Abstract
The purpose of this report is for Moray Offshore Renewables Limited (MORL) and Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL), as secretariat for the Moray Firth Regional Advisory Group – Marine Mammals Subgroup (MFRAG‐MM Subgroup), to provide MS‐LOT with the Group’s advice on the “Protocol for mitigating the risk of instantaneous death of injury to marine mammals during piling at the BOWL and MORL Wind Farms” (referred to here as the ‘Piling Protocol’) as requested by the MFRAG‐MM Subgroup Chair on 26th October 2015.
On Monday 19th October member organisations of the MFRAG‐MM Subgroup were invited to vote (yes/no/abstain) on whether MFRAG MM Subgroup should agree the document ‘Protocol for mitigating the risk of instantaneous death or injury to marine mammals during piling at the BOWL and MORL Wind Farms’, dated 2nd October 2015 (included in Appendix A) as the agreed position of MFRAG‐MM Subgroup.
This report considers the consultation undertaken with the MFRAG‐MM Subgroup in developing the Piling Protocol, consultation responses received, and the results of the recent vote undertaken.