Aerial surveying of grey seal breeding colonies on the Blasket Islands, Co. Kerry, the Inishkea Group, Co. Mayo and the Donegal Coast, Ireland.

The status of Ireland's grey seat population and its relationship with that of Britain and Western Europe, are poorly understood. The existing population estimate for grey seats in Ireland is outdated and urgency exists to establish a reliable national population estimate for this species, listed as an Annex II species under the EU Habitats Directive. Prior to the initiation of a survey on a national scale, the success or otherwise of aerial techniques in surveying grey seat breeding habitat on the Irish coastline first needs to be established. Previously, surveys were boat-based and were susceptible to adverse weather conditions frequently encountered during the autumn breeding season. The feasibility of using aerial techniques to survey grey seat breeding colonies in Ireland was tested during the breeding season of 2003. (C) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.</p

An assessment of population size and distribution ofharbour seals in the Republic of Ireland during the moultseason in August 2003

The status of Ireland's harbour seal Phoca vitulina vitulina population is poorly understood. The most recent national population estimate dates back to the breeding season in 1978 and did not cover the entire coastline. Reliable up-to-date information on the abundance and distribution of harbour seals in Ireland is necessary to assess the conservation status of the species and for the effective identification, management and monitoring of special areas of conservation required for harbour seals under the EU Habitats Directive. To provide comprehensive current information on Ireland's harbour seal population, a geographically extensive survey was conducted along the coastline of the Republic of Ireland during the species' annual moult in August 2003. This complemented a similar survey of Northern Ireland, which was conducted in 2002. Using thermal imaging technology, haul-out groups of harbour seals and grey seals Halichoerus grypus were identified from the air, aerial-counts were obtained and compared with simultaneous ground-count data from selected sites. Harbour seal distribution recorded during the 2003 moult season was concentrated in the south-west, west and north-west of the country. This national survey yielded a minimum population estimate for the Republic of Ireland of 2905 harbour seals, delivering an effective baseline for current and future population research.</p

Signals from the deep: Spatial and temporal acoustic occurrence of beaked whales off western Ireland - Fig 4

<p><b>Mean Cuvier’s beaked whale detections per recording day bubble plot (right) and with standard error bars (left) for stations 1 (SE = ±0.70), 2 (SE = ±0.59), 3 (SE = ±2.61), 4 (SE = ±4.48), 5 (SE = ±1.08), 6 (SE = ±1.38), 7 (SE = ±1.35), and 8 (SE = ±1.26) off western Ireland from May to Dec 2015 (stations 1–4) and Mar to Nov 2016 (stations 3 and 5–8).</b> Results of Kruskall-Wallis tests are given and results from Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons tests are represented by coloured means (left) with different colours denoting a statistically significant difference. *Station 8 differs from 7, but not from 3, 5, and 6.</p