Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 943 2015 site condition monitoring of marine sedimentary and reef habitats in Loch Laxford SAC COMMISSIONED REPORT Commissioned Report No. 943 2015 site condition monitoring of marine sedimentary and reef habitats in Loch Laxford SAC For further information on this report please contact: Lisa Kamphausen Scottish Natural Heritage Great Glen House INVERNESS IV3 8NW Telephone: 01463 725014 E-mail:
[email protected] This report should be quoted as: Moore, C.G., Cook, R.L., Porter, J.S., Sanderson, W.G., Want, A., Ware, F.J., Howson, C., Kamphausen, L. & Harries, D.B. 2017. 2015 site condition monitoring of marine sedimentary and reef habitats in Loch Laxford SAC. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 943. This report, or any part of it, should not be reproduced without the permission of Scottish Natural Heritage. This permission will not be withheld unreasonably. The views expressed by the author(s) of this report should not be taken as the views and policies of Scottish Natural Heritage. © Scottish Natural Heritage 2017. COMMISSIONED REPORT Summary 2015 site condition monitoring of marine sedimentary and reef habitats in Loch Laxford SAC Commissioned Report No. 943 Project No: 014988 Contractor: Heriot-Watt University Year of publication: 2017 Keywords benthos; monitoring; condition; reefs; maerl; sediment; SAC; SCM; marine Background Loch Laxford SAC was established to afford protection for the marine features ‘large shallow inlets and bays’ and 'reefs'. The aim of the current 2015 study was to carry out site condition monitoring (SCM) of the designated features of the SAC, in order to identify any deterioration in the condition of the features and to form a judgement on their current condition.