Masterplan Wind - Seabirds Cruise Report August 2010

This cruise report provides an overview of the fifth survey in a series of seabirds at sea surveys that will be carried out in 2010 and 2011 over the Dutch Continental Shelf (DCS) of the North Sea and adjoining waters. This fifth survey in the series was carried out in August 2010. Two seabird observers joined a cruise that was aimed at surveying plankton, by taking plankton samples at more or less hourly intervals. In between the plankton stations, the ship steamed full speed (speed ranging from 10-12 knots) and seabirds were surveyed during all daylight hours while the ship was steaming. The sailed route was more or less the same as the two previous surveys. Due to repairs on the ship the survey started later and the route had to be adjusted in order to get ashore on time. Furthermore, the use of a slower ship resulted in different windows of daylight for the seabird observers and hence, the coverage between this survey and the previous ones differs. Weather conditions were generally moderate to poor. During the week, a total of 590 counting bouts of on average almost 5 minutes each were conducted. These stretched over a total of 971.1 km and covered, at a strip width of 300 m, a total survey area of 291.3 km2 (Table 1) A total of 3722 birds, 6 marine mammals (all Harbour Porpoises), 22 balloons and 1 set-net flag were recorded (Table 3). Weather conditions were moderate to poor and had an negative impact on the probability to detect seabirds and porpoises in particular

Shortlist Masterplan Wind Ship-based monitoring of seabirds and cetaceans

During April 2010 – February 2011, monthly surveys of seabirds and marine mammals were conducted aboard ships engaged in plankton surveys. After many years of little or no effort in far offshore areas of the DCS, this series of surveys provided the first recent ship-based data on seabirds, covering a large area (the entire Dutch Continental Shelf (DCS), including some Belgian and British waters) almost yearround. Due to changes in the design of the survey grid, the use of several ships, spells of bad weather conditions and seasonal differences in the number of daylight hours, the resulting coverage is not evenly spread in space and time. Still, both in terms of areas covered and detailed data gathered, this series of surveys complement the aerial surveys carried out under the same programme Shortlist Masterplan Wind. By surveying beyond the designated areas for round II offshore wind farms on the DCS, areas that might be targeted for round III, such as the shallow Dogger Bank area, got a first boost in T-zero survey effort. From April 2010 till February 2011 11 surveys, totalling to 48 at-sea days, 4610 5-minute counts were conducted over a distance of 9021 km. At a counting strip width of mostly 300 m (200 m over a very small percentage of the counts), this amounts to a total surveyed area of 2706 km2. The surveys have provided rough data on seabird distribution in far offshore areas. In total, 54,593 individuals of 90 bird species were recorded, from which 15,003 individuals of 36 species were recorded within the counting strip. Marine mammals were represented by 616 individuals of seven species, of which 389 individuals of six species were seen within the counting strip. Flying heights were noted for 5044 clusters of individuals, covering 75 species. Behaviour was noted for 1790 (clusters of) individuals. Apart from birds and marine mammals, 352 balloons were counted (of which 164 were within the counting strip) and proved omnipresent in periods of offshore winds. These surveys have identified several issues that should be taken into account in future planning of wind farms. Divers, which are the highest ranked species in terms of sensitivity to wind farms, can be encountered migrating anywhere in offshore waters and sightings of White-billed Divers at the Dogger Bank suggest the existence of a small wintering population of this near-threatened species. In relation to this, potential effects of wind farms on offshore species, such as Northern Fulmars, Atlantic Puffins, Little Auks and cetaceans, are unknown as current wind farms are located near shore where these species do not occur in large numbers

Cruise report seabird and cetacean survey Saba bank expedition October 2011

In October 2011 an expedition took place to the Saba Bank, on board of the ship the Caribbean Explorer II. Main aim of the expedition was collecting data on underwater fauna and coral reefs. Apart from that data were collected on nutrients, water flow, sponges and seabirds and marine mammals. Data on the last group were collected by deploying acoustic data loggers, and by means of visual surveys. These visual surveys were conducted whenever the other activities permitted it. This cruise report presents an brief overview of the results obtained during the October 2011 survey. It contains a short day to day report, a full list of all birds, mammals and particular pieces of floating matter seen, and a brief presentation of the results. Furthermore the report contains a brief account of observed birds on Sint Maarten, since published accounts on the birdlife of the island are scarce

Short ID sheet whales and dolphins Dutch Caribbean

Identification sheet whales and dolphins Dutch Caribbean

Monitoring harbour porpoise abundance and distribution in Dutch waters

European legislation (Habitats Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive) requires monitoring of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) abundance and distribution, as well as changes thereof, in Dutch North Sea waters. The primary objective of the monitoring in The Netherlands is to report on the status of harbour porpoise in Dutch waters every six years, and determine a trend over 12 years