Abstract
This Technical Report is concerned with the environmental studies undertaken to inform the EIA and HRA of seabirds and marine mammals for the proposed Hywind Scotland Pilot Park Project, a demonstration floating offshore windfarm being progressed by Hywind Scotland Limited (HSL). The report presents results for the one-year programme of boat-based baseline European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) surveys together with relevant context information on regularly occurring species.
The Survey Area covers 170.5 km2 and comprises the original Exclusivity Area buffered to 3 km. This area is covered by 23 parallel transects spaced 0.75 km apart and with a total length of 228 km. Surveys of all 23 transects took two days to complete, with alternate transects surveyed on one day and the other set of alternates on the other day. This regime meant that on each survey day the whole Survey Area was covered.