The Manacles MCZ Post-Survey Site Report
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The Manacles MCZ Post-survey Site Report Contract Reference: MB0120 Report Number: 57 Version 3 March 2018 Project Title: Marine Protected Areas Data and Evidence Co-ordination Programme Report No 57. Title: The Manacles MCZ Post-survey Site Report Defra 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 Authorship Louise Brown Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Peter Mitchell Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Acknowledgements We thank Suzanne Ware, Alex Callaway and Keith Weston (Cefas) for reviewing 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 have 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: The Manacles MCZ Post-survey Site Report Submitted to: Marine Protected Areas Survey Co-ordination & Evidence Delivery Group Date submitted: March 2018 Project Manager: Sue Ware Report compiled by: Louise Brown, Peter Mitchell Quality control by: Alex Callaway, Keith Weston and Silke Kröger Approved by & date: Silke Kröger (08/03/2018) Version: V3 Version Control History Author Date Comment Version L Brown & P Mitchell 21/12/2016 First draft 1.0 P Mitchell 02/10/2017 QA comments addressed 2.0 P. Mitchell 05/03/2018 Review comments addressed 3.0 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 original MCZ designation .................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Features protected in the 2013 and 2016 MCZ Designation Orders ............. 3 1.3 Features present but not proposed in the SAD for inclusion within the MCZ designation .................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Evidence of human activities occurring within the MCZ ................................ 4 2 Introduction ................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Location of the MCZ ...................................................................................... 5 2.2 Rationale for site position and designation .................................................... 6 2.3 Rationale for prioritising this MCZ for additional evidence collection ............. 8 2.4 Survey aims and objectives .......................................................................... 8 3 Methods ...................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Acoustic data acquisition ............................................................................. 10 3.2 Ground truth sample acquisition .................................................................. 11 3.3 Production of the updated habitat map ....................................................... 13 3.4 Quality of the updated map ......................................................................... 15 4 Results ........................................................................................................ 17 4.1 Site Assessment Document (SAD) habitat map .......................................... 17 4.2 Updated habitat map based on new survey data ........................................ 18 4.3 Quality of the updated habitat map ............................................................. 21 4.4 Broadscale Habitats identified ..................................................................... 21 4.5 Habitat FOCI identified ................................................................................ 23 4.6 Species FOCI identified .............................................................................. 25 4.7 Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) ...................................... 26 4.8 Data limitations and adequacy of the updated habitat map ......................... 27 4.9 Observations of human impacts on the seabed .......................................... 28 5 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 29 5.1 Presence and extent of Broadscale Habitats .............................................. 29 5.2 Presence and extent of habitat FOCI .......................................................... 30 5.3 Presence and distribution of species FOCI ................................................. 30 5.4 Evidence of human activities impacting the seabed .................................... 31 References ............................................................................................................... 32 The Manacles MCZ Post-survey Site Report i Data sources ............................................................................................................ 34 Annexes ................................................................................................................... 35 Annex 1. Broadscale Habitat features listed in the ENG. ..................................... 35 Annex 2. Habitat FOCI listed in the ENG. ............................................................ 36 Annex 3. Low or limited mobility species FOCI listed in the ENG. ....................... 37 Annex 4. Highly mobile species FOCI listed in the ENG. ..................................... 38 Annex 5. Video and stills processing protocol. .................................................... 39 Appendices .............................................................................................................. 41 Appendix 1. Survey metadata .............................................................................. 41 Appendix 2. Outputs from acoustic surveys ......................................................... 48 Appendix 3. Evidence of human activities within the MCZ ................................... 50 Appendix 4. Species list ....................................................................................... 51 Appendix 5. Analyses of sediment samples: classification and composition ....... 71 Appendix 6. BSH/EUNIS Level 3 descriptions derived from video and stills ........ 73 Appendix 7. Example images from survey for Broadscale Habitats .................... 79 Appendix 8. Example images from survey for habitat FOCI ................................ 81 The Manacles MCZ Post-survey Site Report ii List of Tables Table 1. Broadscale Habitats for which this MCZ was proposed for designation. ..... 7 Table 2. Habitat FOCI for which this MCZ was proposed for designation. ................ 7 Table 3. Species FOCI for which this MCZ was proposed for designation. ............... 8 Table 4. Description of derivatives calculated for bathymetry. ................................ 14 Table 5. Broadscale Habitats identified in this MCZ. ............................................... 23 Table 6. Habitat FOCI identified in this MCZ. .......................................................... 23 Table 7. Species FOCI identified in this MCZ. ......................................................... 25 The Manacles MCZ Post-survey Site Report iii List of Figures Figure 1. Location of The Manacles MCZ. Bathymetry is from the Defra Digital Elevation Model (Astrium, 2011). ....................................................................... 6 Figure 2. Available acoustic data coverage for The Manacles MCZ........................ 11 Figure 3. Location of groundtruth sampling sites in The Manacles MCZ. Bathymetry displayed is from Defra’s Digital Elevation Model (Astrium, 2011). .................. 12 Figure 4. Habitat map from the Site Assessment Document (Lieberknecht et al., 2011)................................................................................................................ 18 Figure 5. Updated map of Broadscale Habitats based on newly acquired survey data, overlaid with PSA and still image samples. ............................................. 20 Figure 6. Overall MESH confidence score for the updated Broadscale Habitat map. ......................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 7. Habitat FOCI identified. ............................................................................ 25 Figure 8. Species FOCI identified. .......................................................................... 26 Corrigendum In July 2015 Defra declared the following amendments to reporting of Features of Conservation Importance (FOCI) in MPAG reports to reflect changes described within Defra MCZ consultation and designation material: • The habitat FOCI