Paul Stainer
Written 31 posts
Mapping the seabed of the north of Scotland
14th August 2015
High resolution seabed bathymetry is now freely available for a section of the north coast of Scotland between the Kyle of Tongue and west of Thurso. Marine Scotland Science surveyed the area in 2014 using a multibeam echosounder. The bathymetric data is of particular interest to the wave energy industry and for the development of…
European Plans for the Ocean Energy Sector – October 2014
17th October 2014
The European Commission has developed a two-step action plan to support the emerging ocean energy sector in Europe. In the first phase (2014 – 2016), an Ocean Energy Forum will be set up, which will bring together stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of the problems and to develop solutions. It will focus on building…
8th International GIScience conference
10th October 2014
In September, Marine Scotland Science staff attended the 2014 8th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIS),. The biennial conference, held in Vienna and hosted by the Austrian University of Technology brought together more than 600 international participants from academia, industry, and government organisations to discuss the state-of-the-art advances in the field of GIS. This…
Assessing environmental impacts of offshore wind farms: lessons learned and recommendations for the future
3rd October 2014
Marine Scotland Science have been involved in a recent publication reviewing the assessments carried out for offshore wind farms. The article describes the lessons learned from recent experiences in the European offshore wind industry and makes recommendations for future monitoring and assessments in this internationally growing industry. It focusses mostly on assessments relating to marine mammals…
New Publications on Marine Renewable Energy Developments
20th August 2014
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) have recently completed two reports relating to marine renewable energy developments and their potential impact on the environment. These reports offer a risk assessment of the interaction between marine renewable devices and the diving birds and megafauna in the area. The first report, Commissioned Report No. 773. A Diving Bird Collision…
EIMR International Conference 2014 – Stornoway, Scotland
13th August 2014
The EIMR (Environmental Impacts of Marine Renewables) conference was held April 30 – May 1 2014 on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides, Scotland, UK. Two hundred scientists from the UK, Europe, and North America came together at the An Lanntair Arts Centre in Stornoway, for two days of oral and poster presentations, with…
Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) Launch
12th August 2014
Aquaculture currently contributes an aggregate economic impact of over £1,300 million per annum to the Scottish economy. There exists, nonetheless, considerable untapped potential in Scotland for increased production of high quality aquaculture products. Following the funding of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) on 20th February 2014 and a consortium meeting on April 28th the…
All Energy Conference 2014 – Combined Presentation
7th August 2014
Marine Scotland ran a session at the large All Energy conference in Aberdeen on 21 May. The session was based around the consenting of the Moray Firth wind farms, and included a series of short talks taking the audience through the licensing timetable, the basis for cumulative impact assessment, how we did CIA for…
Strategic Surveys of Seabirds off the West of Lewis to Determine Use of Seaspace in Areas of Potential Marine Renewable Energy Developments
7th August 2014
By 2020 the percentage of Scotland’s energy coming from renewable sources will increase. Studies have identified that there is a need to research how offshore renewable developments affect wildlife populations. The surveys presented here will help to find out how one area of marine development, the west coast of Lewis, is used by waterbirds and…
Marine Spatial Planning Update
16th June 2014
Pilot Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan A Working Group consisting of Marine Scotland, Highland Council and Orkney Islands Council have been working on developing a pilot marine spatial plan for the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters, see www.scotland.gov.uk/PFOWmarinespatialplan. The Working Group produced two documents last year that went out for consultation. The…