Surfbirds News

The two-year UKSeaMap project, which was part funded by the RSPB, identifies features on the seabed and within the water column, providing a broad pattern of the UK’s marine habitats. The UKSeaMap project, which is led by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, is a partnership of ten organisations including government departments, agencies, advisers and conservation charities.

Great Skua, Highland, UK, copyright Steve Round

Dr Euan Dunn, head of the RSPB’s marine team, said: “Marine wildlife and habitats need much better protection, but, until now, this has been hampered by the extremely patchy extent of our knowledge about what lies beneath the waves. We hope the government will make full use of UKSeaMap as it draws up proposals to improve wildlife protection through the forthcoming Marine Bill.”

The UK has 25 species of nesting seabird, including the Manx shearwater, gannet and great skua, which have most of their world nesting population around the UK. Several more species, including the critically-endangered Balearic shearwater, are regular non-breeding visitors to UK waters.

David Connor, a marine specialist who led the work at the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, said: “Through our understanding of the physical and hydrographic factors that determine what wildlife occurs where, such as seabed sediments and water depth, we have developed an approach to predict variation in seabed ecology using data that covers large areas. We brought together this well known data with new information such as that on light penetration, and how much the seabed is disturbed by waves. By combining these, the UKSeaMap project has for the first time provided an insight into the broad pattern of marine habitats around the UK - a brand new map of our seas and the first of its kind in Europe.”

Dr Paul Gilliland, a marine specialist with Natural England and Chair of the project's Steering Group, said: "We need to develop more sustainable management of the marine environment as a whole, not least in response to the growing use of the sea and the need to protect it.”