The Manacles Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) Characterisation Report 2015 MPA Monitoring Programme Contract Reference: MB0129 Report Number: 2 Version 4 August 2018 © Crown Copyright 2018 Project Title: Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Monitoring Programme Report No 2. Title: The Manacles MCZ Characterisation Report 2015 Defra Project Code: MB0129 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 Anna Downie Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Jacqueline Eggleton Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Paul McIlwaine Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Ross Bullimore Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) [email protected] Acknowledgements We thank the Marine Protected Areas Group (MPAG) representatives 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 Statutory Nature Conservation Body (SNCB) advice or assessments. Cefas Document Control Title: The Manacles MCZ Characterisation Report 2015 Submitted to: Marine Protected Areas Group (MPAG) Date submitted: February 2018 Portfolio Lead: Clare Leech Project Manager: Mark Etherton Principal Investigator: Sue Ware MPA Programme Science Lead: Joanna Murray, Tammy Noble-James, Ross Bullimore Report compiled by: Anna Downie, Jacqueline Eggleton, Paul McIlwaine Quality control by: Sue Ware, Silke Kröger Approved by & date: Ross Bullimore 08/08/2018 Version: 4 Version Control History Author Date Comment Version Downie et al. 21/12/2016 Draft submitted for MPAG and external review V1 Downie et al. 31/08/2017 Revised draft following MPAG and external review V2 Downie et al. 20/01/2018 Draft submitted following internal QC V3 Downie et al. 08/08/2018 Revised following final MPAG review V4 Contents Contents ...................................................................................................................... i Tables ........................................................................................................................ iii Figures ....................................................................................................................... iv Executive Summary ................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Site overview ................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Aims and objectives ...................................................................................... 7 1.2.1 High-level conservation objectives ......................................................... 7 1.2.2 Definition of favourable condition ............................................................ 7 1.2.3 Report aims and objectives .................................................................... 8 1.2.4 Feature attributes and supporting processes ........................................ 10 2 Methods ............................................................................................................. 11 2.1 Data sources ............................................................................................... 11 2.2 Survey design ............................................................................................. 11 2.3 Data acquisition and processing ................................................................. 13 2.3.1 Acoustic data ........................................................................................ 13 2.3.2 Seabed imagery ................................................................................... 13 2.3.3 Seabed sediments ................................................................................ 14 2.4 Data preparation and analysis..................................................................... 14 2.4.1 Habitat map .......................................................................................... 14 2.4.2 Sediment particle size distribution ........................................................ 15 2.4.3 Tidal modelling ..................................................................................... 15 2.4.4 Physico-chemical properties ................................................................. 16 2.4.5 Biological community data preparation ................................................. 16 2.4.6 Statistical analyses ............................................................................... 17 3 Results and Interpretation .................................................................................. 19 3.1 Site overview ............................................................................................... 19 3.2 Subtidal rock BSH: Physical structure and biological communities ............. 21 3.2.1 A3.1/3.2 High/Moderate energy infralittoral rock ................................... 26 3.2.2 A4.1/4.2 High/Moderate energy circalittoral rock .................................. 26 3.3 Subtidal sedimentary BSH: Sediment composition and biological communities .......................................................................................................... 30 3.3.1 Subtidal coarse sediment ..................................................................... 33 3.3.2 Subtidal sand ........................................................................................ 34 The Manacles MCZ Characterisation Report 2015 i 3.3.3 Subtidal mixed sediments ..................................................................... 37 3.3.4 Subtidal macrophyte-dominated sediment............................................ 40 3.4 Habitat Features of Conservation Importance (FOCI) ................................. 42 3.4.1 Maerl beds ............................................................................................ 42 3.5 Species Features of Conservation Importance (FOCI) ............................... 46 3.5.1 Pink Sea-Fan (Eunicella verrucosa) ..................................................... 46 3.5.2 Other Species FOCI ............................................................................. 50 3.6 Non-indigenous species (NIS) ..................................................................... 50 3.7 Supporting processes ................................................................................. 52 3.7.1 Hydrodynamics: tidal energy and exposure .......................................... 52 3.7.2 Water quality parameters ...................................................................... 52 3.7.3 Sediment quality parameters ................................................................ 53 3.8 Additional monitoring requirements ............................................................. 53 3.8.1 Marine litter ........................................................................................... 53 4 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 54 4.1 Subtidal rock BSH: Extent, distribution, physical structure and biological communities .......................................................................................................... 54 4.2 Subtidal sedimentary BSH: Extent, distribution, sediment composition and biological communities .......................................................................................... 55 4.3 Habitat Features of Conservation Importance (FOCI) ................................. 56 4.4 Species Features of Conservation Importance (FOCI) ............................... 58 4.5 Non-indigenous species (NIS) ..................................................................... 58 4.6 Supporting processes ................................................................................. 58 4.7 Additional monitoring requirements ............................................................. 58 5 Recommendations for future monitoring ............................................................ 59 6 References ........................................................................................................ 61 Annex 1. Infauna data truncation protocol. .............................................................. 63 Annex 2. Epifauna data truncation protocol applied to seabed imagery data. ......... 64 Annex 3. Rationale for using counts of individuals and taxa from still images in condition monitoring. ................................................................................................ 68 Annex 4. Marine litter .............................................................................................. 70 Annex 5. Non-indigenous species (NIS). ................................................................. 71 The Manacles MCZ Characterisation Report 2015 ii Tables Table 1. The Manacles MCZ site overview, including General