EUSeaMap is a project that has produced broad-scale
predictive habitat maps for more than two million square kilometres
of European seabed, building on the work of the MESH project.
More information
is available in the Habitat Mapping section of our website.
This project produced a new predictive seabed
habitat map for the UK marine area. It built on the previous work
of UKSeaMap 2006 and MESH. More information is available in the Habitat
Mapping section of our website.
Completed projects
JNCC led an international marine habitat
mapping programme entitled “Development of a framework for Mapping
European Seabed Habitats”, or MESH for short, which began in spring
2004 and ended in January 2008. A consortium of 12 partners
across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France gained
financial support from the EU INTERREG IIIB fund for the
project.
The UKSeaMap 2006 project followed on from the Irish Sea Pilot
study, part of which investigated the concept of 'marine
landscapes' and their ecological relevance. As a result, a UK-wide
map of marine landscapes was produced based on a number of physical
attributes of the seabed and water column.
The review was established in 1999 by the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to examine how
well the UK system for protecting nature conservation at sea was
working and suggest improvements. An interim report was
submitted to Ministers in 2001. A key recommendation was to
undertake a pilot scheme, at the regional sea scale, to test the
potential for an ecosystem approach to managing the marine
environment. The Irish Sea Pilot project, was led by JNCC.
It started work in 2002 and completed its research in
2004.
Projects and reports relating to marine
surveillance and monitoring can be found on the Monitoring and Surveillance Projects and Reports
page.