FORCE conducted vessel‐ and shore‐based observational surveys for seabirds  and marine mammals beginning in 2009 and extending until 2012 as part of ongoing Environmental  Effects Monitoring Program (EEMP) activities at the site.  The latest phase of the EEMP extends from 2016‐2021 and includes year‐round shore‐based monitoring  of marine seabirds. The first year of shore‐based surveys under the present EEMP covers the period  from May 6, 2016 to May 1, 2017, conducted from the FORCE Visitor Center on the north shore of Minas  Passage, near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, and covering a period both before and during the operation of a  grid‐connected tidal turbine which was installed in early November, 2016, and which operated through  the end of the survey period.