By Ritesh Gupta

The review features recommendations that will improve monitoring for the protection of the environment and address concerns of stakeholders. The project assessed the core environmental monitoring topics of physical processes, underwater noise, benthic ecology, fish and shellfish ecology, marine mammals and birds.

Fugro also underlined the need to focus on monitoring rationale, which at times was lost between the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), consent conditions and the monitoring reports. This project is expected to result in more effective monitoring programmes by reducing uncertainty of potential impacts allowing better scoping.