Identification

Title

Habitat point records from 1986-87 OPRU HRE Helford River survey

Abstract

The Helford River is a small marine inlet in south Cornwall which was formed by the flooding of a river valley subsequent to the last ice age. Historically the waterway has long been associated with human activities, providing a trade route for the surrounding villages and towns. At the present time however, activities are largely of a recreational nature, although some oyster farming and fishing still takes place. For several decades, the Helford River has been visited by collectors and scientists who were interested in the marine biota found in the vicinity. The biological reputation of the area grew, and was recognized by the Nature Conservancy Council as a result of there programme of intertidal surveys which took place during the 1970's. Since then, however, there has been a distinct deterioration in the quality of the majority of intertidal habitats and communities found within the Helford River, concentrating on sublittoral habitats, and to assess the nature conservation importance of the area using standard criteria. Survey work consisted of in situ recording of conspicuous species and collection of sediment samples for biological analysis, by using a pipe dredge and also a suction sampler. Abundances of conspicuous species were defined by the use of abundance scales and the information obtained was directly comparable to that for other areas. Sediment samples were sieved over a 1 mm mesh. Animals were picked out, identified and counted. Photographs were taken during fieldwork to illustrate habitats, communities and species. Habitats and communities present were classified into seven intertidal types and twenty subtidal types each of which is described. The distribution of habitats and communities is discussed, and for selected areas, the present biological data have been compared with ealier records. Features of the Helford River have been compared with those of other marine inlets. Communities have been provisionally graded as of Local, Regional, National or International conservation importance. It is generally acknowledged that many of the communities have been damaged and the assessment takes no account of their former condition. However, the recent designation of the Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation Area creates a potential for the rehabilitation of affected habitats. Records currently considered sensitive have been removed from this dataset.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/dff45039-9333-4429-8b22-51457d391401-1986-87-OPRU-HRE-Helford-River-survey.csv

name: 1986-87-OPRU-HRE-Helford-River-survey.csv

Unique resource identifier

code

dff45039-9333-4429-8b22-51457d391401

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Additional information source

Rostron (1987) Surveys of harbours, rias and estuaries in southern Britain: the Helford River.

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

oceans

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Marine

Marine Recorder

JNCCMNCR10000247

Habitat

MNCR

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-5.194103799

East bounding longitude

-5.079930506

North bounding latitude

50.11298144

South bounding latitude

50.08380572

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1986-06-12

End position

1987-07-24

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2007-04-25

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

This survey was extracted from a Marine Recorder snapshot.

Conformity

Data format

name of format

Comma Separated Values

version of format

Unknown

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Open Government Licence v3.0

Limitations on public access

no limitations

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

Digital and Data Solutions, JNCC

email address

data@jncc.gov.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Digital and Data Solutions, JNCC

email address

data@jncc.gov.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2018-05-17

Metadata language

eng