DEFRA ME4108 JNCC REPORT FOR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ME4108

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Marine habitat mapping of the North Sea and

Defra ME4108 JNCC

Report for Service Level Agreement ME4108

Marine nature conservation and biodiversity input to the 2004 State of the Seas report and OSPAR habitat mapping

March 2005

Client:

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Submitted by:

David Connor and Jon Davies

On behalf of:

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Monkstone House, City Road

Peterborough PE1 1JY, UK

The authors of this report are employed by Scottish Natural Heritage on behalf of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The work reported herein was carried out under a contract placed on 22 September 2003 by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Any views expressed are not necessarily those of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Contents

1. Introduction 4

2. OSPAR habitat mapping 4

2.1 Key objectives 4

2.2 Background 4

2.3 Programme of work 5

2.4 Outputs 6

3. State of the Seas report – nature conservation and biodiversity 6

3.1 Key objectives 6

3.2 Background 7

3.3 Programme of work 7

3.4 Outputs 8

Annex 1 Screen dumps from OSPAR web-mapping application 9

Annex 2 Paper to the 2005 meeting of the OSPAR Biodiversity Committee 12

1.Introduction

This report has been prepared in fulfillment of Defra Service Level Agreement ME4108 “Marine nature conservation and biodiversity input to the 2004 State of the Seas report and OSPAR habitat mapping”. The work has been undertaken:

to enable the UK to act as lead country on habitat mapping for OSPAR^¹’s Biodiversity Committee’s, more specifically to deliver a programme to map the distribution of 14 priority habitats across the OSPAR north-east Atlantic region. This work has led to a report to the February 2005 meeting of the Biodiversity Committee^² and to a dynamic web-mapping application to display the mapping data.
to provide the biodiversity contribution to a Defra-led programme to produce a State of the Seas report which has culminated in the publication Charting Progress. An integrated assessment of the state of UK seas^³ in March 2005.

The report is divided into two main sections to reflect these two separate elements of the SLA.

2.OSPAR habitat mapping

2.1Key objectives

The key objectives, as set out in the SLA, were as follows:

To prepare maps of the distribution within the OSPAR area of the habitats specified on the OSPAR list of threatened and declining species and habitats. The maps will be collated from data supplied by OSPAR Contracting Parties in the form of point location (dot or grid cell) information, presented in a Geographical Information System (GIS) and made available via the Internet. This initial suite of maps should be compiled and presented to the OSPAR Biodiversity Committee in early 2005.

2.2 Background

The OSPAR Biodiversity Committee, as part of its work to implement Annex V of the Convention, has identified a need to prepare maps of seabed habitats. This is to meet both specific and immediate needs in relation to the protection of threatened habitats and the development of EcoQOs (ecological quality objectives) and longer-term goals regarding quality status assessments and implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to management of the marine environment. Such habitat mapping is a natural progression of the work of the Committee to develop a habitat classification system, in conjunction with the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), for the OSPAR area (part of the EEA’s EUNIS classification). The UK is the lead country for the tasks of habitat classification and mapping and was requested by the Biodiversity Committee in November 2001 to present proposals to its next meeting on how habitat maps of both the North Sea and the wider OSPAR area might be achieved.

The 5^th North Sea Ministerial Declaration in March 2002 also recognized the importance of a marine habitat classification for the assessment of the conservation status of marine habitats and specifically encouraged OSPAR and the EEA to start marine habitat mapping of the North Sea by 2003.

These international drivers for the preparation of seabed habitat maps were also reflected by the UK government in its Marine Stewardship Report, published in May 2002. This report recognizes the need for seabed maps but also calls for improved spatial planning and implementation of the ecosystem-based approach. Seabed habitat maps are an essential component of these wider strategies.

Specific proposals on how these goals might best be achieved were developed at a workshop hosted by the UK in October 2002, which led to proposals being presented to BDC in January 2003 under two main themes: mapping of specified habitats (i.e. those on the proposed threatened and declining list) across the entire OSPAR area and a holistic mapping programme, initially restricted to data-rich areas such as the North Sea. BDC agreed to implement the specific habitat mapping programme and that the UK should act as coordinator for this task. BDC recognized that development of the holistic mapping programme was desirable, but limited resources would prevent significant progress here.

The work presented here represents the work undertaken to deliver the programme for mapping the distribution of the 14 priority habitats.

