Alternate title

2021 Seabird Monitoring undertaken during BWAS

Date (Publication)

2023-03-22

Citation identifier

https://data.gov.ie/dataset/ / Seabird Monitoring undertaken during the Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey (BWAS) 2021

Purpose

Under the EU Birds Directive, there is a requirement on member states to conduct surveillance of seabirds occurring within their waters. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), through the Marine Institute, commissioned a seabird survey from the MRV Celtic Explorer during the annual Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey (BWAS), running from the 21st March to the 7th April 2021.

Status

Completed

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage	National Parks and Wildlife Service	datadelivery@housing.gov.ie	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency

As needed

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

• Species distribution

GEMET - Concepts, version 4.2.3

• biota, biodiversity, animal population, bird

National Parks and Wildlife Service

• National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, bird, Birds Directive, biodiversity

ISO 3166

• Ireland

Use limitation

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Use limitation

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

Copyright Government of Ireland. This dataset was created by National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This copyright material is licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Spatial representation type

Vector

Denominator

50000

Language

English

Character set

UTF8

Topic category

• Environment

Begin date

2021-03-21

End date

2021-04-07

Reference system identifier

http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326 / 4326

EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset EPSG 2009-11-25

Distribution format

Name	Version
Esri shapefile	v10+

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage	National Parks and Wildlife Service	datadelivery@housing.gov.ie.ie	Point of contact

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
zip	https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/general/BWAS21_01a.zip

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Statement

he Cybertracker ( https://cybertracker.org) data collection software package (Version 3.514) was configured for optimum use on the survey. Cybertracker was used to record all positional, environmental and seabird observation data. Using a portable GPS receiver with USB connection, the Cybertracker software automatically recorded the ships position directly into a Microsoft Access database every 5 seconds.

Environmental data was regularly recorded using Cybertracker, including at the start of each seabird survey transect, and included data such as; wind speed, wind direction, sea state, swell, visibility, cloud cover and precipitation. The data was time stamped with GPS data by Cybertracker and saved in the Access database. If environmental conditions changed at any point, the seabird observer recorded an environmental update of the above listed data. Each line transect was assigned a unique transect number, and a new transect was started anytime the vessel activity changed (i.e. changing from on-transect to inter-transect). Each subsequent seabird observation was also assigned to this unique transect number. Ancillary information (such as line changes, changes in survey activity, other vessel activity, etc.) were also recorded on Cybertracker.

The GPS position of each seabird record was time stamped and digitally marked using Cybertracker. Observational data such as; species identification, distance band, group size, composition, heading, age, moult, behaviour and any associations with cetaceans or other vessels were also recorded on the time stamped Cybertracker sighting record page. Where species identification could not be confirmed, observations were recorded at an appropriate taxonomic level (i.e. large gull sp., Larus sp., commic tern, etc.).

Additional visual point sampling was conducted at oceanographic sampling stations and fishing shoot/haul locations. Point sampling survey effort for seabirds was conducted in 360 o arc around the vessel. Data recording methodology remained similar for both point sampling and line transect methods.

Metadata

File identifier

cbedddda-6d41-47ef-8227-b2710af45619 XML

Metadata language

English

Character set

UTF8

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Date stamp

2023-11-14T15:30:40

Metadata standard name

ISDI Metadata Profile

Metadata standard version

1.2

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage	National Parks and Wildlife Service	datadelivery@housing.gov.ie	Author