Digital aerial seabird and cetacean surveys off the east coast of Scotland

1. Introduction

The Scottish Ministers acting through Marine Scotland brings together four parts of the Scottish Government, Marine Science, Compliance, Policy and Planning and Aquaculture & Wild Fisheries (known as Marine Scotland). Marine Scotland is a directorate of the Scottish Government, with the purpose to manage Scotland's seas for prosperity and environmental sustainability.

APEM were commissioned by the Scottish Government to provide digital aerial surveys of the East Coast of Scotland, from February 2020 until March 2021. The main objective of the work was to deliver survey data and report on the outcome of the digital aerial surveys in regard to seabirds and cetaceans within the defined target area. The information collected throughout the survey program on the abundance and distribution of seabirds at sea is required to help inform in the management of internationally protected seabird populations, assessing sensitivity to oil spills^[1], developing sectoral plans and associated Strategic Environmental Assessments. This study was required for this area as the existing data for seabirds at sea for the East of Scotland was dated^[2], therefore the need for more recent seabird distribution and abundance data was identified as a priority.

To meet the objectives of this program APEM completed eight digital aerial surveys, equating to two surveys per season (autumn: August to October, winter: November to January, spring: February to March and summer: April to July), off the East Coast of Scotland. This is the final report describing the methodology and results of the survey program.