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 submitted to the European Commission
and is now a
candidate 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 that 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.