2002-2006, ECON Ecological Consulting, Scroby Sands, Seal Monitoring

This project concerns the monitoring programme for seals, as agreed with the Sea Mammals Research Unit (SMRU) to determine the impact of the wind farm. This is specified in the licence as two fly-overs per month at low water for the six summer months (April to September) pre, during and post construction. Data collected prior to construction in 2002 and 2003 were to establish the baseline conditions against which the potential impacts of the wind farm could be measured. The 2005 report is part of a series of interim reports, and is concerned with analysis of the post-construction data gathered in 2005. Following initial analysis, ECON (2005a) recommended that further monitoring, surplus to the licence requirements be carried out in 2006. This was to confirm whether Harbour seal counts were indeed improving, as was suggested by the 2005 data following an apparent decline during the construction period in 2004 (ECON 2005b). The 2006 report details the analysis of this additional monitoring as well as summarising the overall findings of the study. The results of additional winter surveys carried out in November and December 2005, also surplus to the licence requirements2, are also presented and discussed.