aba64100-c139-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd English dataset Mary Mowat British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2011-08-30 MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard Version 2.3.5 urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326 OGP 2004 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA5 Technical Report - Marine mammals (North Sea) 2004-04-01 publication BGS_SEA_69 British Geological Survey This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA5) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). Eight marine mammal species are known to occur regularly in this area: grey seal, harbour seal, harbour porpoise, white-beaked dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, Atlantic white-sided dolphin, killer whale, and minke whale. Long-finned pilot whales and Risso's dolphins are regularly seen in waters around Shetland. There are occasional at-sea records of at least a further five cetacean species (humpback whale, fin whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin and short-beaked common dolphin) and four pinniped species (hooded seal, bearded seal, ringed seal and walrus). Paul Henni British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 Murchison House, West Mains Road Edinburgh EH9 3LA UK offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk custodian Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) +44 0300 060 4000 +44 (0) 1823 284077 Admiralty Way London SW1A 2HD UK enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk originator notPlanned Documents NDGO0001 Cetacean behaviour Cetacean morphology and physiology Cetacean abundance Seal behaviour Seal morphology and physiology Seal abundance SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Species distribution GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication crust sediment SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2008-06-01 publication The SEAs data were produced as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme; Crown Copyright, all rights reserved. The DECC SEA must be acknowledged in any maps or publications that make use of the data. All the data files are freely available to the public. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. BGS (NERC) has been contracted by DECC to publish SEA datasets on its behalf. All intellectual property rights (including , without limitation, copyrights, database rights and all other rights which subsist or may at any time in the future subsist in the Dataset(s)) in the Dataset(s) ('Intellectual Property Rights') are owned by DECC (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). BGS has been authorised by DECC to use SEA datasets for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit basis'. BGS has been authorised by DECC to pass on SEA datasets to third parties so that they can use them for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit' basis. intellectualPropertyRights 5 English biota environment oceans SeaVoX salt and fresh water body gazetteer 2006-01-01 revision North Sea -4 1 55.8 61.5 2004-01-01 2004-01-01 http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. download dataset Report prepared by the Sea Mammal Research Unit, St Andrews University as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. There is extensive information on the distribution and abundance of grey and harbour seals around Britain from annual aerial surveys of breeding colonies and from satellite telemetry studies. There is also extensive information on cetacean distribution in the North Sea from a number of summer sightings surveys (SCANS-94, NASS-89, NILS-95). Estimates of abundance are available from these surveys for some species. There are also many records from year-round surveys by the European Seabirds at Sea Consortium (ESAS) since 1979, from cetacean observations made during seismic surveys from 1996, and sightings by voluntary observers compiled by the Sea Watch Foundation. Acoustic studies using towed hydrophone arrays, pop-up sonobuoys and the US Navy's passive underwater monitoring system (SOSUS) have been used to monitor the distribution and in some cases the density of fin whales, sperm whales and dolphins in the wider area (Swift et al 2002).