Marine

  • Marine Mammals – updated demographics – how do we measure that?

    6th August 2020 by

    Bottlenose dolphins near ship. Crown Copyright

    Understanding the impacts of human activities, and preventing harm to habitats and species, is one of the biggest challenges to marine industries. The Scottish Government’s Scottish Marine Research Energy Programme (ScotMER) has published three new studies to assist when assessing the impact of offshore renewable developments on marine mammals. These new reports pull together key...

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  • New research into marine renewables

    28th July 2020 by

    Image of a razorbill

    New insights on seabird behaviour and best practice methods for licensing will help government and industry better understand the implications of marine renewables on seabirds.

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  • Prey Species across Smith Bank

    30th August 2019 by

    MRV Alba na Mara Survey: 1419A Programme Duration: 27-30 August 2019 Locations: Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL); Moray East Offshore Windfarm (MEOW); Moray West Offshore Windfarm (MWOW). Objectives Primary Objectives: Study the distribution of prey species (fish schools and zooplankton patches) across Smith Bank in relation to data available from BOWL post-construction digital aerial surveys...

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  • Clicking with Marine Mammals

    31st July 2019 by

    MRV Alba na Mara

    MRV Alba na Mara Survey: 1219A Duration: 25 July – 05 August 2019 Objectives: Retrieve and deploy a series of acoustic release systems (22 subsurface moorings) with attached acoustic recording devices (22 C-POD, 7 sound recorder) as part of the ECOMMAS (East Coast Marine Mammal Acoustic Study), JOMOPANS (Joint Monitoring Programme for Ambient Noise North...

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  • Funded Student Internships in Offshore Renewable Energy

    24th July 2019 by

    Are you a postgraduate student interested in a research project on the environmental impacts of offshore renewable energy on fish ecology and commercial fisheries, to help inform government priorities? Then this funded internship programme with Marine Scotland might just be for you! Marine Scotland invites postgraduate students (Masters and PhD), registered with any UK academic...

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  • Reviewing our Year of Science

    18th January 2019 by

    Trawling for smolts MRV Scotia. Photo by Ross Gardiner © Crown copyright

    Today sees the publication of our Annual Science Review for 2017/18. The Review, which highlights the impacts and achievements of Marine Scotland Science (MSS), details the overall contribution and support that our scientists make to the work of Marine Scotland. During this period we have published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and supported more than 75...

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  • Offshore Energy and Marine Spatial Planning Book

    23rd May 2018 by

    The generation of offshore energy is a rapidly growing sector internationally. Its expansion means competing for space in an already busy seascape, and as it develops it will have many potential impacts on established patterns of sea use, rights of access, and social and cultural value systems. Effective marine management not only needs to balance...

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  • Sunbeam Surveys going Swimmingly

    21st May 2018 by

    MRV Sunbeam FR 487

    Scientists from Marine Scotland Science (MSS) have recently been operating on Fraserburgh pelagic trawler Sunbeam (FR 487) to survey salmon smolts at various points on the Scottish east coast. Operating in the Moray Firth, Firths of Forth and Tay, MSS used a specially designed net for sampling very close to the surface. The net incorporates...

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  • Significant Celebrations for Scottish Freshwater Organisations

    9th May 2018 by

    Freshwater Fisheries Lab Present Day

    2018 is looking to be quite a significant year for two organisations at the core of freshwater research in Scotland. Marine Scotland Science’s Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory (FFL) at Faskally in Pitlochry, has just celebrated its 70th anniversary and the Scottish Freshwater Group (SFG) has just turned 50. Freshwater fisheries research has been a Government responsibility...

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  • New metrics report measures up for assessing the effects of offshore wind on Scotland’s seabird populations

    22nd December 2017 by

    New Publications image

    Marine Scotland has undertaken a great deal of research to understand how the development of offshore renewables may affect protected seabird species. Central to this work is an assessment of the consequences at population-level, with an important focus on the use of Population Viability Analysis (PVA). The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) have produced...

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