Moray Firth Marine Traffic Study

Transcription

1 Marine Traffic Study Final Report Richard Robinson Consulting 2009 Date Amended by Detail July 2010 MFP Additional info added as post-script on dolphin tour boats, Nigg Ferry, etc. March 2011 TCE Adjust reference to moorings consents- Para4, P7 Richard Robinson Consulting 46 High Street FORTROSE IV10 8TF (mobile) i

2 CONTENTS APPENDIX A Marine Traffic Study...i 1 Introduction Categories of harbour Larger Freight Harbours Methods Analysis Routes through the and total vessel movements Recreational/Fishing Harbours Methods Analysis Other sources of data Fishing Movements to fixed marine installations Lifeboats Research vessels Large commercial vessels Geocoding Tidal considerations Inverness Harbour Cromarty Firth Sailing Clubs Single events Acknowledgements References Annex Proposed template for sailing club survey Events Boats Members/participants Other Annex Data table for small craft berths and moorings, Annex 3... Error! Bookmark not defined. 14 Research vessels Aberdeen Field Station, The Lighthouse, Cromarty Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society List of Figures Figure 1 Main Harbours... 2 Figure 2 Inverness vessel movements... 3 Figure 3 Cromarty Firth vessel movements... 4 Figure 4 Buckie vessel movements... 4 Figure 5 Cromarty Firth types of vessel... 5 Figure 6 Vessels at the Caledonian Canal... 6 Figure 7 Numbers of small boats at moorings and harbours Figure 8 Small craft at moorings and harbours Figure 9 Sailing vessels at moorings and harbours Figure 10 Fishing Activity Figure 11 Destinations of RNLI launches Figure 12 Research trips - Aberdeen University Figure 13 WDCS survey effort Figure 14 AIS route plot - August Figure 15 AIS route plot - January ii

3 List of Tables Table 1 Total vessel movements from larger freight harbours Table 2 RNLI Lifeboat launches iii

4 1 INTRODUCTION The coast is exceptional in terms of the rich diversity of marine invertebrates and plant species and it is home to internationally important populations of migratory and resident wildfowl and waders. The marine environment is home to one of only two known resident populations of bottlenose dolphins in UK waters. Some 40% of the area is now designated as part of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. In 2005 the inner was designated as a Special Area of Conservation under European legislation in recognition of the small group of resident bottlenose dolphins and the vulnerable status of this population. Reports commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), VisitScotland and others highlight current and projected increases in marine focused tourism, such as dolphin and whale watching, and activities including boating, kayaking, jet-skis, angling and sea fishing, as well as coastal related activities such as bird watching, walks, etc. According to the British Marine Federation, the is already a fast growing area for marine recreation in Scotland. Although there are some successful voluntary codes of practice in place, such as the Dolphin Space Programme ( and the Marine Wildlife Watching Code ( much activity is uncontrolled and the cumulative effects and pressures on vulnerable species and areas are not fully recognised or managed. Recent discussions with the Scottish Government regarding the Scottish Marine Bill identified the need for hard data about marine and coastal recreation, including its economic value, to help raise its profile and appreciation of the local and national importance of these resources. The Partnership therefore agreed to carry out a year-long study to gather more key information on marine recreation and tourism activities, including recreational boating, the bye laws and voluntary codes which apply, charting environmentally sensitive areas, economic values etc. Before being able to consider any cumulative impacts from increasing recreational boat traffic in the firth, it was agreed that more data was needed on the current baseline levels of all marine traffic, including commercial, fishing, oil related, marine wildlife watching, etc. in the. This report accompanies detailed data which provide that information. The data could be used in many ways to answer a variety of research questions and this report cannot illustrate all the possibilities. In addition the data will be most telling for the analysis of trends over a number of years, and at this point it is not possible to illustrate how that could be done. Instead, the report presents some visualisations of the data and some examples that show the existing geographical patterns of marine traffic activity and recreational use, The report also contains detailed methodological information that is relevant to future use of the data. It explains how the information was collected, how it has been recorded, and what gaps or inaccuracies it may contain. 2 CATEGORIES OF HARBOUR There is a continuous spectrum of harbours in the from the Cromarty Firth Port Authority to small tidal anchorages and it would be confusing to present the data from all of them in the same way. So in this study the larger harbours 1

