IN 2022, MARINElife established a project to gradually introduce ‘gold standard’ European Seabird at Sea (ESAS) seabird recording on MARINElife ferry routes in England. The project is a partnership with the UK Governments conservation advisory body, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), who previously developed a successful pilot project in Scotland with assistance from MARINELife.
The project is part-funded by Defra and involves running courses to train volunteer surveyors in European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) survey methods, as well as a series of monthly ferry surveys, currently on routes:
- Heysham – Dublin
- Newhaven – Dieppe, and
- Penzance – St Mary’s.
VSAS surveys are delivering high-quality, long-term time series data in a cost-effective manner, thus contributing towards an England-wide monitoring network, along with other benefits of citizen science schemes, e.g. encouraging public engagement with marine monitoring and the marine environment.
Species focus
Balearic Shearwater
Fulmar
Guillemot
Razorbill
Gannet
Selected publications
| Volunteer Seabirds at Sea (VSAS) England Survey Data | https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/b6da44b7-9bcb-4faf-8bf5-2ebd3eaa5e39/volunteer-seabirds-at-sea-vsas-england-survey-data#:~:text=VSAS%20is%20a%20citizen%20science,of%20opportunity%20around%20the%20UK. |