2.3Programme of work

The following programme of work was undertaken:

Preparation of a paper^⁴ to OSPAR’s MASH^⁵ meeting in November 2003, including proposed definitions for 10 priority habitats, a draft data management structure and data exchange format and a proposed work programme to deliver the OSPAR-wide maps of these habitats.
Based on the outcome of the MASH 2003 meeting^⁶, a co-ordination network amongst the Contracting Parties was established, further work on the data exchange format was undertaken, the 10 habitat definitions were updated on the basis of comments received from Contracting Parties and draft definitions for a further four habitat types to be added to the priority list were developed.
Preparation of a paper^⁷ to OSPAR’s Biodiversity Committee in February 2004, including revised definitions for the 14 habitat types and a proposed work programme.
Based on the outcome of BDC 2004^⁸, the mapping programme was initiated through a network of Contact Points in each Contracting Party. A final data exchange format, together with guidance on its completion and the agreed definitions of each habitat type were distributed to the Contact Points within each Contracting Party.
The required data for the UK was compiled in two principle ways; firstly, suitable data was extracted from JNCC’s national benthic marine database, and secondly additional data were sought from a wide range of external sources, including other government agencies, marine laboratories, non-government organisations and published literature. The second aspect was undertaken under sub-contract by the SeaScope consultancy.
Additional international datasets were sourced for the Seamount and Lophelia pertusa reef habitats to supplement the data provided by Contracting Parties, especially to cover the high seas region of the OSPAR area.
The requirements for disseminating the mapping data via a web-based mapping application were developed in the light on experience gained through JNCC’s development of the NBN (National Biodiversity Network) Gateway. Work was initiated to extend and enhance the NBN Gateway capability to enable the facility to:

Suitable coastlines and a UTM 50km x 50km grid for the OSPAR area were sourced and an OSPAR introductory screen was developed. The web application work was undertaken in collaboration with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) at Monks Wood.

The data provided by Contracting Parties were collated into a Geographical Information System (GIS) and summary maps prepared of the distribution of each habitat type. These initial maps, progress with the programme and the proposed functionality of the web-application were reported to the October 2003 meeting of MASH^⁹.
On the basis of the comments received at MASH 2004^¹⁰, work progressed to complete the original work programme agreed at BDC 2004. Contracting Parties submitted further data to enable the compilation of a final set of maps to be presented to the Biodiversity Committee, together with the uploading of these data to the web-mapping application.
Preparation of a paper^¹¹ to the Biodiversity Committee in February 2005, providing a set of maps depicting the distribution of each habitat type on the basis of data submitted to date and a progress report on the status of the mapping programme. Additionally the web-mapping application was demonstrated to the Committee.

2.4Outputs

The web-mapping application is available from the following developmental site:

http://212.219.37.107/hosted/ospar/ospar.html

A selection of screen dumps from the web application to illustrate the functionality of the site is given in Annex 1. The site awaits formal approval from the OSPAR Commission (expected at its meeting in June 2005), before going live with the following URL:

www.searchNBN.net/hosted/ospar/ospar.html

The paper presented to the Biodiversity Committee meeting in February 2005, representing the completion of the originally-agreed programme of work on mapping the OSPAR priority habitats, is given in Annex 2.

3.State of the Seas report – nature conservation and biodiversity

3.1Key objectives

The key objectives, as stated in the SLA, were:

To prepare the Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s contribution to the State of the Seas report, including progressing the development of indicators of the biodiversity of UK Seas where possible. These results will be based upon data from survey and monitoring under the management of JNCC and partner organisations and will be presented in enumerated or mapped form ready for inclusion in the report.

3.2Background

The government’s first report on marine stewardship, Safeguarding Our Seas, was published in May 2002 outlining a strategy for the sustainable development and conservation of our seas. The report included the commitment to produce an integrated assessment of the state of UK waters, a State of the Seas report, in 2004 as a key contribution to the marine stewardship process.

