The Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) Seagrass Network contributes to a clearer picture of estuarine and coastal health across England by monitoring a wide range of parameters, supporting long-term measurement and establishment of a more complete national asset inventory of seagrass. The NCEA Seagrass Network Analysis Ready dataset consists of the Seagrass Bed Location Layer (points) and Seagrass Bed Extent Layer (polygon) data to show the location of seagrass bed presence detected from Environment Agency surveys undertaken between 2007 and 2024. It includes intertidal beds surveyed since 2007 and subtidal beds surveyed since 2016. The point locations were calculated by using the centre point of each bed from the most recent survey at each of those beds. Seagrass presence and locations were identified using multiple survey methods. Intertidal beds were surveyed using a mix of walkover surveys and aerial mapping, with drone and airplane imagery. Subtidal beds were surveyed using a mix of drop-down camera and echosounder methods, with new NCEA data collected from 2023 onwards.
The NCEA Seagrass Network is a project supported by the UK Government through Defra's NCEA programme. The NCEA is Defra's largest research and development (R&D) programme. It will produce a baseline of our natural assets by 2029; enabling a natural capital approach to policy and decision-making.
Users should ensure they have read the NCEA Analysis Ready Data Limitations Statement and dataset specific limitations/ caveats outlined in the Data Dictionary. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2025. All rights reserved.
