Identification

Title

Habitat point records from 1987 NCC/MCS Seasearch Loch Sunart sublittoral survey

Abstract

Loch Sunart is a sealoch set in an area of outstanding landscape and scenic value and surrounded by several areas of particularly high nature conservation importance. It is also subject to increasing development by the marine fish farming industry with, already, many large salmon and shellfish farms present. The geographical position, size and hydrography of Loch Sunart, together with the limited previous observations on the marine life present, suggested that the marine habitats, communities and species might be of particular interest. For these reasons, the Marine Nature Conservation Review gave a high priority to a systematic sublittoral survey of Loch Sunart. As a precursor to a more detailed Phase 2 survey of the loch, the NCC supported the present volunteer team to carry out an extensive Phase 1 survey to provide initial information on types and distribution of the main habitats and communities and conspicuous species. In addition, this survey had the objectives of evaluating recording and survey methods for volunteer groups and enabling further assessment of the potential role of such groups in the MNCR. The 24 sites surveyed during the 2 day expedition gave a good geographic and ecological coverage of Loch Sunart. Constraints on time prevented survey coverage of Loch na Droma Buidhe and Loch Teachuis which might have increased the range of habitats and communities recorded. At the sites surveyed, the major habitats and communities and conspicuous species were described. Features found in the loch which are considered to be of particular scientific interest include: - extensive Limaria hians (Gaping File Shell) beds in the Laudale Narrows; - mud sediments off Carna with a diverse megafaunal burrowing community including several less frequently occuring species; - circalittoral cliff habitats at the entrance to Loch Sunart which support rich communities and many animal species of high interest; - extensive infralittoral and circalittoral bedrock with well developed communities present throughout the length of the loch. This is a preliminary list and it is anticipated that a subsequent Phase 2 survey would significantly extend it. Records currently considered sensitive have been removed from this dataset.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/3b499cd9-14a3-4807-aaee-7383e1f17693-1987-NCC-MCS-Seasearch-Loch-Sunart-sublittoral-survey.csv

name: 1987-NCC-MCS-Seasearch-Loch-Sunart-sublittoral-survey.csv

Unique resource identifier

code

3b499cd9-14a3-4807-aaee-7383e1f17693

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Additional information source

MacKinnon, Lumb (1988) Loch Sunart sublittoral survey. 10th-11th October 1987.

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

oceans

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Marine

Marine Recorder

JNCCMNCR10000017

Habitat

MNCR

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-5.998322208

East bounding longitude

-5.532208319

North bounding latitude

56.72649607

South bounding latitude

56.64944537

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1987-10-10

End position

1989-10-11

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2001-08-22

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