Marine
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Predicting the impact of underwater noise on marine mammals
13th October 2017 by Marine Scotland Communications
Marine mammals, such as seals and dolphins, are sensitive to underwater noise and other disturbances which can affect their ability to forage or communicate. Our understanding of the effects of these pressures on marine mammal, and of how to assess and quantify potential impacts on populations, is rapidly evolving. One tool that can be used…
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Fine-scale harbour seal usage mapping around Orkney
21st December 2016 by Marine Scotland Communications
Marine Scotland has published a report on research commissioned from the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) to produce fine scale usage maps for harbour seals. With a spatial resolution of 0.6km x 0.6km, these provide very fine scale detail about the areas that are important to harbour seals. While there are existing usage maps for…
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Results of a new diet study on seals around the Scottish coast
21st September 2016 by Marine Scotland Communications
Three new reports have been published looking at the diet of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in Scottish waters. The work, commissioned by Marine Scotland, and undertaken by the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews, involved collecting scats seasonally from haul-out sites around Scotland over a 12 month period in…