Dolphin monitoring programme underway
Inch Cape has deployed a total of six submerged static passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) moorings along the east coast of Scotland between St Andrews Bay and Inverbervie to record coastal bottlenose dolphins during the project’s offshore construction.
Installed by Inch Cape’s marine services contractor OEG and marine mammal consultancy SMRU Consulting, the PAM will use underwater microphones (hydrophones) to enable researchers to monitor marine mammals by capturing vocalisations in their natural habitat.
Dolphin clicks and whistles will be monitored over the coming two years to understand if there are any changes to what is detected before, during and after foundation piling. Marine mammal experts from University of St Andrews-based SMRU Consulting will deliver the monitoring and analysis.
The devices will also provide data on the coastal east Scotland bottlenose dolphin population, complementing wider studies of the area. Data on underwater noise levels will help with the understanding of how piling noise propagates in very shallow waters, such as those where bottlenose dolphins primarily live.
The monitoring is a unique opportunity to gather data that will help with understanding bottlenose dolphin responses to piling, especially as Inch Cape is the first project to carry out pile driving in the proximity of this specific regional dolphin population. The data gathered should also help to reduce uncertainties and assumptions made in future environmental assessments for dolphin species.
The devices will be regularly serviced at approximately three monthly intervals during their deployment.
| Location | As laid coordinates |
| Montrose | 56°41.390’ N 002°25.067’ W |
| St Andrews Bay | 56°23.642’ N 002°38.643’ W |
| Broughty Ferry | 56°27.221’ N 002°50.999’ W |
| Carnoustie | 56°28.979’ N 002°38.040’ W |
| Arbroath | 56°33.843’ N 002°29.945’ W |
| Inverbervie | 56°49.923’ N 002°15.287’ W |
