Case Study Presentation to MESH Conference
Regional Environmental Monitoring & Mapping
in
The East Channel Region
Acknowledgements
Cefas English Nature (Natural England)
English Heritage The Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Defra MFA Andrews Survey
Liverpool University, Department of Geography HR Wallingford
The Crown Estate BMAPA
Marine Ecological Surveys Unicomarine
Marineseen Fisheries Consultees
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency ICES HAWG
ECEN Meeting Attendees TWG Meeting Attendees
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The ECA would like to acknowledge the considered analysis, assistance and advice provided by the following organisations,
companies and stakeholders;
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Britannia Aggregates Ltd Lower Road Northfleet
Kent DA11 9BL
CEMEX UK Marine Ltd Baltic Wharf Elm Street
Marine Parade Southampton
Hants. SO14 5JF
Dredging International (UK) Ltd Greenstede House
Wood Street East Grinstead West Sussex RH19 1UZ
VDL Hanson Aggregates Marine Ltd
Burnley Wharf Marine Parade Southampton
Hants SO14 5JF
United Marine Dredging Ltd United Marine Aggregates Ltd
Francis House Shopwyke Road
Chichester West Sussex PO20 6AD
Volker Dredging Ltd Robert Brett House
Ashford Road Canterbury
Kent CT4 7PP
1 Introduction – The ECR and ECA
The East Channel Association (ECA) consists of 6 companies
The role of the ECA provide a focus for coordinating regional monitoring and management of operations
The ECR is situated in the Eastern English Channel approx 20km south of Eastbourne
8 areas consisting of 12 individual permission areas
Eastern Channel ‘region’ of 24,000km2
Prospecting areas 1,132km2
Area applied for 150km2
Each area subjected to individual EIA.
Concerns regarding the cumulative and in-combination effects of applications consideration of the ‘regional’ impacts of the development.
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10km approx
Current Status of Licences and Applications
461 – Permission granted, active.473, 474 & 475 – Permission granted,
inactive.458 & 464-2 – Permission awaited.
477 – Permission awaited.478 – Permission awaited.2
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2 The Regional Environmental Assessment
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The REA provides the foundation upon which the regional monitoring and
management of aggregate extraction is based. It is the intention of the ECA to
work towards repeating the REA process periodically through the term of ECA
licences.
The ECA commissioned Regional Environmental Assessment (REA)
Provides the regional basis for assessment of impacts.
Models of impact developed to determine the potential impact of simultaneous operations at several sites.
Collation of environmental data from individual licence applications undertaken
Regional studies of fishing, navigation, archaeology etc
All this information was incorporated into the Regional Environmental Assessment (Posford Haskoning, 2003).
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3 Design of a Regional Monitoring Programme
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The coherence of monitoring activities in the ECR, and the
improved cost/benefit of pooling resources, are key to ensuring the continuation of this industry driven
initiative.
Main recommendation of the REA was that the ECA undertook a coordinated programme of regional monitoring
Ensure compatibility and comparability of data; prevent unnecessary use of monitoring resources through pursuit of individual monitoring programmes
Design aided by key government advisors and key stakeholders
Two main threads: physical process monitoring (sediment mobilisation, deposition and transport) & biological community monitoring
Physical monitoring focussed study at ‘type site’ 473 East (also regional sediment description)
Biological monitoring describe benthic, epibenthic, shellfish and demersal fish communities across the region
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4 The Regional Monitoring Blueprint
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The ECA Regional Monitoring Blueprint v0.3 completed in 2005
The document provides framework for monitoring
Provides plans for baseline sampling at the regional ‘type site’ and also the regional scale
Survey methodologies provided along with framework for reporting and review of data
Biodiversity and conservation issues were considered in the ECA Biodiversity Action Plan (ECA BAP)
Blueprint constantly under review and any changes made will be accounted for in subsequent versions of the document
The reporting and review process proposed in the Blueprint enables
modification of monitoring as results are interpreted. A major review of data (REA II) is proposed in years 4-
5 of ECR operations.
