Moray Firth Regional Advisory Group (MFRAG)

The Moray Firth Regional Advisory Group (“MFRAG”) has been set up to ensure that appropriate and effective monitoring of the impacts of the developments are undertaken to satisfy the requirements of the section 36 (“s.36”) consent and marine licence conditions of Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm Limited ("BOWL"), Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited (“Moray East”) and Moray Offshore Windfarm (West) Limited (“Moray West”).

Consents were granted by the Scottish Ministers under s.36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct and operate the BOWL Electricity Generating Station with a maximum generating capacity of 750 megawatts (“MW”), the Moray East Telford, Stevenson and MacColl Offshore Wind Farm Electricity Generating Stations with a combined maximum generating capacity of 1,116 MW and the Moray West Electricity Generating Station with a generating capacity of around 850 MW.

More information on the projects can be found on the developments’ webpages following the links below:

Under the conditions of the s.36 consents and marine licences, developments within the Moray Firth must submit to the Scottish Ministers for approval an Environmental Management Plan (“EMP”) and a Project Environment Monitoring Programme (“PEMP”), which have been developed, reviewed and agreed through the MFRAG.

In addition to advising on and agreeing the EMP and PEMP, the MFRAG encourages collaboration with developers monitoring programmes to provide more strategic outputs, it will review raw data and reports from the monitoring to provide advice to the Scottish Ministers. The MFRAG will advise whether the monitoring activities are aligned with Scottish Government and academic research in marine renewables and other relevant areas through liaison with Scottish Marine Energy Research (“ScotMER”).

Monitoring requirements are incorporated into conditions of s.36 consents and/or marine licences in order to:

  • validate, or reduce uncertainty in predictions on environmental impacts recorded in supporting Environment Impact Assessments (“EIA”) and Habitats Regulation Assessments (“HRA”);
  • provide evidence on the effectiveness of mitigation measures; and
  • allow identification of any unforeseen consequences.

For more information about the MFRAG please see the Moray Firth Regional Advisory Group Terms of Reference which can be found in the ToRs tab below.

Developer monitoring reports available on this website present preliminary results from completed surveys. Other monitoring and research will also inform our understanding of the impacts from offshore windfarms on various receptors and therefore these monitoring reports should be considered along with other relevant reports and research.  Any changes to policy or casework processes as a result of research findings will be clearly  communicated through appropriate channels by Marine Scotland.

