VALORACION DEL ESTADO NUTRICIONAL

This report outlines a preliminary assessment of the use of research to identify the sensitivity of species and biotopes to prepare sensitivity maps within the Irish Sea. The report represents a single trial, as there was not enough time to test multiple approaches. Nevertheless, we have been able to tag the available survey data for species and biotopes with sensitivity information where available and have proposed, and mapped, sensitivity assessments at the Marine Landscape scale. The overall conclusions follow.

• Survey data can be tagged with sensitivity information to provide maps in GIS that show the

distribution and location of potentially sensitive habitats and species to different environmental factors.

• Sensitivity mapping of broader scale units, such as biotope complexes and habitat complexes

• Point based survey data alone does not provide information on the spatial extent of a biotope or species within a broader scale unit.

• Reporting the highest sensitivity of a geographically determined list of biotopes (or species) would

probably over-estimate the sensitivity of a broader scale unit.

• There may not be enough data in offshore areas to map to the biotope level. However, in offshore

areas, management requirements are usually at a broad scale (e.g. fisheries) and broad scale mapping is appropriate. Therefore, while biotopes are an appropriate unit for mapping in inshore areas, biotope complexes may be more appropriate offshore.

• It is probably unrepresentative to extrapolate directly from biotope or biotope complex level

sensitivities to the Marine Landscape level.

Therefore, the available field survey data did not allow existing MarLIN sensitivity information to be used

directly for the derivation of an overall sensitivity of Marine Landscapes. However, a review of the literature allowed an overall sensitivity of the Marine Landscapes to be assessed based on available sensitivities of likely biotopes present.

• The sensitivity assessment of broad scale units as large as the Marine Landscape unit requires expert

judgement with reference to existing literature and to the MarLIN sensitivities of representative

component biotopes.

• The proposed sensitivities of Marine Landscapes provide an overall indication of sensitivity to the

environmental factors shown based on a limited review of the literature. Sensitivity maps at the Marine Landscape level provide useful information for broad scale spatial planning and management of the marine environment.

• The presence of highly sensitive species and biotopes, or of species and biotopes of marine natural

heritage importance (e.g. UK BAP species), within any broad scale unit can be mapped as point survey data and support more detailed mapping.

• Users of sensitivity information based on biotope complexes, biotopes, nationally important features,

species etc need to know how they can and cannot be used. A strength of biotopes is that they allow comparison of like-with-like to assess quality, to identify variety within an area and can be assessed as rare or scarce. However, they do not identify other important features such as biomass, diversity, or functioning of the biology at a location.

• Geographical Information Systems allow sensitivity maps, survey data and sensitivity information to

be interrogated at a variety of scales, depending on user requirements, e.g. to provide information for Strategic Environmental Assessment at the broad scale or ‘zoom in’ to inform local development planning, Environmental Impact Assessment, or emergency response.

• The position of locally important features are best included as target notes within the GIS.

• MarLIN sensitivity assessments are not site or location specific and any sensitivity maps produced must always be interpreted by marine experts with local knowledge, and the likely effects of the proposed plan, programme or project be compared to the benchmark levels of effect against which sensitivity has been assessed.

• Information on the relative intensity or extent of marine activities and the resultant changes in

environmental factors should be used together with sensitivity information to identify vulnerable species, habitats and areas and effectively target environmental management.

• Static versions of the sensitivity maps do not adequately represent the data and their true utility as a

management tools is only realised using GIS.

Sensitivity mapping has the potential to identify or ‘flag’ locations, sites, or areas that are likely to be

adversely affected by activities in the marine environment. At present, point survey data provides reasonable information on sensitivity at the local or site-based level, which is probably exactly the scale required for emergency response and development planning. However, the more we extrapolate from survey point data to broader scales the less confident we are likely to be in our overall assessment of sensitivity.

While it is possible to extrapolate from species, biotope, or biotope complex sensitivities to broad scale units, it is important to include additional evidence from the literature, the sensitivities of representative component biotopes, and expert judgement to assess the sensitivity of the broad scale unit in question, e.g. the Marine

Landscape unit. A similar approach has been used to assess the sensitivity of habitat complexes by Jones et

al. (2000), the sensitivity of Annex I habitats of the Habitats Directive by the Marine SACs Project and the

sensitivity of Marine Landscapes in this report.

Overall, the preliminary sensitivity maps have demonstrated that species and biotope survey data can be ‘tagged’ with available sensitivity information to identify the location of potentially sensitive habitats and species. In addition, an approach to assessing the sensitivity of Marine Landscapes has also been

demonstrated. When combined with information on the level (magnitude, duration or frequency) or known or proposed activities it should be possible to identify particularly ‘vulnerable’ species or habitats and their location, to target environmental management effort effectively.

Geographic Information Systems would allow sensitivity maps to be combined with information on the presence of statutory conservation designations (e.g. SSSIs, SACs, SPAs, MNRs), seal haul out areas, shellfishery and fishery areas, fish spawning areas, marine activities, and link via the Internet to further information. Further development would produce an integrated information resource of spatial and other information to support Integrated Coastal Zone Management and ‘good’ Marine Stewardship.