Aquatic Enviromental consultancy, EcoServe

Lecture gave at University College Dublin for the MSc programme in Environmental Science, February 2004.

Transcript

1. UCD – February 2004 Aquatic Environmental consultancy www.ecoserve.ie Research to consultancy Javier Atalah, MSc, PhD
2. UCD – February 2004 Outline of presentation  Outline of the company  Research  BioMar project  PESI  Marbef  EIAs  Steps of a project  Case studies  Finding work in the consultancy field
3. UCD – February 2004 From a university research group to a company  Research group in TCD (1993 – 1996)  Contracts ended  Examined campus company options  Established in August 1996 as a completely private company  Based in TCD for short period (4 staff)  Left TCD later 1996 to Enterprise Centre in Terenure (6 staff)  Recently moved to current address
4. UCD – February 2004 From a university research group to a company • Present day • Two directors (NZ and Norway)  Two marine ecologists  One lab manager/taxonomist  One freshwater ecologist  Part time administrator • 50% marine and freshwater consultancy • 50% research projects (European and national)
5. UCD – February 2004 Survey sites around Ireland
6. UCD – February 2004 Environmental Impact Assessments
7. UCD – February 2004 Marine and Estuarine Ecoserve’s services include:  Environmental Impact Assessment  Biotope mapping  Intertidal and subtidal surveys  Fisheries assessments  Water and sediment sampling analysis  Monitoring and mitigation analysis  EIS critical review
8. UCD – February 2004 Freshwater Our services include:  Environmental Impact Assessment  Macroinvertebrate sampling, identification and Q-index determination for water quality assessment  Fish habitat assessment and survey  Protected and endangered species surveys (e.g. freshwater pearl mussel)  Monitoring programmes and mitigation measures
9. UCD – February 2004 Clients and projects  Harbour developments  Bridges  Roads and housing developments  Offshore wind farms  Aquaculture  Marinas  Aggregation extraction  Oil and gas  Sewage treatment  Power stations
10. UCD – February 2004 Environmental Impact Assessments  Three key questions:  What is the existing environment?  Context - extent and magnitude  Character - types of habitats  Significance - protected species/habitats?  Sensitivity - what is the likely effect of the proposed development  What are the likely significant impacts?  What mitigation measures should be proposed?
11. UCD – February 2004 Project steps  Proposal preparation:  Technical specification  Literature review and existing data  Relevant legislation  Team and company expertise  Associates  Costs  Project awarded !
12. UCD – February 2004 Rocky Shores Sandy Shores Estuaries Salt marshes Mud flats Sand flats
13. UCD – February 2004 Beam trawl Biotope mapping Underwater video and diving Core sampling Grab sampling Seine netting
14. UCD – February 2004 Survey design • Representative of study area • Replication • Control sites (comparable, sufficient) • Type of design (BACI – before, after, control, impact) • Interspersion • Logical to allow inferences about impacts • Seasons
15. UCD – February 2004 Mapping and classification for EIAs  Coupled with more traditional sampling enables assessment of:  extent and range of biotopes (area and geographic extent)  presence of rare species or protected species  Enables comparison with similar biotopes from different areas.
16. UCD – February 2004 After fieldwork.....  Lab work:  Sorting samples  Species ID  Water analyses  Sediment analyses (Particle size and TOC)
17. UCD – February 2004 Data analyses  Data entry  Describe and plot data  Stats  Univariate, diversity indexes  Multivariate, e.g. PRIMER analyses  Mapping, e.g. MapInfo, ArcView
18. UCD – February 2004 Report writing  Background/intro  Methods  Results  Predicted Impacts  Mitigation measures
19. UCD – February 2004 Case Study: Arklow Bank offshore windfarm
20. UCD – February 2004 Considerations for planning a project • What information is needed? • What information already exists? • What additional information do we need to collect?  What do we need to answer the questions about impacts?  What information is legally required? • How long is this going to take? • When do we need to do it? • How much is this going to cost? (and can we do it cheaper than everyone else and still be cost effective)
21. UCD – February 2004 Types of species and habitats likely to be impacted • Benthos (habitats, biotopes and species)  Baseline studies of the seabed  Baseline studies of the seashore where cable comes ashore • Fish and fisheries  Baseline studies seabed – demersal fish  Review of existing fisheries information • Plankton (zoo- and phyto)  Baseline studies • Marine mammals  Baseline studies • Birds  Baseline studies
