Identification

Title

2003 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA4 Technical report - Cephalopods (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) and provides an overview of cephalopods - squid and octopus - in the SEA4 area. Cephalopods are short-lived, carnivorous animals that have rapid growth rates and play an important part in oceanic and coastal food webs. They are preyed on by cetaceans, seals, fish and seabirds, and are predators themselves, feeding on fish, crustaceans, molluscs and cephalopods. Knowledge of cephalopod distribution in Scottish waters is mainly based on information from commercial whitefish vessels that catch squid as a by-catch. Fishery landings of cephalopods consist mainly of the loliginid squid Loligo forbesi. At present there are no commercial landings of the ommastrephid squids Todarodes sagittatus or Todaropsis eblanae. The benthic octopod Eledone cirrhosa, though a highly valued species in southern Europe, is usually discarded by Scottish fishermen. Various deep-water squid are likely to be present in the Faeroe-Shetland Channel, of which the most important is probably the Arctic squid Gonatus fabricii. Cephalopods naturally accumulate high levels of trace metals. The potential of drilling operations to introduce trace metals into the sea is discussed. But the most likely impact of oil industry activities on cephalopod populations is disturbance of spawning grounds. Although squid in spawning condition are caught every year in the SEA4 area, where they spawn is not known. It is concluded that the overall impact on cephalopods and cephalopod fisheries in the SEA4 area of further oilfield development would be slight.

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_43

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

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

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

2003-01-01

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

This report was prepared as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme by the Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen, where a group specialises in cephalopod research using information from commercial fishing. Knowledge of cephalopod distribution in Scottish waters is mainly based on information from commercial whitefish vessels that catch squid as a by-catch. Data on cephalopod landings from the ICES area are compiled by the ICES Working Group on Cephalopod Fisheries and Life History (WGCEPH). However, these compilations are based on ICES fisheries sub-divisions, whereas the SEA 4 area cuts across two major fisheries subdivisions (Ivb and Via) as well as taking in small parts of two others (Vb and Iia). Trends have been reconstructed for the SEA 4 area by reference to the source fishery databases.

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