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A review of the distribution and ecological importance of seabed communities in the deep waters surrounding Scotland 2019

Abstract

Marine Scotland and JNCC have undertaken a scoping exercise to identify the deep-sea features of interest and evaluate options for creating a deep-sea national marine reserve, to the north-west and north of Scotland, in waters deeper than 800 metres. The ‘study area’ for the potential deep-sea marine reserve is divided into two distinct biogeographic areas either side of the Wyville-Thomson Ridge, with different hydrographic and thermal regimes resulting in distinct community types north and south.

Numerous deep-sea habitats and species could be appropriate for spatial protection, many of which are already Priority Marine Features (PMFs) or correlate with existing PMF descriptions.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2019·06·06

Citation
Doggett, M., Baldock, L. & Goudge, H. (2019) A review of the distribution and ecological importance of seabed communities in the deep waters surrounding Scotland, JNCC Report No. 625, JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-8091.

Lineage
The Scottish Government’s Programme for Scotland 2017-18 included a commitment to ‘evaluate options to create a deep-sea national marine reserve’.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC publisher

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Available under the Open Government Licence 3.0

Metadata date 2019·09·27

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

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