Activities
SAMBAH spring progress meeting
SAMBAH will be meeting during the annual ECS (European Cetacean Society) conference in Galway, Ireland. The conference is between 26-28 of March 2012, and the progress meeting will be held in conjunction.
SAMBAH fall progress meeting
28-30 October 2011 a progress meeting was held in Kerteminde, Denmark. In conjunction with this meeting several working groups also met to discuss different topics.
SAMBAH spring progress meeting
20 March 2011 - A spring progress meeting was held in Cadiz, Spain, in connection with the 25th ECS conference.
SAMBAH fall progress meeting
23-24 November 2010 - A SAMBAH fall progress meeting was held at Kolmården Wildlife Park with participants from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and France.
Prominent in the agenda were the national updates, where national representatives presented the progress of SAMBAH in their respective country. In general, we are making great progress. Most permits for deployment are ready or will be very soon, and most equipment is ready. Due to ice in the northernmost countries however, the date for deployment of the C-PODS was moved back from January to May 2011. There were discussions on statistical methods and the anchoring set ups in all countries, and we will be continuing both of these discussions until the deployment of C-PODs. Also, a project dissemination working group was formed. This group will be producing the SAMBAH exhibition which will be showed at serveral locations in the project area.
SAMBAH anchoring workshop
2-3 August 2010 - Participants of the SAMBAH (Static Acoustic Monitoring of the Baltic Sea Harbour
Porpoise) project from Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and Estonia met in Kolmården, Sweden for a workshop regarding development, construction and testing of anchoring systems for porpoise detectors.
Five different systems were tested and evaluated at sea during a whole day session at Nävekvarn, just outside of Kolmården at depths around 40 m. The systems were of two types, stealth systems with no surface markings and systems attached to visible surface markings. All systems were successfully tested and evaluated with mixed results.
The systems had been individually developed by each research group and based on different coastal and off-shore prerequisites for each country, maintenance issues, earlier used setups, rules and regulations for sea surface markings and of course budget. Other issues as the hazards with buoys or equipment near/or in trawling areas, different weather conditions, material corrosion & fatigue and also the risk of potential theft and vandalism were discussed. Altogether the workshop was a success with valuable discussions and practical experience of deploying and retrieving porpoise detectors.
Sea safety course
17-18 May 2010 - A sea security course was arranged for sea-going SAMBAH personnel. The course was given by the Öckerö Maritime Center on the Swedish west coast, with participants from Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The course included emergency radio communication, emergency flares, first aid, ship fire extinguishing, and in-sea testing of life rafts and survival suits. The course was aimed at preparing the teams for work on board a variety of vessels, such as coast guard ships, fishing boats and research vessels. Among the teachers were a professional fireman, and an ambulance nurse, ensuring that the quality of the teaching was very high.
SAMBAH invited to the BS RAC
May 12 - Mats Amundin and Daniel Wennerberg were invited to attend a Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (www.BSRAC.org) meeting in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and to present the SAMBAH project. Very reassuringly, SAMBAH was very positively received.
The BS RAC is established by the European Council to increase stakeholder involvement in the development of a successful Common Fisheries Policy. Hence it is a very good forum for SAMBAH to establish and maintain contact with the fishermen, the support of whom is vitally important for the success of SAMBAH.
Information material available
4 May 2010 - SAMBAH information material are available for download. Please click here for an information sheet or an introductory presentation.
SAMBAH kick-off held
20-24 March 2010 - The SAMBAH kick-off meeting was held in conjunction with the Jastarnia group meeting in February 2010 in Hel, Poland. At the ECS conference in March in Stralsund, Germany, SAMBAH arranged an open workshop and a project progress meeting.
SAMBAH springs to life
January 2010 - SAMBAH is now up and running! The project is funded by LIFE+, and will receive 50% of the 4.24 million € budget from LIFE+. The remaining 50% will be co-financed by project partners and other national organizations.
