THAMES ESTUARY MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA MANAGEMENT Alex Mortley Port of London Authority

ECSA Symposium 22-24 April 2009

Outline

• Current uses of spatial data within the Port. • Emerging data streams and systems. • Case study: Dredging Spatial Information System (DSIS). • Constraints and challenges. • Potential future developments.

1 Thames Estuary & PLA

• Statutory responsibility for 95 miles of tidal river and estuary, covering approx. 400 sq. miles. • Responsibilities include navigational safety, planning & licensing.

Vessel Traffic Services

2 Hydrographic Survey / Hydrodynamics • Hydrographic surveys for navigation. • Environmental monitoring bathymetric surveys. • 14 real time tide gauges. • ADCP observations and 2D hydrodynamic model.

Water and Sediment Quality

• Water quality data supplied by Environment Agency. • Sediment quality data pre-requisite for maintenance dredging. • Geological & Geotechnical data available from boreholes/cores

3 Ecology & Conservation Sites

Designated Conservation Areas inside the PLA area of operations within the River Thames and Thames Estuary

its im • Statutory designated L rt Po

Benfleet & Southend Marshes Foulness Essex Estuaries sites (SSSI’s, SPA,

Boundary of PLA Thames Estuary Licensing Jurisdiction & Marshes ts Port Limi SAC, Ramsar, NNR, Ramsar - designated wetlands of international importance SAC - Special Areas of Conservation Shellfish waters).

Leigh NNR Southend-on-Sea Foreshore LNR Benfleet & Southend Marshes

Foulness • Fisheries data from

P ort Lim its

Boundary of PLA Allhallows Marshes Thames Estuary Licensing Jurisdiction PLA Boundary of PLA & Marshes Cliffe Marshes Licensing Jurisdiction the Environment its Port Lim PLA

SPA - Special Protection Areas NNR - National Nature Reserves LNR - Local Nature Reserves PLA - terrestrial estates Agency. • Ornithological data Pitsea Marsh Vange & Fobbing Marshes Benfleet & Southend Marshes Foulness

Inner Thames Marshes Holehaven Creek from RSPB.

Mucking Flats & Marshes

Boundary of PLA Licensing Jurisdiction South Thames Estuary & Marshes s West Thurrock Port Limit Lagoon & Marshes

SSSI - Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Wrecks & Archaeology

• Approx. six hundred charted wrecks & obstructions. • Two designated Historic wreck sites. • Palaeo-landsurfaces. • Central London Foreshore.

4 Data Sources & Quality Control • PLA only acquires a small fraction of the data pool. • Much of data is sourced from 3rd parties: • EIAs and Major Projects • River Works Licence conditioning • Dredging Licence conditioning • Collaboration with other organisations • Data quality is only as good as its source.

Data Management

• Oracle database system for Bathymetry and Topography storage under development. • SQL/Access for Water & Sediment quality as well as Fisheries data in use. • Spatial data viewed and interrogated within Cadcorp GIS software.

5 Dredging Spatial Information System (DSIS)

• GIS application to inform licensing decisions.

• Input from Environment Agency, Natural England, RSPB, Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries Committee, dredging companies and others.

• Deployed over the PLA’s extranet using a secure connection so only stakeholders can access the site.

Interrogating a Dredge Site

6 Dredging History

Water Quality

7 Sediment Quality

Fisheries Information

8 How is DSIS used?

• Enables environmental data relevant to dredging activity to be used in a meaningful way.

• Informs the PLA’s assessment of dredging licence applications.

• Facilitates consultation with stakeholders on dredging licence applications.

Challenges & Constraints

• Metadata and 3rd party data - ISO 19139 compliance. • Quality control and assurance. • Data with restricted access /data licensing. • Data formats / exchange between organisations. • Spatial resolution and temporal update.

9 Future use of GIS Applications

• Public consultation tool - accessible to all via PLA extranet. • Some sensitive information will remain password protected. • DSIS may be further developed to incorporate a larger spectrum of data. • Potential for inter-operability with external systems and national repositories.

Conclusions

• Spatial information is becoming an increasingly useful tool in marine management. • Holistic and integrated approach to data management of different data streams is evolving. • Frequency of data update as well as data licensing and meta-data still provide challenges.

10 www.pla.co.uk

Questions?

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