IWDG Consulting won both tenders issued by the National Parks and Wildlife Service this year for monitoring dolphins and porpoise in Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). One was for Harbour Porpoises surveys in the Rockabill to Dalkey Island SAC off the east coast and one for bottlenose dolphin mark-recapture abundance estimate in the West Connacht Coast SAC. The latter is the first attempt to deliver a consistent and repeatable survey design with outputs sufficient for reporting.
IWDG Consulting have delivered all harbour porpoise SAC surveys for the NPWs since 2007 and this will be our third survey of the Rockabill to Dalkey Island SAC. It will be interesting to see if densities are consistent with previous surveys. The West Connacht Coast SAC monitoring contract is more challenging as surveys need to be carried out from two ports simultaneously with two teams of surveyors. A challenge IWDG Consulting is well up for
These surveys are required as part of the governments reporting obligations to Europe and typically occur every 3 years in each SAC.
