Identification

Title

2005 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA6 Technical Report - Assessment of the Status of Horse Mussel (Modiolus Modiolus) Beds in the Irish Sea off NW Anglesey

Abstract

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report is an assessment of the status of the beds of the Horse Mussel Modiolus modiolus on the tide swept sea floor off north and northwest Anglesey, based on three short cruises of the RV Prince Madog during January - March 2005. In some places Modiolus forms dense beds that can carpet the sea floor and build up as reef-like features or bioherms. Side-scan sonar, sampling with grabs or dredges, and sledge mounted cameras were used to investigate the seabed. Modiolus was found, in sufficient abundance to be considered as 'beds', at four localities within the area surveyed. Modiolus beds are of considerable conservation interest, coming within the 'reef' category of the EU Habitats Directive, and they are listed under OSPAR. Modiolus beds are known to be highly vulnerable to physical disturbance; once destroyed, beds do not seem to recover naturally in the medium term. In addition to describing the occurrences of Modiolus and analysing the specimens sampled, the epifauna associated with them and other benthos in their vicinity are described.

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_93

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

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

-6

East bounding longitude

-4

North bounding latitude

55.3

South bounding latitude

51.7

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

2005-01-01

End position

2005-03-01

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2005-03-01

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

The report was prepared by Professor E. I. S. Rees as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. Over the course of three short cruises with RV Prince Madog in the January - March 2005 period, side-scan sonar, sampling with grabs or dredges and sledge mounted camera deployments were used to investigate the seabed. The side-scan sonar used was a Cmax 800 digital system operated on the high frequency setting (325kHz). The grab used was a modified long-arm stainless steel Van-Veen grab. Much of the seabed sampling was done with a small Tjarno pattern dredge. The whole of each sample was then washed on a 5mm mesh screen. The UWTV used is based on a Rovtech Systems 'Seacam' recording on the ship onto a Sony Digital 8 recorder. Two 20 watt lights are powered through the 200m umbilical cable. The still camera system comprised a Photosea 1000 35mm camera and a 150 watt strobe controlled by a separate electronic timer unit.

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