Marine Recorder Online (MRO) is a modern data management system for UK marine data. It mainly focuses on biodiversity (species records) and associated seafloor sampling data such as sediment type and biotope information.
Status: ongoing development to meet the data community’s needs.
| Please note that legacy data from the historic Marine Recorder desktop application are currently being quality controlled and migrated into Marine Recorder Online. Until this process is complete we would recommend general users download the final snapshot from the legacy application available at Marine Recorder Public UK snapshot. |
From Marine Recorder to Marine Recorder Online
The original Marine Recorder was built in the early 2000s. It was a desktop-based application which meant that at six-monthly intervals, JNCC combined all Marine Recorder snapshots from data contributors into a single UK-wide version. However, having a quicker flow of the data started to become necessary and therefore there became a need for a new system.
The new application, which started development in 2021, is called Marine Recorder Online (MRO) to emphasise one of its main benefits, which is that it is no longer desktop based. Other innovations, which are listed below, include the introduction of new data types, including the accommodation of geospatial data. In 2023 to 2024, MRO’s minimum viable product was released and currently the system is under ongoing development to meet the data community’s needs.
Marine Recorder Online data
Marine Recorder Online is widely used by the UK's statuary nature conservation bodies (SNCBs) and other marine conservation organisations to effectively manage and query marine data from across UK waters.
This cross-UK automatic collation and coordination promotes data consistency, allowing efficient data interoperability as well as promoting data access and archiving within the framework of the UK Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN).
The system provides:
- Species occurrence data stored in a variety of abundances, including count, SACFORN, percentage cover and presence.
- Biotope information.
- Physical attributes of a marine site.
- Tagging as listed features of conservation significance.
- Sediment analysis including PSA information in Wentworth and half-phi classifications.
- Biomass records.
- Geospatial information at the survey event and sample levels.
- Efficient validation.
- Automatic MEDIN integration.
Marine Recorder Online application
Marine Recorder Online is a partnership between 10 UK organisations with the collective goal to consistently capture and manage marine biodiversity data.
Marine Recorder Online is a robust data management system with the core concept of promoting open data as much as possible. This is why Marine Recorder Online is designed to facilitate the flow of data into the UK Archive for Marine Species and Habitats Data (DASSH), the UK biodiversity data archive centre, within the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN), the UK node of the global Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) where the data are made publicly available.
The application is supported by the follow custodians:
- Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR)
- Dorset Wildlife Trust
- Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)
- Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
- Marine Biological Association (MBA)
- Seasearch (Marine Conservation Society)
- Natural England
- Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
- NatureScot
- Porcupine Marine Natural History Society
Data are entered into the system through the management application (“data entry”) where data are actively managed and curated by their custodians (data owners) or other authorised users.
The finalised and signed off datasets are then published into the reporting tool (“data access”) where data can be accessed and queried for further downstream analysis. It is possible to either extract from the database a query result or a snapshot of the reporting database in local form for more complex querying.
How to access the database
Custodians or authorised users
Marine Recorder Online can only be used by its custodians or by authorised users. Users can login into the system after being granted access by their data manager within their custodian organisation or by requesting a snapshot of data from these custodians.
Users will be supported in how to navigate into the system. To login into the database please visit: Marine Recorder Online Database Access.
Public
As part of the aim of persistence and open use of public data from Marine Recorder Online, data will automatically be sent to DASSH, a data centre within the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network where the data are made publicly available.
Data archived by DASHH are then distributed to:
Interested in becoming a custodian?
The system is split into individual databases which can only be accessed by the authorised custodian/user. New databases can be set up to hold data you manage.
Becoming a custodian of the system is highly advantageous because it allows you to effectively manage and curate UK marine data while maximising the data flow into the appropriate archive centres. This automatic collation and coordination encourage data consistency, allowing efficient data exchange as well as promoting data access and archiving.
Contact us: general enquiries/prospective custodians
For general enquiries about Marine Recorder Online, including becoming a prospective custodian, please contact marinerecorder@jncc.gov.uk.
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