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5 Methodologies and Baseline Survey Operations
??Fish
Blueprint methodologies used to guide baseline survey operations in 2005
Large volumes of licence specific data available to inform monitoring
Data acquisition provide a description of seabed habitat and faunal communities against which impact can be monitored
Natural change considered through use of reference areas
Well established methods employed along with extensive seabed photography
Monitoring aims to describe the various ‘levels’ of community structure
??Shellfish &Epibenthos
??Infauna, Epifauna &
Sediment
??In situ video &
digital stills
??Sidescan & collated
ES data
??Bathymetry
Habit
at
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6 Data Analysis and Results
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Extraordinary volume of data extraordinary opportunity for interpretation
Basic interpolation attempted to highlight regional habitat trends and features
Simple measures used to illustrate benthic faunal characteristics
Multivariate statistics used to marry data components (sediment, infauna, epifauna)
Region wide description of shellfish and fish communities
Community/biotope maps and charts in development
Repeat biological surveys have been undertaken in 2006. This will enable
inter-annual comparison of monitoring data early in the life of
the development.
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7 Interpretation?
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Interpretation will be an ongoing process
Further work to be done on baseline data set comparison with first repeat sampling
Results of plume and tracer studies will be required to enable a full comparison of empirical data with the REA model
REA II planned for years 4-5 of extraction operations
Review of data by the ECA Technical Working Group and wider stakeholder groups has been initiated during the first year of monitoring
The ECA GIS and website will be key in managing the large and diverse monitoring data set
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8 Regional Scale Habitat Mapping in a MESH Context
The MESH Project aims to produce seabed habitat maps for north-west Europe (see MESH study area) and develop international standards and protocols for seabed mapping studies.
MESH will address these issues in the following key ways: Compile available seabed habitat mapping information across north-west Europe
Provide the first seabed habitat maps for north-west Europe.
Habitat modeling developed to predict habitat distribution for unsampled areas, from the more widely available geophysical and hydrographic data.
Protocols and standards for habitat mapping will be developed, drawing upon best available expertise, to help ensure that future mapping programmes yield quality assured data that can be readily exchanged and aggregated to further improve the initial maps.
Protocols will be tested through a range of field-testing scenarios to ensure they are robust and the results repeatable.
Protocols and habitat maps will be made available via state of the art Internet-based GIS (Geographical Information Systems), providing ready access to the information for a wide range of end-users
The wide spectrum of potential end-users will be engaged from the start of the project to better understand their end needs, to encourage the supply of relevant data and to encourage the improved use of the mapping information in spatial planning, management issues and for environmental protection.
In comparison, the ECA have undertaken a regional habitat monitoring programme with the following aims:
for the ECR
for the ECR
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9 Regional Scale Habitat Mapping: ECR MESH?
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Habitat Mapping in the ECR
Habitat Mapping through MESH
EC regional context mapping
Constraints of scale addressed by extensive use of acoustic data
Possibility that work can inform classification of MESH habitats
Habitat/impact modelling
Cost/benefit aspects of work
NW European seas context
Habitat modelling
Development of standards and procedures
Mapping conventions
Practical experience of habitat mapping at regional scale
Practical experience of combining diverse data sets to present a regional habitat description
Results of modelling and habitat descriptions
Clear, practical guidance from MESH regarding survey methodologies and results
Understanding of the types of data being generated by ECR and similar programmes and consideration of how such data might be used by MESH
Address resourcing issues for all parties involved
Beneficial Interaction between MESH and the
ECR Monitoring Programme
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10 Issues
Practicality Cost/benefit of monitoring at a regional scale
Primary purpose of the data set – monitoring, not research attempt to produce data capable of informing either
Confidence of interpretation over varying spatial scales best use of collated data sets and other studies (eg ALSF Eastern Channel Habitat Survey)
Determination of significance of operations in the context of habitat abundance through NW European Seas ECA Biodiversity Action Plan
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Questions?
If you would like to know more please visit
www.eastchannel.info
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Data presented with kind permission of theEast Channel Association
by
Emu Limited
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