One part of the COAST and government joint project that has been a success so far in that the government & SNH have stuck to their commitments to put money & resources into monitoring the No Take Zone.
This continued in July 2009 with Marine Scotland Science (formally FRS) & SNH chartering the RV Aora to continue with baseline surveyed & scallop monitoring. This was followed in September when Seastar surveys contracted to SNH , surveyed all the shallower parts of the bay. The areas less than 10 metres that both the Alba na Mara & Aora with their deep draft were unable to operate in.
Before & during these surveys COAST members worked as their local contacts in tasks such as asking creel fishermen to temporary remove creels from certain areas to allow the survey ships full unfettered access. COAST divers also repaired & made safe a local mooring so Seastars survey boat Otarie could moor safely overnight. During the survey in September COAST also organised perfect calm sunny weather ! which was in short supply during the summer of 2009.
The community on Arran would like to thank the scientists & crew of all vessels for the work done so far. We look forward to welcoming the Survey boats back in future years.
COAST hope shortly to be able to post a summary of the scientific work done so far on this website with a link to the full report.
