Marine Mammal Observer | Passive Acoustic Monitoring | PAH Systems | Marine Mammal Observation http://www.osc.co.uk/blog A day in the life of an OSC employee Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:21:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Ongoing beta-testing of PAMguard http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/ongoing-beta-testing-of-pamguard/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/ongoing-beta-testing-of-pamguard/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:09:40 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=168 Continue reading →]]> Last year Ocean Science Consulting agreed to help the PAMguard team (www.pamguard.org) with their ongoing development project to improve the functionality of PAMguard for undertaking small cetacean survey work. The PAMguard team have just built a new installer and have asked us all to try it out in field conditions. Our Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) operators are currently trialling the installer on various seismic vessels operating around the world. This involves OSC providing comments and feedback about the current features of PAMguard, the types of features we would like to see and actual testing the developing software. Junior Consultant (and beta-testing coordinator) Erica Morrin, is in charge of compiling and submitting comments to the PAMguard developers. Generic problems with publicly resealed versions of PAMGUARD are also being tested bug reports submitted. This collaborative effort informs the developers of what’s happening in real field conditions, and how the programme can be improved.

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/ongoing-beta-testing-of-pamguard/feed/ 0 Advisors to the New Zealand Government http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/advisors-to-the-new-zealand-government/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/advisors-to-the-new-zealand-government/#comments Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:26:13 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=164 Continue reading →]]> Ocean Science Consulting staff have been advising the New Zealand Government on guidelines for Passive Acoustic Monitoring of cetaceans (www.doc.govt.nz).

“The New Zealand government is currently reviewing guidance for minimising acoustic disturbance to marine mammals from seismic survey operations, and is soon to publish a new Code of Conduct. This process has relied heavily on expert stakeholders to develop the most robust yet practical regime possible based on international best practises. Ocean Science Consulting provided invaluable advice, particularly in establishing specifications and standards for PAM operations. OSC’s expertise, experience and passionate commitment to improving PAM operating standards was clearly evident, and I would like to express my gratitude for the significant contribution that their staff has made to our review.”

Mr Tara Ross-Watt
Senior Technical Adviser
Department of Conservation New Zealand

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/advisors-to-the-new-zealand-government/feed/ 0 Season kicks off http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/season-kicks-off/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/season-kicks-off/#comments Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:24:09 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=162 Continue reading →]]> Ocean Science Consulting’s field season kicked-off unusually early, with unprecedented demand for services and personnel. Staff were also busy during Christmas and New Year, with projects on sound level and frequency measurement of conductor hammering from exploration drilling rigs, Marine Mammal Observation and Passive Acoustic Monitoring from seismic vessels.

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2012/03/season-kicks-off/feed/ 0 Ocean Science Consulting acquires new premises http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/12/ocean-science-consulting-purchases-warehouse-facilities-and-new-offices/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/12/ocean-science-consulting-purchases-warehouse-facilities-and-new-offices/#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:25:23 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=137 Continue reading →]]> 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.

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/12/ocean-science-consulting-purchases-warehouse-facilities-and-new-offices/feed/ 0 Ocean Science Consulting acquires research vessel http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/09/ocean-science-consulting-purchases-new-research-vessel/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/09/ocean-science-consulting-purchases-new-research-vessel/#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:17:30 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=130 Continue reading →]]> 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.

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/09/ocean-science-consulting-purchases-new-research-vessel/feed/ 0 Galapagos conservation http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/07/galapagos-conservation/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/07/galapagos-conservation/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:07:35 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=111 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.

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]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/07/galapagos-conservation/feed/ 0 Office Rennovations http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/office-rennovations/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/office-rennovations/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:07:00 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=103 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…

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/office-rennovations/feed/ 0 High Demand http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/high-demand/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/high-demand/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:56:07 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=101 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.

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/high-demand/feed/ 0 Recruitment Campaign http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/recruitment-campaign/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/recruitment-campaign/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:18:59 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=98 Continue reading →]]> 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.

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/recruitment-campaign/feed/ 0 Capital Equipment Investment http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/new-equipment/ http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/new-equipment/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:46:05 +0000 admin http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/?p=83 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.

]]> http://www.osc.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/new-equipment/feed/ 0