Marine

The seas belonging to the United Kingdom extend over 867,000 sq km (335,000 sq miles) - more than three times its land area. Our seas vary in depth from the shallow waters of the southern North Sea, down to over 3,000m in an area 200 miles west of Rockall. They range in climate from the warm temperate waters of the south-west approaches, to deep sub-arctic waters between the Faroes and Norway, where the water temperature rarely exceeds 0ºC.

 

A significant proportion of the UK's total biodiversity is found in the seas. This means the UK's marine environment is a large part of our nature conservation heritage, with a much greater taxonomic diversity than found on land. These seas are also key to the UK's economy and quality of life, through its contribution to primary energy supplies, ship-borne trade, fisheries, marine aggregates, tourism and recreation. This economic and social activity can have a significant impact on our marine biodiversity, as does land-based and airborne pollution.

 

JNCC's work provides advice to Government on how to lessen these impacts, and suggesting measures to achieve effective marine nature conservation. This work is supported by a programme of surveillance and monitoring that identifies trends in the biodiversity of the marine environment and assessment of the state of our marine biodiversity.

 

JNCC is responsible for the identification of SACs and SPAs in UK offshore waters. Seven offshore SACs (for Annex I Reefs,  Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time and Submarine structures made by leaking gases) are subject to a public consultation which runs from December 2007 to March 2008. More on Offshore Natura 2000 >>>

 

JNCC is leading an international marine habitat mapping programme entitled 'Development of a framework for Mapping European Seabed Habitats' (MESH). MESH has produced seabed habitat maps for north-west Europe and developed international standards and protocols for seabed mapping studies. More on MESH >>> 

 

UKSeaMap
UKSeaMap has extended the work and outputs of the Irish Sea Pilot project to the sea area under UK jurisdiction. Building on the methodology developed during the Review of Marine Nature Conservation (RMNC), UKSeaMap has mapped the UK's seabed landscapes and seasonal water column features. More on UKSeaMap >>>

Marine Habitat Classification.
The National Marine Habitat classification for Britain and Ireland has been revised and the first part of it is presented as a fully interactive web application. The classification is a tool to aid the management and conservation of the marine environment and is now widely used for survey, monitoring and assessment, such as in SACs (Special Areas of Conservation). More on the Marine Habitat Classification>>>