Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) invited representatives from a range of organisations with an interest in stony reefs to a workshop in Peterborough on 26 and 27 March 2008. The main focus of the workshop was to clarify the definition of ‘stony reef’ under the Habitats Directive and to help with recognising those areas of the seabed which can be classed as stony reef, and those areas which would fall outside this definition.

A number of presentations were made featuring examples of stony reefs, some of which had already been listed as features within Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). These ranged from offshore, deep sea areas such as the Wyville Thomson Ridge off NW Scotland, to nearshore, shallow areas such as an extensive cobble area off the Yorkshire coast. The methods to detect these reefs were similar and included various acoustic techniques (such as multibeam surveys and side-scan sonar), drop and towed video, still photography and grab sampling.

Consideration was given to various parameters associated with stony reefs in an attempt to determine which were considered the most important for reef identification.