58 
Teil C - Annex 
How to complete the SAS cover page (Status: July 2013) 
Ship: 
Name of ship. 
Date: 
Day / month / year 
Number of observa 
tion forms 
Total number of SAS observation forms completed per ship, day and (in 
case of double transects) ship side (port/starboard). 
Observer: 
Name of observers, at least two observers. 
Side of count: 
Port, starboard. 
All species: 
Please tick in case all species are recorded. Please indicate species, or 
groups of species, that have to be omitted. 
Flight directions: 
Absolute documentation of birds’ flight direction (details see SAS Bird 
Count Form). 
Transect width: 
300 m. 
Type of ship: 
e. g. research vessel, ferry. 
Location: 
Top deck (uppermost place on the ship), wing of the navigating bridge 
(“balcony” at the end of the bridge). 
Speed: 
In knots over ground, any speed changes should be noted in the table un 
der “Remarks”, e. g. the transition from normal to slow speed. If necessary, 
ask bridge personnel for information. 
Observation condi 
tions: 
Sea state: Scale from 0-7 describing wave conditions (sea state) and thus 
the quality of observation conditions. Sea state changes must be recorded 
on the SAS Bird Count Form or on the SAS cover page under “Remarks”. 
The scale is similar to documentation of wind force in Beaufort (Bft). There 
fore, the sea state should not be classified according to the current wind 
speed, but exclusively on the basis of own observations using the following 
scale. The survey has to be interrupted at sea state > 4. 
0 Sea like a mirror 
1 Very small ripples 
2 Small wavelets; crests have a glassy appearance and do not break 
3 Large wavelets; crests begin to break; scattered white foam crests 
4 Waves become longer; frequent white foam crests 
5 Moderate waves; many white foam crests; some spray 
6 Large waves; white foam crests are extensive everywhere; more spray 
7 Sea heaps up; white foam from breaking waves is blown in streaks along 
the direction of the wind 
Visibility: To be estimated in relation to sea marks and other ships etc. If 
visibility is > 10 km, enter 10 in the column “visibility”; if it is lower, enter a 
number in kilometres. Changes in visibility should be noted on the SAS 
Bird Count Form. 
Weather: 
Information about the weather is particularly necessary in extreme condi 
tions (that is, whenever observation accuracy might be affected; this 
applies in particular to precipitation, but also to dazzling light, to name an 
example). 
Positions: 
Parallel to the bird surveys, the ship positions have to be recorded regularly 
in order to be able to refer the observations to geographic positions. It is 
necessary to bring one’s own GPS equipment and to record the position 
every minute. 
Time: 
UTC, corresponding to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). UTC corresponds to 
German winter time less 1 hour, or German summer time less 2 hours. 
Geogr. position: 
In WGS 84 and in degrees, minutes, and hundredths of minutes 
(e. g. 54° 52.59’) or as total decimal value (e. g. 54.8765° N). 
Remarks: 
Changes in ship’s speed, stops, deployment and recovery of nets, inter 
alia, have to be recorded here. Also, changes in the wind direction and 
speed should be noted here.