Defra’s aims for the State of the Seas report were:

explain how UK government will know whether we are getting closer or further away from the vision we set in the first marine stewardship report (i.e. that of clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas, with a real difference made within one generation) in other words, how we will be using science to check whether we are delivering our policy;
carry the ecosystem approach a step forward, by defining how UK government will know whether the marine system maintaining the system in a good state through a system of indicators (or if we have not got to the stage where we can specify a set of indicators, an indication of our approach to this issue and what progress we have made). This might also refer to some of the sector objectives (e.g. for hazardous substances and eutrophication) to which are committed through OSPAR;
give an assessment of how we are doing on the set of EcoQOs which are being developed in OSPAR following the commitments Ministers made in the 5th North Sea Conference – this should overlap with the previous item;
give an impetus to our aim of better integrating activities under the four management sector monitoring programmes, on the line proposed by the MPMMG, and provide a platform for demonstrating that we have succeeded in that aim;
report on progress in relation to national and international marine environment objectives, targets and where possible using performance indicators developed through our research programmes;
describe the current state of our seas, under the headings provided in Annex D (this will be the bulk of the report);
conclude with an assessment of how we are doing, probably by each regional sea separately, identifying the major management issues in those seas.
put the UK in a good position to influence the approaches to the planned EU and OSPAR assessments. At a minimum, we should seek to ensure that as much of the work we do for this project can be reused in these European initiatives.

The State of the Seas report was to be developed through assessment and interpretation of data from the UK’s marine monitoring programmes in two phases, firstly respecting the sectoral boundaries between management interests to produce indicator type reports and then using an integrating approach.

The first phase was approached by commissioning contributions from the four sectorally-related monitoring programmes that constitute the majority of UK marine monitoring, i.e. environmental quality, fisheries, nature conservation and ocean climate. This service level agreement was specifically to support the contribution to the report from the UK’s marine nature conservation monitoring programmes. These are coordinated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

3.3Programme of work

The work was undertaken in accordance with the Specification at Annex B of the SLA and included:

drafting a specification for the biodiversity sections of the State of the Seas (SOTS) Report and seeking potential authors for the sections. Once authorship was agreed, JNCC co-ordinated the drafting of these sections to meet the aims of the SOTS process and to meet the deadlines for overall timetable for the SOTS Report. JNCC also provided editorial advice to authors during the drafting of their sections, and following the various review stages.
liaising with relevant co-ordination groups, for instance the National Marine Biological Analytical Quality Control (NMBAQC) group and organizations, for instance the Conservation Agencies, to seek their active engagement in the SOTS Process, particularly to seek contributions of data and expertise to support the drafting of the text.
attending meetings of the SOTS Steering Group on behalf of the biodiversity sector.
finalising the draft text for submission to the SOTS process and subsequently co-ordinating the amendment of text on the basis of external comments.
organising the production of the final text, including sourcing figures and arranging the copy editing on behalf of DEFRA.

3.4Outputs

The final report on the nature conservation and biodiversity input to the State of the Seas process was published in March 2005 and is available on the Defra web site at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/water/marine/uk/stateofsea/chartprogress-3.pdf

Annex 1 Screen dumps from OSPAR web-mapping application

a. Whole OSPAR area map showing distribution of a priority habitat type

DEFRA ME4108 JNCC REPORT FOR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ME4108

b. Map zoomed into the North Sea part of the OSPAR area

DEFRA ME4108 JNCC REPORT FOR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ME4108

c. Map further zoomed into show detail for part of Norwegian coast, together with a subset of records selected to query underlying data

DEFRA ME4108 JNCC REPORT FOR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ME4108

d. Table illustrating underlying data from records selected in map (c).

DEFRA ME4108 JNCC REPORT FOR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ME4108

e. Map zoomed into part of the UK showing distribution of Oyster beds

DEFRA ME4108 JNCC REPORT FOR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ME4108

f. Map further zoomed into Loch Ryan, south-west Scotland, illustrating the Oyster bed data with access restricted to 10km x 10km grid, and an underlying OS map at this scale.

DEFRA ME4108 JNCC REPORT FOR SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ME4108

Annex 2 Paper to the 2005 meeting of the OSPAR Biodiversity Committee

[Insert file: SLA report Annex2BDC05_0403_UK Map Priority Habitats Progress.doc ]

1 OSPAR is the Oslo and Paris Convention for the protection of the marine environment of the north-east Atlantic

2 BDC 05/4/3

3 Defra. 2005. Charting progress. An integrated assessment of the state of UK seas. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

4 MASH 03/3/1

5 Working Group on Marine protected Areas Species and Habitats (MASH)

6 MASH 03/7/1

7 BDC 04/3/3

8 BDC 04/14/1

9 MASH 04/4/1

10 MASH 04/9/1

11 BDC 05/4/3

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