Marine Scotland Communications
Written 418 posts
Trawling in the deep with the Scotia
13th September 2017
Duration: 15-28 September 2017 Gear BT 184 Deepwater trawl with 16“ ground-gear and Morgere 1700 kg doors (monkfish) Groundgear Bosom bag for BT184 Agassiz trawl Objectives To map the composition, distribution and abundance of continental slope species including invertebrates on the deepwater slope west of the Hebrides and Rosemary Bank to depths of 2000 m….
Opening the Doors on Coastal Monitoring
12th September 2017
Staff at Marine Scotland are busy preparing for Aberdeenshire Doors Open Day on the 16th September. Located in the courtyard of the Tollbooth Museum by Stonehaven harbour between 10am until 4pm, they will be presenting a display about the renowned Scottish Coastal Observatory site located 5km offshore from Stonehaven. For the last 20 years, environmental factors at sea such…
IA2017 – New developments in the way biodiversity is assessed
11th September 2017
OSPAR is committed to protecting and conserving ecosystems and biodiversity through the management of human activities, guided by an ecosystem-based approach to management. The development of internationally coordinated biodiversity indicators is a relatively new field for OSPAR. In the Quality Status Report 2010, OSPAR assessed ten ecological quality objectives developed for the North Sea which…
Who you gonna call? Diagnostics!
8th September 2017
You might not know this, but Marine Scotland is classified as the Scottish National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for crustacean, fish and mollusc diseases within the European Union. So what does that mean? Well, in practice it means that we have expertise and knowledge of a wide range of techniques and methods that can be used…
Scottish Plans inspire Canada
6th September 2017
Scotland is well placed to take a global lead in the exploitation of marine renewable energy, boasting a substantial resource potential estimated at 25% of Europe’s tidal resource, 25% of its offshore wind resource and 10% of its wave potential. In order to sustainably develop the offshore marine renewable energy industry in Scottish waters, Marine…
IA2017 – Marine litter is a problem
4th September 2017
OSPAR has assessed the occurrence of marine litter in all regions within its Maritime Area, except for the Wider Atlantic where there is poor data availability. Marine litter, in particular plastic, is abundant on beaches, in the water column and on the seafloor. Marine litter also affects biota, as indicated by the levels in North…
Surveying haddock at Rockall with the Scotia
1st September 2017
Duration: 2-13 September 2017 Gear GOV Trawl (BT 137) with ground gear D CTD – Seabird 19+ Day grabs Objectives To undertake the bottom trawl survey of haddock on Rockall Bank to a depth of 350 m. To deploy a CTD at selected trawl stations to collect temperature and salinity profiles. To collect sediment samples at…
Surveying MPAs with Alba na Mara
30th August 2017
Duration: 31 August – 19 September 2017 Fishing Gear New drop/lander frame + calibration mesh HD TV system + lights Armoured cable + spare + axle stands Stereo TV system Objectives Programme 1517A will survey the waters around Lochinver and North Minch/Skye to collect stereo video imagery of Funiculina quadrangularis within survey boxes with different…
Keeping track at Armadale: Last update from the tracking project
29th August 2017
The tagging at Armadale ended on 25 August with no further salmon tagged over the last 12 days. This suggested to us that the grilse run had finished. We will recover and download the receivers in due course, to see how many of and where the tagged fish were registered and a project report should be…
IA2017 – Mixed signals for marine mammals
28th August 2017
The abundance and condition of marine mammals, as top predators, can help indicate the state of the marine ecosystem. As was also the case at the time of the last OSPAR Quality Status Report (QSR 2010), harbour seal and grey seal populations are generally stable or increasing in most assessed areas although some harbour seal…