Marine

Study on habitat modelling for harbour porpoises in the Moray Firth has been published

December 3, 2013 by Andronikos Kafas No Comments | Category Marine Directorate Science, Marine Renewables

MSS has recently deployed 30 CPoDs on the east coast of Scotland. The aim of this network is to allow us to monitor the bottlenose dolphin population during wind farm construction. Data from the same device have been used in a recently published study by Dr. Kate Brookes, to validate a habitat association model for harbour porpoise in the Moray Firth. The paper will appear in a special issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, on methods for marine mammals and passive acoustics.

Sixty nine devices were used in study, which had originally been deployed to provide baseline data for a seismic survey EIA. When compared with the habitat association model, which had been developed using data collected during five different surveys spanning six years, they showed a significant correlation. One of the disadvantages of visual surveys, such as those used in the model, is that they only represent a snapshot in time. However, the CPoDs collect data on the presence and absence of dolphins and porpoises every minute for up to five months, so the correlation between the two means that we can be more confident that the distribution patterns will be maintained over time. The model has since been used in the EIAs for both of the wind farm developments in the Moray Firth, to help them determine whether there is likely to be a significant impact of pile driving on harbour porpoise.

A copy of the paper can be accessed upon request to Kate Brookes.

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