5 with regular commercial freight operations are dealt with as one group. All other harbours and moorings form a second group. 3 LARGER FREIGHT HARBOURS The following harbours are in this group: Inverness Harbour Authority Cromarty Firth Port Authority Wick Harbour Trust Buckie Macduff Harbour Fraserburgh Harbour Authority did not volunteer information and is not included. Figure 1 Main Harbours 3.1 Methods We compiled a single Excel workbook with a separate spreadsheet page for the data from each harbour. Additional pages contain analysis of each harbour s records in the form of tables and graphs. Each harbour records information on vessel movements in a different way but certain basic pieces of information are common to all and are included: Date of arrival/departure Vessel name Gross registered tonnage The following additional information is included for some but not all harbours: Time of arrival/departure Origin/destination Type of vessel Some specific points are also relevant: 2

6 Inverness harbour has a tidal window so all arrivals and departures are made in the two hours preceding high tide. The Cromarty Firth Port Authority provided details of intra-firth movements (small vessels and tugs moving between anchored vessels and harbour, etc.). These are presented as a separate spreadsheet page. Tidal information for Invergordon is also contained on a separate page, with the time of the first high tide for every day of 2008 shown. 3.2 Analysis The following graphs plot total monthly vessel movements for these harbours, with arrivals and departures counting as separate movements. The graphs of vessel movements illustrate seasonal variation on a monthly basis. They show no strong seasonal variation in overall numbers of vessel movements at any harbour, though Cromarty FPA shows strong seasonal variation for specific types of vessel and this is shown in Figure 5. The graphs have been produced to the same scale so the relative importance of the different harbours is obvious. The number of movements at Wick is small so the monthly distribution is not shown here. Figure 2 Inverness vessel movements 3

7 Figure 3 Cromarty Firth vessel movements Figure 4 Buckie vessel movements 4

8 Figure 5 Cromarty Firth types of vessel Cromarty Firth Vessel total movements 2008 by type of vessel

9 British Waterways Board provided information about movements out of the Caledonian canal into the at Clachnaharry sealock. A large proportion of these movements are recreational vessels, though we did not have access to information on vessel type or size. The monthly distribution of movements is shown below, and shows a strong seasonal bias. Most traffic is in the summer, with slightly more vessels heading west at the start of the season and slightly more heading east in late summer and autumn. A total of 1434 movements were recorded over the year. Figure 6 Vessels at the Caledonian Canal 3.3 Routes through the and total vessel movements The origin and destination information for movements to and from each harbour was used to identify likely routes through the. Figure 14 illustrates that most vessels head out of the firth along northerly or southerly routes, so origins and destinations were assigned to north and south groups (these are listed in the project spreadsheet). The overall results of this analysis were as follows. 6

