Habitat mapping
Marine habitat maps provide fundamental information for the sustainable management of offshore resources. The ability to visualise a virtual seabed has led to an increased interest in the use of habitat maps for nature conservation, economic development and resolving conflicts of multiple impacts on the seafloor. Cefas can provide high-resolution habitat maps in a cost-effective manner using acoustic technology.
Recent developments in acoustic technologies, in combination with traditional survey techniques, offer insights and opportunities to explore and map the seafloor at high-resolution. Acoustic techniques provide a means to conduct wide scale reconnaissance surveys required for regional spatial planning and environmental management.
Cefas has a multi-disciplinary research team of scientists experienced in the analysis and interpretation of multiple data layers within GIS (Geographical Information Systems), enabling the geo-spatial data to be presented as maps. These maps can be interrogated for multiple uses to provide information on seabed status.
We have been actively involved in critically evaluating an array of ‘state-of-the-art’ seabed mapping techniques. Our involvement in a wide range of mapping projects has allowed us to produce guidelines to advise on the cost-effectiveness and application of tools for environmental management, monitoring and advisory work.
Benefits of habitat mapping
- Understand distribution and extent of marine species and habitats
- Assess changes in marine habitats as a result of human activities
- Evidenced based information to safeguard priority habitats (i.e. Annex I habitats)
- Understand complexity and heterogeneity in survey area
- Assess the importance of species and habitats in a regional context
