Sorry for crossposting The workshop: Remote sensing to assess the distribution and abundance of seabirds and marine mammals: Possible applications for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will be held in Stralsund/Germany, November 20/21 2008. The assessment of distribution and abundance of marine mammals and seabirds is essential for the monitoring of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and crucial in the course of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), e.g. for the construction of wind farms. The most commonly used techniques such as standard line transect surveys with ships or planes are costly, heavily influenced by weather conditions and can provide statistically sound results only for larger areas. This necessitates thinking about new methods to enable researchers and consultancies to find appropriate measures for nature protection as well as reasonable ways to incorporate species protection into marine building activities. A possible solution for these specific problems could be the increased use of remote sensing methods to reduce cost and logistic effort. While high-definition video surveys have already been used for the monitoring of larger whales and seabirds it is questionable, whether its resolution is adequate for smaller mammals and birds. In these cases, the higher resolution of still images might be preferable. The following workshop will focus on the current applications of remote sensing for marine and terrestrial research and the possibilities to employ Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for such research aims. One important issue of this workshop will be the general discussion of remote sensing technologies and their use in the research of marine mammals and avifauna. The second part of the workshop will be dedicated to UAV-technologies, their possible future use, availability to non-military users and current limitations. Advantages and disadvantages of UAVs shall be highlighted. The presentations will demonstrate the wide range of current and future applications of UAV’s for monitoring environmental issues on sea and land. The workshop is organized by the German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund in cooperation with the Rostock University. The workshop will be held in Stralsund, Germany in the new-built facilities of the OZEANEUM from November 20th noon to November 21st noon. A detailed workshop programme will be provided to registered participants four weeks in advance. A preliminary is attached to this e-mail. The workshop fee will be 20 € for participants. In accompany with the workshop, a special dinner will be offered in the evening of the 20th November for an additional charge of 28 €. Best regards Michael Dähne and Görres Grenzdörffer German Oceanographic Museum Museum für Meereskunde und Fischerei ∙ Aquarium Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts Katharinenberg 14-20 18439 Stralsund Tel.: +49 (3831) 2650-391 Fax: + 49 (3831) 2650-249 michael.daehne@meeresmuseum.de www.meeresmuseum.de <http://www.meeresmuseum.de/> Director Dr. Harald Benke Ust. ID Nr.: DE 162 772 269 Steuernr.: 082/141/02545