10 Table 1 Total vessel movements 1 from larger freight harbours 2008 North route South route Unknown route Total Macduff 2 0 Buckie Inverness Cromarty Firth Wick Total RECREATIONAL/FISHING HARBOURS All harbours and anchorages in the are listed in Lawrence (2003) and we identified the ones with significant permanent moorings and sought information about them. A few informal moorings are also placed around the coast. Moorings laid on the sea bed require consent from The Crown Estate and Scottish Government but our informal consultation suggests this is not always done. In the absence of a consistent existing source of information, we have not included these moorings in the survey. 4.1 Methods An earlier survey of small harbours in the western was done in 2008 in association with the Whiteness development planning application. We updated this using the same criteria, through interviews with harbour masters in March We also undertook a new survey of other small harbours between Fraserburgh and Wick, in the same way, using similar criteria. We sought information on vessels moored at sea bed moorings, on pontoons and on harbour wharves. We asked for numbers of vessels in specific length categories. In most cases harbour masters were able to estimate numbers in each of our categories, though in some cases harbours used different length categories that did not match our template. In those cases we made approximations. The original Whiteness survey recorded numbers on harbour wharves separately from pontoons and moorings, but did not list them in size categories. We repeated this approach but for newly surveyed harbours we did not use a separate category for vessels on wharves. Instead, we included them with vessels on pontoons where numbers were small, using the size categories. Where numbers were large we included a new set of records for the harbour alongside those for the marina. For these reasons the total numbers recorded at each harbour and marina are accurate and precise estimates. The distribution of vessels between size categories is less accurate. We also asked harbour masters to estimate the proportion of the total number of vessels that were primarily sailing boats, and we also collected the following additional information: Numbers of creel boats Presence and scale of any commercial fishing activity 1 Inward and outward counted as separate movements 2 Figures for movements were not available for MacDuff, but the harbourmaster commented that there were very few commercial vessel movements apart from fishing boats. 7

11 Presence and frequency of use of slipway Extent of RIB and PWC launching Plans for the future of the harbour/moorings The information is based on harbour masters records for 2008 and their expectations for summer The additional information is included with the data spreadsheet. In the case of Inverness Marina, which only opened at the end of 2008, the numbers are based on the available pontoon space. Inverness Marina were thought to be keeping records on the activity levels of boats moored there, but in fact the boats so rarely leave the marina that this has not been done (Jamie Hogan, pers. comm.). 4.2 Analysis The full data table is included in Annex 2. The total number of vessels recorded from all harbours was 1328, which includes all available berths at the Inverness Marina opened in autumn Approximately 40% of the total number of vessels were sailing boats. Figure 7 illustrates where the boats are located. The area of each circle is proportional to the number of boats at that location. 8

12 Figure 7 Numbers of small boats at moorings and harbours 2008 Area of circle proportional to total number of boats moored or berthed: e.g. Avoch = 50; Findochty = 98. 9

13 Figure 8 Small craft at moorings and harbours 3 APPENDIX A 160 Small craft based in, summer 2008, by length Number of vessels Figures for Inverness marina based on available berths when operations began in autumn Whiteness not operational in Other 10m m 5.1-8m up to 5m

14 Figure 9 Sailing vessels at moorings and harbours 4 APPENDIX A 160 Sailing vessels in, summer 2008, as a proportion of total Number of vessels Inverness Marina and Whiteness were not operating in summer Power Sail

15 5 OTHER SOURCES OF DATA 5.1 Fishing A number of other data sources exist and could contribute to establishing a baseline for vessel movements in the. The most obvious is the Scottish Government records of fishing activity, derived from automatic position records on boats over 15m length. A variety of information can be obtained from this, including estimates of fishing boats on passage or actively fishing. It is not clear what would be most useful as a baseline as it depends on what research question is being asked. It may be best to discuss with SG staff how the information is archived and how it could be made available in future if required. A sample plot of some data has been provided by the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government, as follows in Figure 10. The data is derived from 2 hourly records of position, and can be filtered to show movements above or below a cut-off speed. This can be used to provide an estimate of active fishing or passages between fishing grounds. Future studies could use this dataset to examine variation between years and trends over time. The limitations of the data must be remembered as small inshore fishing boats are not included in the system. Figure 10 Fishing Activity 12

16 Data is also available for fishing boat registration. It is not clear how this relates to fishing operations or to movements to and from working ports, so this information has not been used in this report. 5.2 Movements to fixed marine installations Movements to and from specific offshore developments, such as the platforms in the Beatrice Field. Ithaca Energy provided the following information about their supply vessel movements from November 2008 to May 2009, though they emphasised that the period was not typical because of commissioning work on the Jacky Platform hook-up project. Kintore vessel to and from Invergordon 107 Windfarm to and from Buckie 81 Jacky to and from Buckie 76 Ad Hoc (other stand-by and installation work) 22 13

