North Sea Checkpoint Data Adequacy Report - Marine Protected Areas
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Growth & Innovation in the Ocean Economy: North Sea Checkpoint Data Adequacy Report - Marine Protected Areas DLS0342-RT006-R02-00 August 2015 Growth & Innovation in the Ocean Economy: North Sea Checkpoint Data Adequacy Report - Marine Protected Areas Document information Document permissions Confidential - client Project number DLS0342 Project name Growth & Innovation in the Ocean Economy: North Sea Checkpoint Report title Data Adequacy Report - Marine Protected Areas Report number RT006 Release number R02-00 Report date August 2015 Client European Commission DG MARE Client representative Iain Shepherd Project manager Marie Pendle Project director Quillon Harpham Document history Date Release Prepared Approved Authorised Notes 07 Aug 2015 02-00 MEP MPN QKH Updates following client comments 01 May 2015 01-00 MEP MPN GBS Document authorisation Prepared Approved Authorised © HR Wallingford Ltd This report has been prepared for HR Wallingford’s client and not for any other person. 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DLS0342-RT006-R02-00 Growth & Innovation in the Ocean Economy: North Sea Checkpoint Data Adequacy Report - Marine Protected Areas Executive Summary This document summarises the findings of the Marine Protected Areas challenge, conducted as part of the North Sea Checkpoint project (NSCP). This is the second of the project challenges to be completed. This report is the sixth deliverable to DG Mare under the North Sea Check Point project (Growth and Innovation in the Ocean Economy – Gaps and Priorities in sea basin and observation data MARE/2012/11: North Sea) contract reference SI2.658142. The work for this Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Challenge was undertaken by MacAlister Elliot & Partners (MEP). This document is the second Data Adequacy Report (DAR) presenting the findings for a completed challenge. Points for EMODnet Bathymetry portal - If more complex larval connectivity analyses were to be conducted by a marine user, bathymetry datasets may prove to be very useful when modelling larval movement over certain ocean features. Seabed Habitats portal - Datasets in this portal were useful the MPA Challenge. The broad scale habitats dataset (EUSeaMap) was downloaded for use in the ‘Features and Representivity’ aspect of the Challenge (see Section 5.1.2). The OSPAR habitat data set is also available for download from this portal. Both datasets were selected for use as they allowed full (albeit coarse) coverage of the North Sea basin. • The EUSeaMap predictive habitat map did not fully cover the extent of the study area, whereas the OSPAR dataset did. • The types of habitats represented are different: The EUSeaMap data set is based on EUNIS habitat classification and OSPAR has its own habitat classification • The resulting ‘Features and Representivity’ statistics differed depending on the dataset. The majority of the OSPAR threatened and/or declining habitats were well represented within the MPA network, all having a significant number of replicates in MPAs, whereas the EUNIS habitats showed a more mixed picture. Many of the named habitats without a EUNIS code were bathyal (c. 1000-4000 meters depth) or deep sea habitats located around the coast of Norway or north of Shetland/Orkney, which are areas with relatively poor MPA coverage. Biology portal - Generally, the data sets provided by the Biology Portal relate to data collected over short time periods or in relation to specific species in target locations, which was not useful for basin- wide analysis. Species distribution datasets were not at a useful level of detail for the MPA analysis. The species distribution datasets display the whole species range, and although some datasets are available for some species listed under Annex I and II and OSPAR, mapping their general range overlap with MPA distribution is too coarse a scale. More pertinently, not all species featured in the North Sea MPA network have datasets. Therefore, the type of dataset that would have been useful for this challenge would be have been a spatial data layer file, containing point data of the locations of Annex I and II and OSPAR species listed in North Sea MPAs. This would allow a marine user to easily identify to what extent the MPA network might protected these species. Most data is point occurrence, without consideration of species movements, even when seasonal distributions are known to alter. DLS0342-RT006-R02-00 Growth & Innovation in the Ocean Economy: North Sea Checkpoint Data Adequacy Report - Marine Protected Areas Points for EMODnet Human Activities portal - This provides a very useful data service for marine users wanting to get a general idea of the size of the North Sea MPA network. Some improvements could be made to variety of fisheries datasets that are available through this Portal. Data on fishing catches is useful, but in the context of MPAs, a more useful dataset for the future might be a data layer of seabed impact and/or fishing effort by various fishing gears. We acknowledge that this portal is still at an early state and has not yet fully populated its data catalogue. DLS0342-RT006-R02-00 Growth & Innovation in the Ocean Economy: North Sea Checkpoint Data Adequacy Report - Marine Protected Areas Contents Executive Summary 1. Introduction _________________________________________________________ 1 2. Aim _______________________________________________________________ 1 3. Context ____________________________________________________________ 2 3.1. Data gathering ................................................................................................................................... 4 3.2. Data analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 4 3.3. Data adequacy assessment .............................................................................................................. 7 4. Data _______________________________________________________________ 7 5. Results ____________________________________________________________ 14 5.1. Challenge output ............................................................................................................................. 14 5.1.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 14 5.1.2. Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 14 5.1.3. Outcome ............................................................................................................................ 21 5.2. Data Adequacy ................................................................................................................................ 22 5.2.1. Contribution – Does the data contain the right parameters? ............................................. 23 5.2.2. Location – Does the data cover the correct time / space location? ................................... 24 5.2.3. Commercial – Are the commercial terms acceptable? ...................................................... 25 5.2.4. Attributes – Does the data have the correct attributes? .................................................... 25 5.2.5. Delivery - Can the data be provided to match the timeframe of the challenge?................ 26 5.2.6. Usability – Is the data format and supporting information suitable? .................................. 26 5.3. Key Data Gaps ................................................................................................................................ 27 5.4. Country MPA Information Points ..................................................................................................... 28 6. Discussion and Conclusions ___________________________________________ 30 6.1. Discussion ....................................................................................................................................... 30 6.2. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 31 7. References ________________________________________________________ 32 Appendices ____________________________________________________________ 33 A. List of organisations contacted B. GeoDatabase metadata export C. Data Assessment D. Results of the fine filter replication and representation tests for habitats in the North Sea MPA Network E. Figures Tables Table 4.1: Datasets considered suitable in the marine protected areas challenge ...................................