Seal Research is Heating Up

PhD student Angela Amlin from the University of St Andrews was up visiting Aberdeen last week to trial some new technology for monitoring seals. Fitted with a thermal imager, her Autonomous Camera Monitoring (ACM) system gave us a whole new perspective on the seals!

Seals (and swans!) showing up on the thermal image
(Image: Angela Amlin)

Angela aims to develop and pilot a low-cost, low-impact system for seal haul-out monitoring in Scotland. Many of our coastal areas are quite remote or difficult to access, which is challenging for both monitoring and management. This is a particular issue given the many threats facing seals, so there is a real need to support managers by finding novel methods to provide useful, up-to-date information.

Earlier this year, Angela and Sarah ran a stakeholder engagement workshop to tap into local knowledge and help focus ACM development. Attended by representatives from NatureScot, Marine Directorate, Newburgh and Ythan Community Trust, East Grampian Coastal Partnership, Ythan Seal Watch, and Action for Climate & Environment Newburgh, the workshop explored challenges and solutions of deploying the ACM system at Newburgh seal beach. This was followed by a public night to share the project plan with the local community - and answer lots of enthusiastic questions about seals!

Trialing the Autonomous Camera Monitoring system at Newburgh seal beach
(Images: Angela Amlin)

Now at the pilot-study stage, inevitably there is still a fair amount of trouble-shooting to do! Angela is planning several more trips up to Aberdeen to continue tweaking the settings and to find the optimal deployment setup.

Find out more about Angela's research on the dedicated project page "Studying Seals with Static Sensors".

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