17 5.3 Lifeboats RNLI emergency launches in 2008 are shown on the following chart and details are included in the data spreadsheet accompanying this report. (Training launches are not recorded by RNLI) Figure 11 Destinations of RNLI launches 2008 The total numbers of launches for each RNLI station are as follows. Table 2 RNLI Lifeboat launches 2008 Station Name Total BUCKIE 18 FRASERBRGH 18 INVERGRDON 9 KESSOCK 23 LOCH NESS 1 MACDUFF 13 PETERHEAD 1 WICK 12 Grand Total 95 14

18 5.4 Research vessels Information on survey and research trips was provided by the three main research centres in the. Aberdeen University Field Station at Cromarty made journeys as depicted in the figure below and listed in Annex 3 (Cheney pers. comm.). Figure 12 Research trips - Aberdeen University The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society made trips listed in the table below from their base at Spey Bay. Routes are illustrated in Annex 3. Figure 13 WDCS survey effort 2008 A No. survey days Survey effort (km) Month February May August November Total The Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit at Gardenstown made the following trips in the outer southern between May and October 2008 (Robinson 2008). 15

19 2008 No. of days part surveys made Total no. of Total survey effort routes covered in hrs Total survey effort in kms May 2 2 2: Jun : Jul : Aug : Sep : Oct 3 3 3: Total :58 2, Large commercial vessels Marico Marine (Marico Marine 2007) used the marine Automatic Indentification System (AIS) records maintained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to analyse commercial shipping movements for a strategic environmental assessment of marine renewable energy off the coast of Scotland. This dataset records the position of all cargo craft over 300GT (international), 500GT (national), and all passenger vessels. The area included covers approximately 24 miles around all MCA radar stations. Location data is recorded for each vessel every minute, along with identification and other vessel information. This dataset is very large and would require complex analysis. Example plots for seven days in August and January 2006 are as follows (from Marico Marine 2007): Figure 14 AIS route plot - August Figure 15 AIS route plot - January It was not feasible to use this data in the current study but it would be a useful resource for more detailed work in the future. 6 GEOCODING Almost all of the data used in this study is point data for harbours. The project spreadsheet provides co-ordinates for each location so that the data can be used in GIS applications. We investigated whether it would be possible to geocode routes followed by commercial vessels from information held by harbour authorities. The only relevant data was on origin and destination so it has not been possible to provide data about movements at areas of interest such as Chanonry Point or the Cromarty Sutors. 16

20 7 TIDAL CONSIDERATIONS Tidal conditions are important to mariners as well as to marine wildlife. We investigated the extent to which the data collected during the study could throw light on this issue. 7.1 Inverness Harbour All movements to and from the harbour take place during the period immediately before high water. All commercial traffic through the Kessock narrows therefore takes place at this time, and our data on movements to and from Inverness can be equated with passage through the narrows, which are an area of high cetacean activity. Chanonry Point is another area of high cetacean activity, which appears to have tidal patterns. However ships heading to and from Inverness often anchor in the Inner before berthing or after leaving, and the Harbour Authority does not hold information about this. It is therefore not possible to draw any conclusions from the Inverness Harbour information about the timing of vessel movements through the Chanonry/Fort George narrows. 7.2 Cromarty Firth Cromarty FPA provided data on time of arrival and departure for vessels travelling to the firth as well as those moving within it. The FPA also provided tide table information and we entered this in the spreadsheet. We then analysed vessel movements in relation to tide, calculating an approximate value in the range +/- 6 hours in relation to High Water. No patterns are immediately obvious in the incoming/outgoing vessel data. There are inaccuracies in this method of relating vessel movements to tide, so if this issue is of particular interest it may be worth obtaining further information about shipping practices from the harbour authorities. 8 SAILING CLUBS In discussion with MFP we agreed to propose how information about the activities of sailing clubs in the area should be collected. Six clubs are listed on the Royal Yachting Association website. Other informal sailing groups exist but they are less likely to hold regular events. Our proposed questionnaire for sailing/recreational boat clubs is included at Annex 1. 9 SINGLE EVENTS A number of individual events involving vessel movement through the Firth took place in power boats passed through the Caledonian Canal in June 2008 as part of the Round Britain Powerboat Race. 9 RIBs took part in the Round Scotland RIB Race in August, passing through the Firth. The 15 th Portsoy Traditional Boat Festival took place in early July. This is an annual event. 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the help of a diverse range of bodies and individuals it would not have been possible to provide a systematic and comprehensive picture of commercial and marine activity in the, and we are very grateful to all those who contributed. In particular, we thank all the harbourmasters around the who contributed information to this report and the three research groups based in the area. 17