Advisory Group documents and associated projects

Document
MFRAG – Main Group – Beatrice Offshore Windfarm – Post-Construction Benthic Grab Survey Report (Year One)
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 19/04/2023
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 14/12/2022
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 27/04/2022
MFRAG – Main Group – Beatrice Offshore Windfarm – Post-Construction Benthic Grab Survey Report (Year Two)
MFRAG – Main Group – Beatrice Offshore Windfarm – Post-Construction Turbine Foundation Marine Ecology Survey Report (Year Two)
MFRAG - Marine Mammals Subgroup - Meeting Minutes - 29/10/2021
MFRAG – Main Group – Beatrice Offshore Windfarm – Post-Construction Turbine Foundation Marine Ecology Survey Report (Year One)
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Post-construction Cod Spawning Survey - Technical Report (05/07/2021)
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Post-construction Sandeel Survey - Technical Report (05/07/2021)
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Post-Construction Benthic Survey Methodology - 28/06/2021
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Marine Growth Removal and Monitoring - 06/05/2021
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 14/04/2021
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Post-construction Benthic Monitoring Method Statement - 08/04/2021
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 11/06/2020
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 20/11/2019
MFRAG - Main Group - Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Telemetry Study of Post-Smolt Emigration Behaviour - Meeting 11/05/2015
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Pre-construction Baseline Sandeel Survey - Meeting 11/05/2015
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Pre-construction Benthic Sampling and Drop Down Video Survey - Meeting 11/05/2015
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Pre-construction Baseline Sandeel Survey - Meeting 11/05/2015
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Atlantic Salmon Salmo Salar smolt movements survey - Meeting 19/09/2017
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Project Environmental Management Programme - Meeting 19/09/2017
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 11/05/2015
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 09/03/2015
MFRAG - Main Group - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 22/02/2018
MFRAG - Main Group - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 19/09/2017
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 08/05/2019
MFRAG - Main Group - Meeting Minutes - 29/11/2018
Moray East Offshore Windfarm - MFRAG minute of meeting of 08/05/19
Moray East Offshore Windfarm - MFRAG minute of meeting of 26/07/18
Document
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Meeting Minutes - 31032023
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Meeting Minutes - 22/09/2022
MFRAG - Marine Mammals Subgroup - Meeting Minutes - 09/02/2021
NatureScot advice on the strategic approach to marine mammal monitoring in the Moray Firth- 16/09/2021
MFRAG - Marine Mammals Subgroup - Meeting Minutes - 25/08/2021
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Construction Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme Fieldwork Report 2021 - 01/12/2021
MFRAG - Marine Mammals Subgroup - Meeting Minutes - 25/08/2021
MFRAG - Marine Mammals Subgroup - Meeting Minutes - 26/05/2021
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Construction Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme Fieldwork Report 2020 - 19/04/2021
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Meeting Minutes - 30/10/2020
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Meeting Minutes - 08/11/2019
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Addendum to the Construction Marine Mammals Monitoring Programme
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm & Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Protocol for mitigating the risk of instantaneous death or injury to marine mammals during piling at the Beatrice and Moray East Wind Farms - Meeting 15/12/2015
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - University of Aberdeen & RPS Energy - Protocol for mitigating the risk of instantaneous death or injury to marine mammals during piling at the Beatrice and Moray East Wind Farms - Meeting 15/12/2015
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - University of Aberdeen - Strategic Regional Pre-Construction Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme Interim Report 2015 - Meeting 15/12/2015
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm and Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Construction Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme - Meeting 15/12/2015
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda - 15/12/2015
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda - 20/06/2017
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - University of Aberdeen - Strategic Regional Pre-Construction Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme Annual Report 2017 - Meeting 20/06/2017
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - University of Aberdeen - Strategic Regional Pre-Construction Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme Annual Report 2015 - Meeting 17/11/2016
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Addendum to the Construction Marine Mammals Monitoring Programme - Meeting 17/11/2016
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 17/11/2016
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda - 21/02/2018
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 30/03/2015
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 19/06/2015
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 16/12/2014
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 10/06/2019
MFRAG - Marine Mammals - Meeting Minutes - 26/07/2018
Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Addendum to the Marine Mammals Monitoring Plan
Document
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 26/09/2023
MFRAG - Ornithology - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Post-construction Ornithological Monitoring Report (Year 2)
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 08/11/2022
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 09/01/2022
MFRAG - Marine Mammals Subgroup - Meeting Minutes - 01/10/2021
MFRAG - Main Group - Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm - Year 1 Post-Construction Ornithological Monitoring Report - 2019
MFRAG - Main Group - Moray West - Pre-Construction Digital Aerial Survey Method Statement - 26/03/2021
MFRAG - Ornithology - Post-Construction Ornithological Monitoring Report 2019 - 28/04/2021
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 09/02/2021
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 09/02/2021
MFRAG - Ornithology - Minutes of meeting - 03/11/2020
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 03/11/2020
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 09/07/2020
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 26/09/2019
MFRAG - Ornithology - Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Power Analysis for Pre-construction Aerial Surveys - Meeting 01/05/2018
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 01/05/2018
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 12/11/2015
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 03/06/2015
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 14/11/2014
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 16/12/2014
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 30/03/2015
MFRAG - Ornithology - Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Pre construction Power Analysis for Digital Aerial Surveys of Puffin - Meeting 21/02/2019
MFRAG - Ornithology - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm - Pre-construction Aerial Survey Report - Meeting 21/02/2018
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 21/02/2018
MFRAG - Ornithology - Agenda & Meeting Minutes - 02/03/2015
MFRAG - Ornithology - Meeting Minutes - 05/06/2019
MFRAG - Ornithology - Moray East Offshore Windfarm - Pre-construction Aerial Survey Report 2018
Document
MFRAG - Main Group - Terms of Reference - 20/11/2019
Project Stage Type
Moray East Offshore Windfarm Post-consent Renewables - Wind
Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Post-consent Renewables - Wind
Moray West Offshore Windfarm Post-consent Renewables - Wind