Ketos Ecology carries out regular consultancy work for a range of conservation organisations and industrial bodies. This work varies from production of written reports to field survey work. For enquiries regarding potential consultancy work please contact us.

Desk-based consultancy

Ketos Ecology has a good reputation for the production of high quality written reports for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), industry requirements and conservation management. Consultancy work in 2006 included reviews of anthropogenic sound sources and their effects on cetaceans for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, an assessment of monitoring and mitigation measures for use during the Thames Estuary offshore wind farm developments for RPS, a report on the distribution and abundance of cetaceans and turtles in offshore waters off Angola for BP (Angola) Ltd, and an assessment of marine mammal occurrence and mitigation in relation to a tidal energy project in the Pentland Firth for Craigton Ecological Services/nPower.

Seismic survey mitigation

Increasingly, concern over the potential impacts of industrial activities on marine mammals requires environmental impact assessment prior to operations, and mitigating action throughout. Caroline Weir has been contracted by seismic personnel agencies as a Marine Mammal Observer (MMO) onboard seismic survey vessels since 1999, including seismic survey work throughout UK waters, the Gulf of Mexico, and Angola, Congo and Gabon in West Africa, and during other industrial activities including decommissioning, pipe-laying operations, turbine construction and military sonar trials.

Offshore wind farms

The development of marine wind farms in coastal waters produces a range of potential impacts upon seabirds and marine mammal (cetaceans and pinnipeds) species. Ketos Ecology has been involved in this expanding industry since 2000, working through Natural Power Ltd., the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies at Hull University, Environmentally Sustainable Systems (ESS), Ecologic and RPS Energy, at offshore wind farm sites in the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, England, and Scotland. Consultancy work has included seabird abundance and distribution surveys, cetacean monitoring using visual and acoustic methods, the production of scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports, and reviews of appropriate monitoring and mitigation techniques (including the development of Marine Mammal Mitigation Programmes) related to wind farm construction.