Marine Mammal Monitoring

SMRU Ltd provides cutting edge solutions to the logistical and economical challenges presented by the requirement to survey and monitor marine mammal populations, drawing on the wealth of experience present in the Sea Mammal Research Unit as well as our in house scientists.  We are experts in scoping, designing, executing, managing and interpreting marine mammal surveys on behalf of commercial developers.  Our experience includes tracking harbour and grey seals around the UK, multi-species surveys from shore and boat-based platforms around the world and aerial surveys of seal haulouts.  Our scientists are experienced offshore surveyors and hold all sea survival, boat handling and H&S certificates accordingly.  We are able to provide JNCC certified Marine Mammal Observers  for offshore mitigation work, using both surface visual observations as well as the very latest Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) techniques.

SMRU Ltd has a service contract with the Joint Industry Programme of the Oil & Gas producers Association to support the ongoing development and maintenance of PAMGuard, an automated acoustic marine mammal classification tool that is increasingly becoming the industry standard for underwater marine mammal survey.  We are also experienced in the use of automated porpoise detection devices (PODs) and the interpretation of their outputs.  Our scientists are also developing the use of fixed PAM techniques to reduce the sole dependence on more costly and labour-intensive offshore surveys using human observers.