This study aims to aid the understanding of whether bycatch mitigation could be used as a strategic compensation measure for the offshore wind industry. There is a need for additional monitoring of fisheries bycatch to better understand the scale of the issue, the species impacted and hotspots, which in turn, will help to inform the development of appropriate mitigation measures.

This study undertook monitoring of two fishing vessels to aid in understanding the prevalence of seabird bycatch off the coast of Cornwall. The key aims were to report recorded bycatch (focusing on common guillemot), compare bycatch rates with published estimates and to identify potential relationships between common guillemot bycatch and temporal, spatial and operational variables.