Investigating the existing coverage and subsequent gaps in protection and providing guidance on representativity and replication for a coherent network of Marine Protected Areas in England’s territorial waters

Abstrac

Identification of indicator species to represent the full range of benthic life history strategies for Lyme Bay and the consideration of the wider application for monitoring of Marine Protected Areas

The work presented in this report is part of a larger project funded by Defra which focuses on assessing the various changes that may ensue as a result of protection of a 60nm area of Lyme Bay to mobile fishing gear, both in ecological and economic terms. The ecological monitoring includes monitoring of representative indicator species of the reef to examine recoverability and to “assess the long-term effects of fishery area closures on long lived and sessile benthic species”. The current report outlines the selection of such indicator species for Lyme Bay and the wider application of this and alternative methods to monitoring MPAs

Marine health check update 2009

Abstrac

Development of a marine diversity data layer: review of approaches and proposed method

Abstrac