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Restoring marine and coastal habitats in Wales: identifying spatial opportunities and benefits

Publisher
Natural Resources Wales
Updated
14 October 2025
Topic
Not set
Licence
Not set

Summary

In order to better understand opportunities to build resilience in the Welsh marine environment, a report was commissioned by Natural Resources Wales to identify potential spatial opportunities to restore valuable marine habitats. The report created spatial products (Arc Geo database) for: areas in the floodplain that might be suitable for the creation of mudflat and saltmarsh through managed realignment and areas where the right conditions might exist for native oyster habitat and horse mussel bed restoration. The horse mussel data was provided from JNCC. The report also addresses restoration potential for Sabellaria alveolata reefs although no spatial data was created for this habitat and seagrass habitat although this was provided as a map image from JNCC. These spatial Data layers should be considered as initial aides to identifying potential locations or areas but come with several limitations which have been discussed in the report. Any restoration projects should undergo further site validation and local engagement before proceeding with any specific site. The following GIS datasets were created for this: Saltmarsh_Mudflat_Opportunities_Opportunities_Floodplains_SMPpolicy Native_Oyster_Opportunities Wave_Height_Grid_ABPmerSeastates Current_Speed_Grid_ABPmerSeastates Historic_Saltmarsh_Extents S_alveolata_records_historic_and_current O_edulis_records_historic_and_current M_modiolus_records_historic_and_current Potential_Beneficial_Use_Sources

Data links

Link Format Preview Updated
Web Service 14/10/2025
View and Download 14/10/2025

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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
31 May 2024
Harvest GUID
NRW_DS124923
Extent (Latitude)
53.513067° to 51.240829°
Extent (Longitude)
-5.777741° to -2.608865°
Dataset reference date (publication)
2022-07-21
Frequency of update
notPlanned
Access constraints
Part of this dataset is sensitive and restricted as it contains data exempt from general release under EIR. Unrestricted parts of the dataset can be released under an Open Government Licence (OGL)
Responsible party
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) (owner, custodian, distributor); ABP Marine Environmental Research Ltd (originator)
ISO 19139 resource type
dataset
Metadata language
eng