Dogger Bank (2008)
The aim of this survey, which was commissioned by JNCC and
undertaken by Cefas, was to gather data to
support the
delineation of a potential site boundary, and to
characterise the
biological communities present,
on the Dogger Bank in the southern North Sea. The Dogger Bank has
since been recommended to UK Government as a
draft
SAC.
A multidisciplinary survey including acoustic
(sidescan and multibeam echosounder) and biological sampling (Hamon
grabs, beam trawls and underwater photography and video)
was undertaken on the RV Cefas Endeavour in April 2008 to
investigate the surficial seabed sediments and bedforms, epifaunal
and infaunal communities.
Eight different habitats were found on the
Dogger Bank: infralittoral coarse sediment, circalittoral coarse
sediment, deep circalittoral coarse sediment, infralittoral fine
sand, infralittoral muddy sand, circalittoral fine sand,
circalittoral muddy sand and deep circalittoral sand. A clear
distinction was found between the infaunal groups found in the fine
sand and muddy sand. Biological zones were found to overlap
significantly, indicating tha the changes in infaunal groups are
transitional rather than sharp going deeper down the bank.
Further Reading
- Deising, M., Ware, S., Foster-Smith, R., Stewart, H., Long, D.,
Vanstaen, K., Forster, R. and Morando, A. 2009. Understanding
the marine environment - seabed habitat investigations of the
Dogger Bank offshore draft SAC. JNCC Report 429.
Project Contractors
If you have any further questions about JNCC's offshore survey
work then please contact us.