’s Athena SWAN team

Papers of relevance

Marine Scotland Science (2018) Scoping ‘Areas of Search’ Study for offshore wind energy in Scottish Waters, 2018. The Scottish Government, Edinburgh.

Gimpel, A., et al. (2018) A GIS-based tool for an integrated assessment of spatial planning trade-offs with aquaculture. Science of The Total Environment 627, 1644-1655.

Turrell WR, Cox M, Mason L, Milne D and Watret R (2017) NMPi Future Climate Change Data Layers. Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Reports 8, No 11.

Aires C, Gonzalez-Irusta J and Watret R (2014) Updating fisheries sensitivity maps in British waters. Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Reports 5, No 10.

Davies IM, Watret R and Gubbins M (2014) Spatial planning for sustainable marine renewable energy developments in Scotland. Ocean and Coastal Management 99, 72–81