Progressing harbour porpoise conservation research: optimising vessel-based and static data collection and analyses for offshore renewables and Marine Protected Area monitoring
To deliver robust information on harbour porpoise distribution and abundance off the west coast of Scotland to inform monitoring programmes and assessment of offshore renewable energy projects.
With the expansion of offshore renewable energy projects (OREs) in western Scottish waters (and across the UK as whole), understanding the distribution and having access to robust density and abundance estimates of European Protected Species (EPS), such as harbour porpoise, is essential.
Currently, assessment of potential impacts to cetaceans from OREs relies on density estimates from visual aerial surveys conducted in summer at a frequency of approximately one per decade. This limits the ability to capture inter- and intra-annual variation in density and abundance. Several protected sites for cetaceans exist in the west Scotland region, including the Inner Hebrides and Minches Special Area of Conservation (IH&M SAC)). To effectively monitor species, and the potential impacts acting on them, it is vital to understand species abundance and distribution, and to be able to determine how these may vary over different spatio-temporal scales.
The PhD will develop a suite of analytical procedures to estimate harbour porpoise density, abundance and distribution in western Scottish waters, focussing on integrating data from different survey methods (vessel-based visual and towed acoustic data from Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT)). Building on statistical frameworks already developed to estimate cetacean density and abundance from visual and acoustic monitoring datasets, the project will explore how data from these platforms could be combined and investigate how current data collection and analytical protocols can be improved. The potential impact of ambient noise and variability in soundscapes will also be investigated to determine how this may affect resultant estimates of harbour porpoise abundance. The project outputs will support and inform MPA monitoring programmes and ORE impact assessments.
Supervisors: Dr Nienke van Geel, Prof Len Thomas (Uni St Andrews), Dr Steven Benjamins, Rona Sinclair (NatureScot), Dr Kate Brookes (Marine Directorate), Dr Lauren Hartny-Mills (Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust
Start date: October 2025
Funder: Scottish Marine Energy Research (ScotMER), NatureScot, SAMS
Conference talks
Harker, A.J., Peden, W., Williamson, L. and Macleod K. (2024). Winter distribution of cetaceans in the Irish and Celtic Seas and implications for assessment of anthropogenic impacts. Presentation for the Special Session On Marine Mammals at the MASTS Annual Science Meeting, Glasgow, November 2024.
Salmon, W. and Harker, A.J. (2024). Regional Ornithology Compensation Measures: A developer-led approach. Presentation for the Scottish Power Renewables Offshore Wind and Ornithology Conference 2024. Glasgow, 2024.
Harker, A.J., Peden, W., Irwin, C. and Macleod K. (2024). Winter distribution of cetaceans in the Irish and Celtic Seas and implications for assessment of anthropogenic impacts. Short talk for the 35th European Cetacean Society (ECS) Conference. Sicily, April 2024.
Harker, A.J. (2023). JCDP – the industry perspective. Presentation for Joint Cetacean Data Programme (JCDP) Workshop at the 34th European Cetacean Society (ECS) Conference. Spain, April 2023.
Poster presentations
Harker, A.J., Peden, W., Gall, C. and Macleod K. (2023). Data access restrictions: the potential of currently unavailable marine mammal data. Poster presentation for the 34th European Cetacean Society (ECS) Conference. Spain, April 2023.
Harker, A.J., Peters-Grundy, R., Irwin, C. and Macleod, K. (2022) Marine mammal species identification rates from digital video aerial surveys. Poster presentation for the 6th Conference on Wind Energy and Wildlife Impacts (CWW). The Netherlands, April 2022.
Other research outputs
Pizzolla, P., Tyler, G., Grant, M., Salmon, W., Harker, J. and Bower, R. (2024). Development of Ornithology Regional Compensation Measures. Report to NE / E ScotWind developers’ group. PC4885-RHD-XX-XX-RP-X-0001.
Pavat, D., Harker, A.J., Humphries, G., Keogan, K., Webb, A. and Macleod, K. (2023). Consideration of avoidance behaviour of northern gannet (Morus bassanus) in collision risk modelling for offshore wind farm impact assessments. NECR490. Natural England.
Peters-Grundy, R., Humphries, G., Harvey, J., Semple, M., Tyler, K., Harker, A.J., Pavat, D., Thomson, R., Olley, N. and Macleod, K. (2023) Scapa Flow and North Orkney Special Protection Areas (SPAs) - Inshore wintering waterfowl surveys 2021/22 and 2023 (NatureScot Research Report). NatureScot.
Fieldwork experience
At-sea marine mammal surveys using platforms of opportunity - Organisation Cetacea (ORCA) (2025 – present)
Seabird breeding colony surveys – HiDef Aerial Surveying Ltd (2024 - 2025)
Pinniped pup surveys – Forth Islands Heritage Group (2024)
Vessel based cetacean mark-recapture & behaviour surveys – Tethys (2023)
Land-based pinniped & cetacean surveys – North Wales Wildlife Trust (2019 – 2020)
Vessel-based line transect, mark-recapture, behaviour surveys – Sea Watch Foundation (2019)
Vessel-based mark-recapture & behaviour surveys – Blue World Institute (2016)
Oceanographic surveys (multiparameter probe, multibeam sonar) – Aspect Land & Hydrographic Surveys (2015)
Public engagement experience
Living Seas Champion (North Wales Wildlife Trust)
Education & Outreach Assistant (Sea Watch Foundation)
Research Intern (Sea Watch Foundation)
Volunteer (Blue World Institute)
Employment history
2025 Principal Consultant. HiDef Aerial Surveying Ltd
2023-25 Senior Ecological Consultant. HiDef Aerial Surveying Ltd
2020-23 Ecological Consultant. HiDef Aerial Surveying Ltd
Qualifications
2020 MSc Marine Biology. Bangor University
2018 BSc Marine Biology and Oceanography. University of Southampton
Professional training
Seiche Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) Level 1 (2025)
ORCA Marine Mammal Surveyor (2016 & 2024)
APM Project Fundamentals Qualification (PFQ) (2022)
Advanced Environmental Impact Assessment (2022)
JNCC Marine Mammal Observer (2018)