Seabirds at sea, december 1988 – february 1989 (ship-based observations CvZ/DGW, NIOZ)

Three three-days trips were made with MV Holland (CvZ/DGW) in Dec, Jan, and Feb, mainly in coastal waters. P.Wolf entered the English Channel on board MV Katwijk 34, the third week of Dec. Two trips on board of MV Aurelia (NIOZ) were carried out in Jan and another one in Feb, on the Dutch part of the Continental Shelf. During the first half of Jan the coastal waters off Zeeland were visited on board MV Navicula (NIOZ), and on board the MV Tridens long trips were made in Feb visiting the waters between Holland and Shetland. Besides a concentration of Red-throated Divers in coastal waters off Zeeland and near the mainland coast of Noord-Holland, only few divers were recorded. Divers seem to be overlooked mostly during ship based surveys. Divers were remarkably common off the English east coast (aerial survey Andy Webb, SAST, pers comm.).