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Mapping and Modelling of Marine Habitats in the Baltic Sea (Draft)

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Mapping and Modelling of Marine Habitats in the Baltic Sea (Draft) Mapping and modelling of marine habi- tats in the Baltic Sea region DRAFT BALANCE Interim Report No. 10 i Title BALANCE Interim Report No. Mapping and modelling of marine habitats in the Baltic 27 Sea region Authors Date Grete E. Dinesen (ed.), The Danish Forest and Nature Agency In association with: May 2008 Jesper H. Andersen, DHI Water, Environment & Health, Denmark Johnny B. Reker, The Danish Forest and Nature Agency Approved by With report contribution from (in alphabetic order): Trine Bekkby, Norwegian Institute for Water Research Ulf Bergström, The National Board of Fisheries, Sweden Martynas Bučas, Klaipeda University, Lithuania Ida Carlén, AquaBiota Water Research, Sweden Karsten Dahl, The National Environmental Institute, Denmark Darius Daunys, Klaipeda University, Lithuania Jørgen Hansen, The National Environmental Institute Kristjan Herkül, University of Tartu, Estonia Martin Isæus, AquaBiota Water Research, Sweden Gerd Kraus, The Danish Institute of Fisheries Research Jonne Kotta, University of Tartu, Estonia Jørgen O. Leth, The Geological Survey of Greenland and Denmark Cecilia Lindblad, The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency Georg Martin, University of Tartu, Estonia Frithjof Moy, Norwegian Institute for Water Research Hans Nilsson, Norwegian Institute for Water Research Anna Nójd, Finnish Environment Institute Kjell Magnus Norderhaug, Norwegian Institute for Water Research Helen Orav-Kotta, University of Tartu, Estonia Are Pedersen, Norwegian Institute for Water Research Alfred Sandstróm, The National Board of Fisheries, Sweden Mart Simm, University of Tartu, Estonia Matias Sköld, The National Board of Fisheries, Sweden Claus Sparrevohn, The Danish Institute for Fisheries Research Göran Sundblad, The National Board of Fisheries, Sweden Sandra Wennberg, Metria, Sweden Petras Zemblys, Klaipeda University, Lithuania Front page illustration: 1 Final report 0 Draft report Revision Description Checked Approved Date Key words Classification BALANCE; Baltic Sea; Kattegat; Skagerrak, marine Open BALANCE Interim Report No. 10 ii habitats; predictive modelling; GIS mapping; Internal Proprietary Distribution No of copies BALANCE Secretariat ** + pdf BALANCE partnership ** + pdf BSR INTERREG IIB Joint Secretariat 1 Archive 1 BALANCE Interim Report No. 10 iii CONTENTS 0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 7 0.1 Background..................................................................................................................... 7 0.2 Aims and approach......................................................................................................... 9 0.3 Potential application - a stepwise approach to mapping of marine habitats in the Baltic Sea region .................................................................................................................... 10 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Requirements for habitat data in marine spatial planning............................................. 12 1.2 What is a marine habitat? ............................................................................................. 14 1.3 BALANCE approach to habitat identification ................................................................ 15 1.4 Application in marine spatial planning .......................................................................... 18 1.4.1 Implementation of EU Directives .................................................................................. 18 1.4.2 HELCOM actions for ecosystem-based management.................................................. 19 1.4.3 Strategic planning ......................................................................................................... 19 1.4.4 Maritime safety ............................................................................................................. 20 2 MATERIAL & METHODS ............................................................................................. 21 2.1 The study area.............................................................................................................. 21 2.1.1 Characteristics of the Baltic Sea region........................................................................ 21 2.2 The BALANCE pilot studies on habitat mapping and modelling................................... 23 2.3 Data format (GIS) ......................................................................................................... 24 2.4 Data for mapping and predictive modelling .................................................................. 25 2.4.1 Bathymetry.................................................................................................................... 25 2.4.2 Substrate ...................................................................................................................... 25 2.4.3 Oceanography .............................................................................................................. 26 2.4.4 Chemistry...................................................................................................................... 27 2.4.5 Biological information.................................................................................................... 27 2.5 Development of multi-criteria evaluation models .......................................................... 27 2.6 Development of predictive habitat models.................................................................... 29 2.7 Classification of marine habitats ................................................................................... 35 3 RESULTS & DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 37 3.1 Mapping of seabed habitats.......................................................................................... 37 3.2 Multi-criteria evaluation................................................................................................. 39 3.2.1 Baltic-wide benthic landscape map .............................................................................. 39 3.2.2 MCE models of NATURA 2000 habitats in Pilot area 3............................................... 39 3.3 Predictive modelling...................................................................................................... 41 3.3.1 Data requirements ........................................................................................................ 41 3.3.2 Predictor variables ........................................................................................................ 43 3.3.3 Model selection............................................................................................................. 44 3.3.4 Validation and ground truthing...................................................................................... 45 3.4 Classification of marine habitats ................................................................................... 45 3.5 Application of habitat maps for management ............................................................... 46 4 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................ 48 4.1 Data and methodology.................................................................................................. 48 4.2 A Stepwise approach to mapping of marine habitats in the Baltic Sea area ................ 49 4.3 Confidence of the habitat maps .................................................................................... 49 BALANCE Interim Report No. 10 iv 4.4 Application for nature conservation .............................................................................. 50 4.5 Application for marine spatial planning ......................................................................... 50 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................. 52 6 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 53 APPENDICES............................................................................................................................. 68 APPENDIX A .............................................................................................................................. 69 CASE STUDIES: MAPPING AND MCE MODELLING OF MARINE HABITATS ....................... 69 Pilot Area 1 ................................................................................................................................. 70 6.1 PA1. Seabed mapping in the Rauøyfjord-Hvaler, Norway............................................ 70 6.1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 70 6.1.2 Material & Methods....................................................................................................... 72 6.1.3 Results.......................................................................................................................... 72 6.1.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................... 74 6.1.5 Conclusion and perspectives........................................................................................ 75 6.2 PA1. Mapping of the NATURA 2000 Annex 1 habitats 1170 and 1180 in N
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