Blackstones and Stanton Banks (2003, 2005 and 2006)
Blackstones Bank and Stanton Banks were two Areas of Search for
offshore Special Areas of Conservation
(SACs) for potential Annex I bedrock and stony reef. Stanton Banks
has since been submitted by the UK to the European Commission as a
candidate SAC.
Five surveys have been conducted on Stanton Banks, which
confirm the presence of Annex I reef and identify
the biological communities present. A British Geological Survey
(BGS) manned submersible survey of an area within the Stanton Banks
confirmed the presence of reef habitat and described characteristic
reef fauna.
A collaborative survey between JNCC and DARDNI (Department for
Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland) was undertaken
in 2003 on the RV Lough Foyle. Two areas of Stanton Banks
(Stanton 1 and 2) were surveyed acoustically using RoxAnn
acoustic ground discrimination system (AGDS) and multibeam
to characterise the physical properties/morphology of the seabed.
Biological ground truthing of these areas using video tows
and stills camera images confirmed the presence of bedrock
reef and identified the major faunal communities. This survey also
gathered data on Blackstones Bank (as reported in the final report
available for download below). The Blackstones Bank survey area
consisted of two distinctly raised areas which rise from
approximately 50 metres to 25 metres at the peaks, each of about 2
km2, which from the video analysis correspond to bedrock
outcrops and constitute rocky reef. The reef areas are seperated by
a series of cobble and sand areas. The reefs in this area are
characterised by diverse sponge-rich communities with
bryozoan crusts.
Further survey was undertaken by the North Western Shelf
consortium, as part of the MESH project in 2005 and 2006. This included
multibeam survey of three further areas (Stanton
1, 3 and 4) and biological groundtruthing of Stanton 4 using
drop-down video and ROV (remotely operated
vehicle). A survey by BGS in June 2006 (cruise CD180 of
the RV Charles Darwin) took place over part of Stanton 4.
This survey gathered geophysical data using a sparker
system, pinger and a precision echosounder.
From the analysis of video and stills, the biotopes CGS,
CR.HCR.DpSp.PhaAxi and
CR.MCR.EcCr.CarSp.PenPcom were found on Blackstone Bank. The
biotopes
CR.MCR.EcCr.FaAlCr.Bri,
CR.MCR.EcCr.FaAlCr and CGS were found on Stanton
Banks.
Further Reading
Project Partners
If you have any further questions about JNCC's offshore survey
work then please contact us.