21 11 REFERENCES Eisfeld, Sonja, Simon Keith, Alice Pope, Davy Still, Sarah Dolman & Mark Simmonds Outer Cetacean Research Project Report for the BBC Wildlife Fund. WDCS Chippenham. Lawrence, M The Yachtsman s Pilot North and East Scotland. Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson, St Ives Marico Marine The Provision of Additional Studies in Relation to the Scottish Executive Strategic Environmental Assessment for Marine Renewables - Study 3 Shipping and Navigation. The Scottish Executive, Edinburgh. 20Executive%20Issue%201-%20Part%201.pdf Robinson, K Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit (CRRU) Progress Update October 2008 SNH licence no. 8863: Summary report on dedicated cetacean boat surveys by the CRRU from May to Oct Unpublished. 18

22 Annex 1 APPENDIX A 12 PROPOSED TEMPLATE FOR SAILING CLUB SURVEY 12.1 Events Type of event Dinghy Cruiser For each, record start time, number of boats, approx. location or route, duration, number and type of support vessels (e.g. RIBs). Weekly Monthly Special 12.2 Boats Numbers of dinghies in park Numbers of cruisers on moorings or in harbour (and name to cross-check with harbour survey) Number of cruisers stored ashore at club in winter (and location at harbour, or elsewhere?) 12.3 Members/participants Number of members in following categories (or similar): Full Adult Family Associate (non-sailing) Junior and Student Temporary (visitor) Number of trainee days per year (estimate) Numbers of visitor sailing-days per year (estimate) 12.4 Other Do they have a slipway and if so is it used for jetski/rib launching? Any idea how many times in a year? Invite any other comments or information they think might be relevant. Does the club have an environmental policy (e.g. RYA Blue/green scheme)? 19

23 Annex 2 APPENDIX A 13 DATA TABLE FOR SMALL CRAFT BERTHS AND MOORINGS, Numbers of boats are shown for that year. In most cases these are summer numbers, with most boats craned out during the winter. The tidal window for access to the moorings/berths is shown where relevant. The proportions of sailing and power boats is also shown where known. These data are based on reports from harbourmasters, who keep records in a variety of ways, so some estimation has been included and some inconsistencies may have arisen. Overall, the data are thought to be reasonably accurate and to present a good picture of an ever changing scene. Harbour Mooring type up to 5m 5.1-8m m 10m + Other Total HWS 5 window for 1.5m (+/- hrs) % Sail % Power HARBOUR NAME Number of vessels Banff Marina Banff Harbour Banff Total Findochty Marina Portnockie Marina Cullen Marina Gardenstown Harbour Rosehearty Harbour Portgordon Marina Portsoy Marina Portsoy Harbour Portsoy Total Whitehills Harbour h Sandhaven Marina Lybster Harbour h John O'Groats Harbour Wick Harbour Lossiemouth Marina Hopeman Harbour Burghhead Commercial Burghhead Marina Burghhead Total Total Findhorn Marina Marina Findhorn Bay Bay Findhorn Total Total Nairn Marina Whiteness Marina(o4/09) Inverness Marina Marina(09/08) All Tide 5 Length of tidal window for vessels of 1.5m draught 20

