Annual variation in the presence of gulls at the unmanned offshore oil installation Oseberg H.

• Main Authors: Dehnhard, Nina, Bajracharya, Saria Sato, Molværsmyr, Sindre
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) 2024
• Subjects: gulls; herring gull; greater black-backed gull; lesser black-backed gull; human-wildlife conflict; offshore oil installation; bird deterrent system; bird scaring system; måker; gråmåke; svartbak; sildemåke; konflikt mellom menneske og dyreliv; offshore oljeinstallasjon; fugleavskrekkingssystem; fugleskremmesystem; Lesser black-backed gull; Sildemåke
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3136617

Dehnhard, N., Sato Bajracharya, S., Molværsmyr, S. 2024. Annual variation in the presence of gulls at the offshore oil installation Oseberg H. NINA Report 2463. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. Oseberg H is an unmanned oil and gas installation in the Northern North Sea, operated by Equinor. Oseberg H was commissioned in 2018, and after the drilling rig left the installation in 2020, gulls started to roost on the installation. The presence of gulls has increased maintenance costs and poses a risk for the work health and safety during maintenance campaigns. Oseberg H had initially no mitigating measures related to birds implemented. The installation is located in the same geographical area as the planned new installation Krafla. As Oseberg H, Krafla is to be developed as an unmanned installation, and for the Krafla project, Equinor wanted to identify which measures could be taken into consideration already during the design phase to avoid conflicts between personnel and birds. The aim was to only scare birds away from areas where conflicts between birds and personnel are likely to occur and where the use of physical barriers is not feasible. Birds should not be actively scared away from parts of the installation where the conflict potential is low. Equinor therefore decided in 2021 to install a Bird Deterrent System (BDS) on the weather deck of Oseberg H, the area where existing CCTV cameras detected most gulls. The BDS scares off gulls by playing a variety of different sounds whenever approaching gulls trigger a set of motion sensor cameras. In addition to performing an internal technology qualification of the BDS, it was also relevant for the Krafla project to understand to what extent a scaring system on the weather deck could generate any secondary effects elsewhere on the installation. NINA was commissioned by Equinor to analyse CCTV images taken over a whole year between February 2023 and February 2024 from three different areas on Oseberg H. The aims of the project were to 1) assess the number of ...