Ocean Science Consulting recently acquired new business premises at Spott Road, Dunbar, in the south east of Scotland, beside the North Sea coast. The new premises comprise offices, >600 m2 warehouse facilities, and 2.3 acres of land, at the heart of Dunbar’s thriving industrial estate. The offices are required to accommodate our ever-expanding team of scientists, environmental personnel and field-support staff. The warehouse will fulfil our immediate requirement for additional storage, but there are plans to incorporate research and development (R&D) laboratories, conference auditorium, staff gym and leisure facilities. The arable area, historically known as Learigg Field, will be converted into a nature reserve, with appropriate advice from organisations such as Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (www.rspb.org.uk), Bat Conservation Trust (www.bats.org.uk), and Bumblebee Trust (www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk). Efforts will be made to create a haven for native flora and fauna, and attempts will be made to exclude cats and mink. The intention is to plant native flowers and trees, erect hedgehog houses, bird and bat boxes, and create a specialised reed pond that can support native species and yet treat waste water from the offices and warehouse. The pond will be left alone to self-colonise with creatures such as amphibians from the surrounding environment; it is hoped that fish species will be brought in naturally via waterfowl; and, it is predicted that the elevated insect levels will attract surface feeding bat species such as the Daubenton’s bat, so watch this space! The official moving date from our current business premises (located beside Belhaven Brewery, Scotland’s oldest independent Brewery) is yet to be announced.
Ocean Science Consulting acquires research vessel
Ocean Science Consulting has acquired an 8m survey vessel called “Porpoise”, which is Marine Coastguard Agency (MCA) coded to Category Three (20 miles from any safe haven day or night) for a crew of seven. Porpoise is ideal for coastal survey work (such as windfarm and pipeline inspections) and equipment testing and trials (such as T-POD and C-POD deployments). Porpoise is stored on a brand-new and custom-built launching trailer, for which we have purposely acquired a 4.2L V8 4×4 vehicle, so the vessel can be readily transported to any European location and deployed at short notice.
Galapagos conservation
Dr. Todd gives fund-raising talk for Galapagos conservation in Cambridge alongside her old friends, Galapagos native and Director of Technical Assistance, Felipe Cruz and Dr Sarah Darwin, Charles Darwin’s great-great grand-daughter.
Office Rennovations
OSC’s offices are currently being refurbished – painting, lighting, new floors, new furniture, new restrooms etc – so perhaps the personnel will be invited to a “house-warming” party with drinks on the Directors…
High Demand
OSC’s busiest field-season is well under way, and our Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs), Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) Operators and hydrophone equipment is currently deployed on several international projects…which corner of the globe next is anyone’s guess.
Recruitment Campaign
OSC has completed a very successful recruitment campaign, which attracted >400 applicants! The interview panel is still recovering from exhaustion…but another recruitment campaign is planned in the near-future. Watch this space (also on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Digg) and we will let you know when the next campaign is planned.
Capital Equipment Investment
OSC has invested heavily in state-of-the-art Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) and other technologies, including PODs and towed hydrophone arrays, to satisfy increased demand and multi-platform projects.
New Year Preparations
A new year begins and the team is busy analysing data for publications, responding to tender proposals, buying new field equipment, and preparing in general for the spring season, when the majority of our MMOs, PAM Operators and other specialist personnel will disperse into the field. For more regular updates, find us on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
Example project locations & porpoise research
Some personnel are currently working off the coast of Africa on a seismic acquisition project, while others are more locally based off the cost of Scotland. We just finished a long-term porpoise monitoring project in the North Sea, presented the results to our client, and have hopefully secured more funding for continued work in 2011-2012.
Data analyses, publications, & job application
Currently analysing data from T-PODs, C-PODs, underwater sound measurements and CTDs, for publications in prep. Submitted abstract for Cork Anthropogenic sound conference. Reviewing job applications for summer field season.
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