Environmental Report 1999 Index

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Seabirds at sea The seas around the UK support several internationally important populations of seabirds that may be vulnerable to oil spills. Although spills from exploration and production operations in UK waters are very infrequent, contingency plans are in place to ensure that any potential environmental impacts from oil spills will be minimised. In addition to the specific work undertaken in the Atlantic Margin, UKOOA members have continued to sponsor the work carried out by the JNCC Seabirds at Sea Team. Trained observers sail on oil industry survey and supply vessels, and occasionally vessels are specifically chartered to work in areas where data is limited. The survey data is used by JNCC to create monthly vulnerability indices for any given area, based on: the number of seabirds of each species in the area at the time; the amount of time spent on the surface of the water (when they would be affected by any spilled oil); The importance of the area to the world population of the species. Oil industry operators use the resulting maps to help them devise oil spill contingency plans and to fulfill the requirement to produce environmental impact studies under the relevant regulatory processes.