Seabird Monitoring undertaken during the Western European Shelf Pelagic Acoustic Survey (WESPAS) 2019

A seabird survey during the annual Western European Shelf Pelagic Acoustic Survey (WESPAS), running from 13th of June to 4th of July and the 4th to 24th July 2019. A standard line transect survey methodology was employed by the seabird survey team with additional visual point sampling at fishing locations and oceanographic sampling stations. Survey transects were undertaken at speeds of 5-10 knots, with fishing activity being conducted at speeds of 2-3 knots. The seabird observer’s survey effort was maximized and optimized during periods of sea state less than or equal to sea state 6 and with visibility of greater than 300m. A total of 225 hours and 40 minutes of survey effort was conducted over the course of the WESPAS 2019 survey, 125 hours and 3 minutes of survey effort was conducted on Leg 1, while 100 hours and 37 minutes of survey effort was conducted on Leg 2 of the survey. In total, 187 hours and 36 minutes of survey effort were conducted using a line transect methodology, while 38 hours and 4 minutes of effort were conducted using the point sampling methodology. A total of 4528 seabird sightings were recorded throughout the survey, totalling 24866 individuals, with flock size ranging from 1 up to 2000 for some species. In total, 7074 seabirds were recorded as ‘in-transect’ during line transect survey effort. A total of 25 species of seabird were encountered during the survey. A further 23 sightings of terrestrial birds were also recorded, comprising of 56 individuals belonging to 10 species’.