22. UCD – February 2004 Types of impacts likely to occur from the development • Loss of habitat and species  Loss of habitat due to turbines and bases  Are the habitats or species of nature conservation importance (locally, nationally, internationally) • Changes in hydrography  Alteration of currents  change in habitat  Changes in sedimentation  change in habitat  Changes in water quality  change in habitat • Alteration of habitats and species  Changes in habitat  different taxa colonising  Changes in habitat  loss of feeding or breeding grounds  indirect loss of species • Electromagnetic radiation from cables • Noise and vibrations from turbines • etc
23. UCD – February 2004 Other considerations  Both phases of development • Construction • Operational  Are these impacts long term or short term?
24. UCD – February 2004 Environmental Impact Assessment - Burtonport, Co. Donegal
25. UCD – February 2004 Arklow Port dredging EIA  Estuary benthic survey  River macroinvertebrates (Q-values)  River lamprey found in samples (listed on Annex II of the Habitats Directive).  Submitted to ERFB for recommendation.  Changed dredging locations to avoid disturbance to lampreys.
26. UCD – February 2004 Invasive plants in Dublin waterways Giant hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum Giant rhubarb Gunnera tinctoria Himalayan balsam Impatiens glandulifera Japanese knotweed Fallopia japonica
27. UCD – February 2004 Research projects
28. UCD – February 2004 BioMar Objectives  Four main objectives:  To conduct field surveys that map seabed habitats and communities in Ireland and UK  To develop an integrated methodology for mapping in the field  To develop a protocol to determine the sensitivity of marine communities to man-induced change  To develop a model for a decision making support system for oil spill emergency response
29. UCD – February 2004 • BioMar project  1993 -1997  900 sites in Ireland  1600 sampling stations • NI surveys  Littoral survey  Sublittoral • Marine Nature Conservation Review  1987 - 1997  10,000 sites in UK  Collation of previous data  Mermaid web site  MarLin web site                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
30. UCD – February 2004 Field data collection methods • Standard data collection  Each habitat on the shore or seabed  Species lists and relative abundance  use of a semi-quantitative abundance scale (SACFOR)  % substratum data  Environmental variables data:  wave exposure, tidal stream strength, salinity, etc  Entry onto database  Analysis to provide provisional classification  Further refinement with additional data
31. UCD – February 2004 Biotope descriptions  Standard format  Hierarchical coding system  Habitat classification  Wave exposure and tidal streams  Substratum  Salinity  Biological zone (depth or height up shore)  Biotope description  Characterising species  Distribution  Frequency of occurence
32. UCD – February 2004 LR.YG
33. UCD – February 2004 LR.HLR.MusB.Sem.Sem
34. UCD – February 2004 alv
35. UCD – February 2004 SLR.Asc .Asc SLR.Fspi
36. UCD – February 2004 EIR. Ala
37. UCD – February 2004 MIR.Ldi g.Ldig
38. UCD – February 2004 LGS.L an
39. UCD – February 2004
40. UCD – February 2004 Lessons from Biomar  BioMar project provided us:  Broad experience of Irish marine fauna and flora  Tool for characterising, comparing, quantifying marine habitats and biotopes
41. UCD – February 2004 European Research Projects  BioMar (marine biotopes)  MARS (network of marine research stations)  BIOMARE (Implementation and networking of large-scale long-term MARine BIOdiversity research in Europe)  ERMS (inventory marine species)  MARBENA (long term infrastructure for marine biodiversity research)  MarBEF (a novel approach to marine biodiversity)  PESI (Pan European Species Infrastructure)  ACES (Atlantic coral reef studies)  European Marine Research Information Network in Biodiversity ( management of websites and list-servers) Marine biodiversity research
42. UCD – February 2004 Education and Outreach - Workshops - Conferences - Reviews - Newsletters - Educational material www.ecoserve.ie
43. UCD – February 2004 PESI
44. UCD – February 2004 Marbef wiki
45. UCD – February 2004 Heritage Council Grants • Molluscs as indicators of pollution in rocky shores •Blind Shrimp
46. UCD – February 2004 Finding work in the consultancy field Science degree  Basic understanding of ecology  Fieldwork skill and some experience  Awareness of literature  Report writing  Computer skills (word processing, spreadsheets, GIS)  Data analysis and interpretation  Working to time schedules Other skills  Statistical analysis  Taxonomy  Publications  Communication and networking skills  Financial management  Team work  Health and safety awareness  First Aid  Driving license  Legislation  Diving
47. UCD – February 2004 Web sites of interest  www.ecoserve.ie  www.epa.ie  www.npws.ie  www.cbf.ie  www.marine.ie  www.etenders.gov.ie  mailing-list, e.g. Marine-B, Algae-L, Marbef  www.stopdodo.com  www.earthworks-jobs.com  www.jncc.co.uk