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.

 

 

 

If you have any further questions about JNCC's offshore survey work then please contact us.