Identification

Title

2003 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA4 Technical report - Shallow benthos (north UKCS)

Abstract

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA4) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). It is a synthesis of information describing the seabed habitats, species and communities on the continental shelf of the west of Orkney and Shetland relevant to the SEA 4 area. It provides a summary of the benthic communities and assemblages which inhabit the shallow waters of the SEA4 area, from littoral to offshore areas. A wide range of habitats exist in the area because of the heterogeneity of the seafloor environment, ranging from hard rock sites exposed to the full force of waves and tidal currents to muddy sediments in sheltered inlets. The shelf and offshore areas include varying bedforms of sand and gravel, some of high carbonate content, and considerable amounts of glacigenic material. The epifauna and infauna which inhabit these different environments are summarised. A section of the report discusses the environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities in the area. These include the harvesting of algae from rocky shores, the release of radionuclides on the Caithness coast (Dounreay), dredging for sedimentary material, trawling and mariculture, in addition to the offshore oil and gas industry.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html

name: Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal

description: The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS.

function: download

Unique resource identifier

code

BGS_SEA_51

codeSpace

British Geological Survey

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

authority code

OGP

code identifying the spatial reference system

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326

Additional information source

http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

environment

geoscientificInformation

oceans

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2011-03-25

Keyword set

keyword value

Habitats and biotopes

Species distribution

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-7

East bounding longitude

2

North bounding latitude

64

South bounding latitude

58.7

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2006-01-01

code identifying the extent

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2003-01-01

End position

2003-01-01

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2003-06-01

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

This report was prepared by Professor A. Eleftheriou of the Institute of Marine Biology of Crete as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. The information was gained from a wide range of available sources (classical and recent scientific studies, regional surveys commissioned by government and government agencies, as well as industry).

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

The SEAs data were produced as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme; Crown Copyright, all rights reserved. The DECC SEA must be acknowledged in any maps or publications that make use of the data. All the data files are freely available to the public. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. BGS (NERC) has been contracted by DECC to publish SEA datasets on its behalf. All intellectual property rights (including , without limitation, copyrights, database rights and all other rights which subsist or may at any time in the future subsist in the Dataset(s)) in the Dataset(s) ('Intellectual Property Rights') are owned by DECC (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). BGS has been authorised by DECC to use SEA datasets for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit basis'. BGS has been authorised by DECC to pass on SEA datasets to third parties so that they can use them for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit' basis.

Constraint set

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

British Geological Survey (BGS)

full postal address

Murchison House, West Mains Road

Edinburgh

EH9 3LA

UK

telephone number

+44 (0)131 667 1000

email address

offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Responsible party

organisation name

Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

full postal address

Admiralty Way

London

SW1A 2HD

UK

telephone number

+44 0300 060 4000

facsimile number

+44 (0) 1823 284077

email address

enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk

responsible party role

originator

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

British Geological Survey (BGS)

telephone number

+44 (0)131 667 1000

facsimile number

+44 (0)131 668 4140

email address

offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2011-08-30

Metadata language