Explore and discover

FeAST has been devised as a tool to be used in a variety of ways by anyone with an interest in potential impacts on marine features. It has been used to underpin assessments in Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020, and for discussions on management requirements for Marine Protected Areas and Priority Marine Features.

The aim is that information on the sensitivity of all Scottish marine features of conservation importance will be incorporated into FeAST, with the evidence base updated periodically.

To achieve that aim, there is work underway to ensure that FeAST includes all relevant marine features in Scottish waters, for example mobile species, all Priority Marine Features and Annex I habitats. Further offshore feature information within sites can be found in JNCC Site Information Centres.

To find sensitivity assessments in FeAST, there are three different ‘Search by’ options.

• Search by Feature
• Search by Activity
• Search by Pressure

All ‘Search by’ options allow you to select the specific features, activities, and pressures that you are interested in via a series of selection pages. At the top of the selection pages, there is a banner indicating the stages of selection prior to results and indicates which selection stage you are on. You can go back a stage by clicking the selection page that you would like to return to.

On the results page, you will find options to download a report, which will export the assessments as a csv or xlsx. Or, if you are logged in, you have the option to save your search to revisit in the future.

If you would like further guidance on how to use FeAST, please see our help page for the full user manual and contact us form.

In Summer 2025, there were some changes made to FeAST. The primary changes focused on increasing usability and accessibility of the tool. Content across all pages of the website have been updated. However, sensitivity assessments are still undergoing updates, and each feature will be added/updated when ready. You will see these changes throughout the remainder of 2025 and into 2026.

We would like to gather some feedback from our users about the functionality of FeAST. If you are able, please could you complete the following form. Any suggestions are welcome.

This feedback form is designed as a set of instructions to navigate through FeAST, allowing free-text answers to provide comments at each stage of the process. In some sections of the form, there will be specific questions for you to answer. If you complete the whole feedback process, this should take up to one hour of your time. However, you can pick and choose how much you would like to complete, or focus on a section that is of particular interest to you. Thankyou for your time engaging with this, it will help us continue to improve FeAST.