Biological - Oil Spill Contingency Planning (OSCP)

The biological section of ‘Oil spill response and planning’ (OSCP) shows 17 layers (all with  zoom restricted to about 1:250,000)  split into four parts:

1 . Seals – which replicates layers elsewhere on NMPi -

• Management Areas; Conservation Areas - Harbour Seals; Designated seal haul-outs; and Grey seal pupping sites from Marine Scotland;
• Estimated Total Usage of Grey Seals and Harbour Seals around the UK data from SMRU.

2. Coastal Breeding seabirds – based on JNCC Seabird 2000 data this layers shows:

•  Locations where >=80% of  seabirds during breeding season are either auks / shearwaters / petrels; diving birds; gull / terns / skuas; or locations of mixed colonies which have no dominant species during breeding season
• Points represent lengths of coastline, approximately 1km or less, with the size of the point related to the number of birds.

3. Wildfowl and waders – based on the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) these layers show

• The mean peak numbers of birds by type (Wildfowl; wader; or cormorants and divers) in either Spring (Apr – Jun); Autumn (Jul – Oct); or Winter (Nov – Mar)
• Points represent lengths of coastline, with the size of the point related to the number of birds.

4  Designated sites for marine mammals and coastal otters – this layer shows sites SACs (SNH / JNCC data) designated for marine or coastal mammals

• Common seals
• Grey seals
• Bottlenose Dolphin
• Coastal otters

There is a separate web page to explain the two layers:

• Median sensitivity of seabird concentrations to oil pollution in DECC Offshore Oil Licence Blocks by month (time-aware).
• Confidence in the assessment of sensitivity of seabird concentrations to oil pollution in DECC Offshore Oil Licence Blocks by month (time-aware).