Offshore Survey due to commence in the Irish Sea
On 30th
October 2016, JNCC and Cefas will embark on a survey of Pisces Reef Complex candidate Special
Area of Conservation/Site of Community Importance (cSAC/SCI) in the Irish
Sea (see map below), aboard the RV Cefas Endeavour (CEND2316x).
Pisces Reef Complex cSAC/SCI consists of three areas of Annex I bedrock
and boulder-dominated stony reefs, which protrude through an extensive mud plain
between the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. The three reefs rise 15-35m above
the surrounding seabed and are composed of silty bedrock, with a patchy veneer
of muddy sediment.
This survey is
aiming to gather evidence to monitor and inform assessment of condition of the designated
features of Annex I Reefs in
the Pisces Reef Complex cSAC/SCI. The
survey will collect Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) and sub-bottom acoustic
profile data across the site to investigate the extent of the reef and the depth
of any sediment veneers that cover it. This will be ‘groundtruthed’ by
collecting seabed videos and still images. Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs) and
Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) will be used in order to comply with the JNCC guidelines for minimising the risk of injury
and disturbance to marine mammals from seismic surveys. Data will also be collected on
temperature/conductivity (salinity), pressure (depth), fluorescence (chlorophyll),
light transmissivity (suspended load) and oxygen to help build a picture of the
environment at the site.
Stay tuned to our blog and JNCC Twitter feed for further updates
throughout the survey!
