Written Question · S6W-15320 · Session 6
How Marine Scotland’s guidance for a European Protected Species licence in relation to the use of acoustic deterrent devices (a) accounts f…
The question
To ask the Scottish Government how Marine Scotland’s guidance for a European Protected Species licence in relation to the use of acoustic deterrent devices (a) accounts for the reported uneven distribution of cetaceans across the seabed and (b) has taken recent academic research on cetacean distribution into account.
The answer
All applications for a European Protected Species (EPS) licences must provide the number of individual animals affected by the proposed work, and applicants must show how this number was calculated.
Marine Scotland has published a document that provides guidance and advice for any aquaculture production business that wishes to apply for a licence to disturb EPS as a result of ADD use
- faq_adds_and_eps_including_annex_1_and_annex_2_-_version_5_-october_2021_-_final.pdf (marine.gov.scot) . The guidance provides links to how areas are defined and the cetacean abundance estimates that should be used for calculations, While this document focuses on finfish farms, the information provided can be of use to anyone applying for an EPS licence.
While not published yet, Marine Scotland are in the process of updating its guidance on the use of finer scale distributions to account for uneven densities of marine mammals across SCANS blocks. Previously, the block estimates from SCANS III (Hammond et al. 2021) were recommended, however finer scale density surfaces are now available: Modelled density surfaces of cetaceans in European Atlantic waters in summer 2016 from the SCANS-III aerial and shipboard surveys (Lacey et al. 2022) . These estimates can be downloaded as shapefiles for each species here , and are considered the best available density estimates to use in EPS license assessments. Finer scale density estimates allow for a better characterisation of uneven distributions within SCANS blocks however the issue of temporal effects remains a challenge. For a specific site, there may be other, more suitable information on the cetacean species likely to be present along with their densities. However, MSS would only recommend using robust, effort-related survey data that is appropriate for absolute density estimation.
Marine Scotland bases its decisions on the best available scientific evidence at any particular time including any relevant peer reviewed literature. Any such literature is subject to a critical review to determine its applicability. Marine Scotland’s decisions will reflect the outcome of this process as well as consideration of information provided by the applicant and any expert advice received.
Marine Scotland is currently updating the above guidance to include finer resolution species density surfaces and this will be published in 2023. All applications for EPS licences will be expected to follow the updated guidance.
Marine Scotland has published a document that provides guidance and advice for any aquaculture production business that wishes to apply for a licence to disturb EPS as a result of ADD use
- faq_adds_and_eps_including_annex_1_and_annex_2_-_version_5_-october_2021_-_final.pdf (marine.gov.scot) . The guidance provides links to how areas are defined and the cetacean abundance estimates that should be used for calculations, While this document focuses on finfish farms, the information provided can be of use to anyone applying for an EPS licence.
While not published yet, Marine Scotland are in the process of updating its guidance on the use of finer scale distributions to account for uneven densities of marine mammals across SCANS blocks. Previously, the block estimates from SCANS III (Hammond et al. 2021) were recommended, however finer scale density surfaces are now available: Modelled density surfaces of cetaceans in European Atlantic waters in summer 2016 from the SCANS-III aerial and shipboard surveys (Lacey et al. 2022) . These estimates can be downloaded as shapefiles for each species here , and are considered the best available density estimates to use in EPS license assessments. Finer scale density estimates allow for a better characterisation of uneven distributions within SCANS blocks however the issue of temporal effects remains a challenge. For a specific site, there may be other, more suitable information on the cetacean species likely to be present along with their densities. However, MSS would only recommend using robust, effort-related survey data that is appropriate for absolute density estimation.
Marine Scotland bases its decisions on the best available scientific evidence at any particular time including any relevant peer reviewed literature. Any such literature is subject to a critical review to determine its applicability. Marine Scotland’s decisions will reflect the outcome of this process as well as consideration of information provided by the applicant and any expert advice received.
Marine Scotland is currently updating the above guidance to include finer resolution species density surfaces and this will be published in 2023. All applications for EPS licences will be expected to follow the updated guidance.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S6W-15320 by reference.