Seal Conservation Solutions Ltd. is a company newly formed by a closely linked international network of specialists from across a range of disciplines. The company was formed for the purpose of developing solutions to mitigate anthropogenic impact on seals due to industrial or other activity or development. All team members combine academic knowledge with significant offshore practical experience and also a knowledge of relevant aspects of the oil and gas industry.
Seal Conservation Solutions applies knowledge from up-to-date seal research to advise on and design the most effective techniques for the oil and gas industry, other industrial or recreational developments to meet their environmental and conservation obligations. We can also advise on the creation of protected areas based on research of seals breeding areas, foraging sites and migration corridors. One major area of interest for the Seal Conservation Solutions group is investigating impact of icebreaker traffic through areas of ice where seals or walruses may be resting or breeding, and advising on regulatory control and mitigation measures for icebreaker activity in frozen seas. Another area of concern and expertise within the group is seal-fisheries interaction.
Our core personnel
Susan Wilson, BSc, MSc, PhD, LLM.
Sue is a free-lance consultant in seal behavioural biology, ecology and welfare, currently working from Tara Seal Research in the UK. She has worked on numerous seal research and conservation projects in the UK, US and Canada as well as ecological impact assessments in Ireland, with her work published in academic journals as well as client reports. Together with colleagues at the World Bank she initiated the Caspian seal 'Ecotox' project (2000-02) and was a key founder member in 2004 of the Caspian International Seal Survey (CISS). Since 2006 she has worked with the Oil and Gas Industry in Kazakhstan to document the impact of industry icebreaking vessels on Caspian seals breeding on ice and to develop mitigation measures and a specialised Marine Mammal Observer (MMO) Programme dedicated to seals on ice (Seal Observer programme). Sue is also Chair of the Seal Conservation Society (www.pinnipeds.org) and carries out voluntary research on seal pup rehabilitation and coordinates voluntary monitoring of local seal populations in Ireland (www.sealresearch.org).
Imogen Crawford, MA (Cantab.).
Imogen is a free lance consultant in environment and ecology. She has over 25 years of experience working with the oil and gas industry at all phases, providing feasibility studies, ESIAs, Environmental Management Plans, in-country capacity building and Biodiversity Action Plans to internationally acceptable standards (including IFC) and with a worldwide coverage; notably the Caucasus, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Uganda. She has been involved with the Caspian seal icebreaker mitigation project since 2008, participating in both the research and training programmes.
Irina Trukhanova, MSc, PhD.
Ira specialises in marine mammal conservation biology, focusing on population monitoring of seals in Lake Ladoga and the Baltic and also in porpoises in the Baltic. She is co-author of scientific publications on seal-fisheries conflict, distribution and abundance of ice-asscociated seals and walrus. Ira has worked with the Caspian seal icebreaker mitigation project since 2009, involved in both the research and the Seal Observer training programme. She collaborates closely with the Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Centre of the Leningrad region and represents the Seal Conservation Society in Russia.
Evgeniya Dolgova, MSc.
Geniya specialises in behavioural biology and population monitoring on marine mammals. She has extensive field experience over several years with US-Russian collaborative projects on Steller sea lions in the N. Pacific and gray whale conservation and monitoring in the Okhotsk Sea Region. She is a fully qualified and experienced MMO, having worked as an MMO in the Mediterranean, and for the O&G industry seismic surveying in the Okhotsk and Laptev Sea regions. Geniya has also worked with the Caspian seal icebreaker mitigation project since 2009, involved in both the research and in the Seal Observer training programme. Geniya collaborate closely with the Svertsov Institute in Moscow and the Marine Mammal Council of Russia.
Project first steps - Conference presentation in St Petersburg, Russia, September 2014. This conference was organised by the Marine Mammal Council of Russia - an NGO which is highly regarded and influential in Russia. Our team made a presentation (attached below) to a special meeting of Oil & Gas representatives coordinated by WWF Russia, and also again to a meeting on marine conervation. An extended abstract will be published in the conference proceedings (Marine Mammals of the Holarctic VIII, 2014) and is also attached below.
Our next steps include preparation of background documentation on species and populations potentially impacted, international and national law which may afford legal protect to certain species, and seeking opportunities to carry out research on seal behaviour relevant to human disturbance and industrial activity. We hope to develop dialogues with stakeholders in the region, including scientists, Oil & Gas companies and both national and international legal representatives.