24 Harbour APPENDIX A Mooring type up to 5m 5.1-8m m 10m + Other Total HWS 5 window for 1.5m (+/- hrs) % Sail % Power Seaport Marina Avoch Harbour (L) Fortrose Harbour(L) N/A Cromarty Harbour Invergordon Commercial All Tide Invergordon Moorings Moorings All Tide Balintore Harbour(L) Portmahomack Harbour (L) Golspie Pier Brora Quay Wall Helmsdale Harbour TOTALS

25 Annex 3 Research vessels APPENDIX A 13.1 Aberdeen Field Station, The Lighthouse, Cromarty AULFS Surveys We conducted 40 surveys in the inner this year, the first survey on 10/01/2008 and the last on 03/12/2008 (Table 1 and Figure 1). Figure 1. A map showing the areas covered by surveys by AULFS in

26 We spent 189 hours on trips within the, of which 165 hours were on photo-id surveys over the period January to December Table Survey details, by month, for the by the Lighthouse Field Station. AULFS Surveys Survey Survey Encounters Time on Time on Percent of Surveys (nbr) Time Time (number) Encounter Encounter survey by month (minutes) (hours) (minutes) (hours) time with dolphins January % February % March % April % May % June % July August % September % October % November % December % Total % 13.2 Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society WDCS provided their annual report for 2008 (Eisfield et al 2009) which contains the following information. The routes are plotted for each month below, and the distance covered is presented in the final table. 23

27 24

28 Table 4: The survey effort for seasonal surveys conducted in the, NE Scotland, in 2008; A) showing all effort A 25

29 No. survey days Survey effort (km) Month February May August November Total

30 Annex 4 Addendum by Partnership A) The following information relating to the Dolphin space Programme, which was omitted from the main text, has been added to the report post completion by the author. Commercial dolphin watching in the started in 1990 and since then has grown rapidly. In 1995 there were six known operators, which increased to nine by 1996 (Curran et al. 1996, Arnold 1997), twelve in 2005 and fourteen by Details of operators (2009), can be seen in the table below: Location Operator # of Boats Wick Caithness Seacoast Ltd Type of Trip 1 RIB wildlife safaris. 1-2 trips daily. Portmahomack Mackenzie Charters 1 Primarily angling trips. 10 passengers max. Cromarty EcoVentures 1 RIB wildlife watching trips. 2-3 trips daily, Cromarty Cromarty/Nigg Ferry 1 Nigg ferry service, 1 evening wildlife cruise June -Sept. 50 passengers max. Avoch Dolphin Trips Avoch 1 Up to 4 trips daily. North Kessock New Era 1 Solar powered boat. Up to 3 trips daily. 6 passengers max. Inverness Cruises 1 Up to 4 trips daily. 50 passengers max. Nairn Phoenix Cruises 1 1 trip a day (high tide), Lossiemouth Moray Diving 1 Up to 2 wildlife watching trips daily (also diving trips). Catamaran. Lossiemouth Covesea 1 Up to 2 wildlife watching trips daily (also diving trips). Buckie Gemini Explorer 2 2 wildlife trips daily (peak season).open all year. Banff Charters 1 Charters for wildlife watching, fishing, scenic cruises. Max 6 passengers. Banff North 58 Sea Adventures 1 RIB wildlife watching trips. Up to 2 trips daily. Macduff Puffin Cruises 1 Wildlife watching trips. Up to 2 trips daily (peak season) B) Pilot boat data is not included in the report, other than data provided by Cromarty Firth Port Authority. C) The Nigg Cromarty Ferry and other Nigg traffic was omitted from the report. 27

31 D) For clarification, the number of recreational craft (1328) recorded in Annex 2 does NOT include craft kept at home or other locations, and launched by boat trailer. 28