Farnes East Rmcz Summary Site Report
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Farnes East rMCZ Post-survey Site Report Contract Reference: MB0120 Report Number: 3 Version 10 March 2015 Project Title: Coordination of the Defra MCZ data collection programme Report No 3. Title: Farnes East rMCZ Post-survey Site Report Project Code: MB0120 Defra Contract Manager: Carole Kelly Funded by: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Marine Science and Evidence Unit Marine Directorate Nobel House 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Monkstone House City Road Peterborough PE1 1JY Authorship: Jacqueline Eggleton Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] David Stephens Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Dr Markus Diesing Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Dr Sue Ware Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Matthew Curtis Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Acknowledgements We thank Dr Roger Coggan (Cefas) for editing the text of earlier drafts of this report. Disclaimer: The content of this report does not necessarily reflect the views of Defra, nor is Defra liable for the accuracy of information provided, or responsible for any use of the reports content. Although the data provided in this report has been quality assured, the final products - e.g. habitat maps – may be subject to revision following any further data provision or once they have been used in SNCB advice or assessments. Cefas Document Control Title: Farnes East rMCZ Post-survey Site Report Submitted to: Marine Protected Areas Survey Co-ordination & Evidence Delivery Group Date submitted: March 2015 Project Manager: David Limpenny Report compiled by: Jackie Eggleton, David Stephens, Markus Diesing, Sue Ware, Matt Curtis Quality control by: Roger Coggan, Christopher Barrio Approved by & date: Keith Weston (02/03/2015) Version: V10 Version Control History Author Date Comment Version Jackie Eggleton et al. 20/08/2012 First draft V1 Jackie Eggleton et al. 03/09/2012 Edited draft following internal QA V2 Jackie Eggleton et al. 27/09/2012 Re-edited draft to include partner logos and V3 version control document Jackie Eggleton et al. 14/11/2012 Edited following Project Steering Group V4 review Jackie Eggleton et al. 11/01/2013 Final edits ready for sign-off V5 Jackie Eggleton et al. 28/02/2013 Edited following additional PSG comments V6 and peer review Jackie Eggleton et al. 26/03/2013 Cefas final QA V7 Christopher Barrio 01/04/2014 Revised following updated mud HOCI V8 definitions Jackie Eggleton et al. 10/12/2014 Updated habitat map and report text using V9 data collected on CEND0514 Jackie Eggleton et al. 27/02/2015 PSG comments addressed V10 Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ i List of Tables .............................................................................................................. iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................. iv 1 Executive Summary: Report Card ................................................................. 1 1.1 Features proposed in the SAD for inclusion within the MCZ designation ...... 1 1.2 Features present but not proposed in the SAD for inclusion within the rMCZ designation .................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Evidence of human activities within the rMCZ ............................................... 2 2 Introduction ................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Location of the rMCZ ..................................................................................... 4 2.2 Rationale for the site position and designation .............................................. 4 2.3 Rationale for prioritising this rMCZ for additional evidence collection ........... 5 2.4 Survey aims and objectives .......................................................................... 6 3 Methods ........................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Acoustic data acquisition ............................................................................... 7 3.2 Ground truth sample acquisition .................................................................... 7 3.3 Production of the updated habitat map ......................................................... 9 3.4 Quality of the updated map ......................................................................... 14 4 Results ........................................................................................................ 16 4.1 Site Assessment Document (SAD) habitat map .......................................... 16 4.2 Updated habitat map based on new survey data ........................................ 16 4.3 Quality of the updated habitat map ............................................................. 19 4.4 Broadscale habitats identified ..................................................................... 19 4.5 Habitat FOCI identified ................................................................................ 20 4.6 Species FOCI identified .............................................................................. 21 4.7 Other features identified .............................................................................. 22 4.8 Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) ...................................... 22 4.9 Data limitations and adequacy of the updated habitat map ......................... 23 4.10 Observations of human activities within the rMCZ ...................................... 23 5 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 25 5.1 Presence and extent of broadscale habitats ............................................... 25 5.2 Presence and extent of FOCI habitats ........................................................ 25 5.3 Presence and distribution of species FOCI ................................................. 26 5.4 Evidence of human activities within the rMCZ ............................................. 26 References ............................................................................................................... 27 Farnes East rMCZ Post-survey Site Report i Data sources ............................................................................................................ 30 Annexes ................................................................................................................... 31 Annex 1. Broadscale habitat features listed in the ENG ...................................... 31 Annex 2. Habitat FOCI listed in the ENG. ............................................................ 32 Annex 3. Low or limited mobility species FOCI listed in the ENG. ....................... 33 Annex 4. Highly mobile species FOCI listed in the ENG. ..................................... 34 Annex 5. Video and stills processing protocol ..................................................... 35 Appendices .............................................................................................................. 37 Appendix 1. ........................................................................................................... 37 Appendix 2. Outputs from Acoustic Surveys ........................................................ 44 Appendix 3. Evidence of human activities within the rMCZ ................................. 46 Appendix 4. Species List ..................................................................................... 47 Appendix 5. Analyses of sediment samples: classification and composition ....... 63 Appendix 6. BSH/EUNIS Level 3 descriptions derived from video and stills ........ 67 Appendix 7. Example images from survey for broadscale habitats ..................... 75 Appendix 8. Example images from survey for habitat FOCI ................................ 77 Farnes East rMCZ Post-survey Site Report ii List of Tables Table 1. Broadscale habitats for which this rMCZ was proposed for designation. .... 5 Table 2. Habitat FOCI for which this rMCZ was proposed for designation. ............... 5 Table 3. Species FOCI for which this rMCZ was proposed for designation. .............. 5 Table 4. Description of derivatives calculated for bathymetry and backscatter (where specified). ........................................................................................................ 11 Table 5. Broadscale habitats identified in this rMCZ. .............................................. 20 Table 6. Habitat FOCI identified in Farnes East rMCZ. ........................................... 20 Table 7. Species FOCI identified in this rMCZ. ....................................................... 21 Table 8. Details of human activities found in the bathymetry data. ......................... 24 Farnes East rMCZ Post-survey Site Report iii List of Figures Figure 1. Location of the Farnes East rMCZ in the context of other rMCZs in the area.................................................................................................................... 4 Figure 2. Location of ground truth sampling sites collected on CEND0412 and CEND0514 at