This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA3) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report summarises sites which are protected for reasons other than nature conservation in the SEA3 area of the North Sea. They include sites of geological importance, archaeological importance, sites of designated water quality for bathing, and areas of bivalve shellfish production. Sites of geological importance include Geological Conservation Review sites (GCRs), geological Special Sites of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological sites (RIGS). Sites of archaeological importance include wrecks and scheduled monuments. A large number of wrecks exist in the SEA3 area, most uncharted. The majority of wrecks are found in coastal waters. Important historic wrecks in UK waters are protected under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Water samples are regularly taken from numerous beaches along the east coast for physical, chemical and microbiological analysis. Bathing beaches are classified according to national and European standards for quality. In the UK, shellfish for human consumption must be harvested from designated production areas.

This report describes fieldwork operations of the North Sea Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA2) Survey, Leg 3 (crests survey) conducted for he Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) from R/V Vigilance between 14 and 22 June 2001. The survey objectives were to carry out quantitative seabed sampling and seabed photography in SEA2 Survey Area 1 (sand bank / wave study areas, off the Norfolk coast). The report contains a brief description of seabed appearance and epifauna. 82 samples were collected.

As part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) a seabed survey was carried out. The survey comprised photography and seabed sediment and water sampling. The purpose of these surveys was to shed light on the distribution and extent of methane-derived autigenic carbonate (MDAC) in the Irish Sea. 942 photographs are available. Cruise report is available.

As part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA2), this report briefly describes the evidence for the origin of shallow gas in Outer Moray Firth open blocks 15/20c and 15/25d. Sea floor pockmarks are known to occur within these blocks, and they indicate the seepage of gas from shallow levels into the local water column. An environmental concern is that any industry activity in these blocks must not plumb into any component of the system that is sustaining the gas seepages at sea bed. The study area covers two part-blocks within the eastern part of the Witch Ground Graben within the UK Central North Sea. This study follows on from the DTI 2001 SEA research on pockmarks.

As part of the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment for Area 6 (SEA6) an environmental survey was carried out from Kommandor Jack during October 2003. The aim of the survey was to acquire seabed and water samples for biological, physical and chemical analysis together with video and digital stills photography to ground-truth the geophysical data ans enable a general characterisation of seafloor habitats and community types present within a number of offshore areas containing pockmarks and shallow gas seeps within the Irish Sea. The areas surveyed were: St Georges Wall; Yuan's Pockmarks; Pisces Reef; Texel 11, Codlings Extension; Harvey's Trench; Texel 10. This report provides a log of the field sampling work undertaken.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA3) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). It provides an overview of the various management plans which have been developed for the coastal zone, coastal defence, estuaries, biodiversity and coastal habitats in the SEA3 area of the North Sea. Numerous dynamic processes, both natural and man-made, affect the SEA3 coastline. After reviewing these processes, the report reviews the various coastal initiatives and management strategies which have been established to minimise their detrimental effects. Various coastal fora provide a lead in developing management strategies for the enhancement and protection of the environment in their areas. Plans include European marine site management schemes, shoreline management plans prepared by coastal defence authorities, estuary management plans, coastal habitat management plans and biodiversity action plans.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA7) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). The coastal and marine areas within the SEA 7 boundary are very extensive, longer and more varied than any other SEA area. Stretching westwards into the Atlantic Ocean, the region includes a very large area of relatively shallow continental shelf. There are also a few uninhabited islands to the west of the Outer Hebrides, including St. Kilda with its multiple conservation designations. The Outer Hebrides form one of the oldest geological provinces in Europe and is mainly based on Lewisian Gneiss. A major geological fault runs parallel to the east coast (The Minch coast), whereas the western side is normally a continuation of the continental shelf. These features are prominent in the southern islands, notably the Uists. Harris and Lewis present different topographies which include the high massif with Clisham at its centre and the low peat-covered plateaux of most of Lewis to the north. The east Minch coastline is generally steeper and falls to deeper inshore waters. It is also characterised by several transverse sea lochs which resemble similar fjords on the west mainland coast. Although the legacy of glacial processes are complex, the main effect has been to over-deepen sea lochs and inter-island straits (e.g. Sound of Harris) and deposit great masses of glacial debris, especially sands, on the shallow continental shelf to the west where, with the prevalence of strong onshore Atlantic waves and winds, vast beaches were formed in this post glacial period. Large quantities of organic sand (crushed shells) were added to this volume; as a consequence some of the larger beach and sand dune systems in Britain are found along the west coast. These extensive blown sand systems are called machairs, and provide a unique series of environmental and ecological systems with very high conservational status at European and international levels. The west coast of the Outer Hebrides contains many sites of archaeological interest and retains a distinctive cultural landscape as one of the last strongholds of a historical system of land tenure and working found nowhere else in Europe. This way of life is considered to be one of the prime reasons for the creation and maintenance of many of the significant conservational attributes of the Outer Hebrides.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). An integral element of any environmental assessment for offshore oil and gas development, and for possible nearshore renewable energy proposals, is a review of potential sites of conservational importance within the region of interest. For the purpose of SEA 6, this is especially important given the scale of the area (over 400 km from the tip of SW Wales to the Mull of Kintyre); its division into five separate states/provinces, each with their own nature conservation authorities and some differences in nature conservation legislation; the fact that it includes a very considerable length of coastal zone and that a very large proportion of those coasts are designated as nature conservation sites. The report identifies and locates coastal and nearshore sites within the SEA 6 area which are protected by international, national and local conservation designations. The sites are briefly described and the reasons for their protected status are given. For internationally important sites, summary information describing the main features of the site is provided and there is also an assessment of the vulnerability of the site and any relevant management issues. The ordering of the national sites does not imply any formal ranking, but is a relative judgement of their conservation importance.

As part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment 5 (SEA5) a geophysical survey was undertaken on the survey vessel R/V Jean Charcot. The geophysical survey comprised the first phase of a scientific research project devoted to acquiring information about specific aspects of the North Sea Environment and its seafloor habitats. The geophysical survey was required to provide high resolution maps of the seafloor in SEA 5 areas of interest. Swath bathymetry, side scan sonar and shallow geophysical reflection data were acquired as part of the geophysical survey. No seabed samples were collected.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report provides a synthesis of current knowledge of the benthic communities and seabed habitats in the Clyde Sea, which abuts the northern end of the SEA6 area. The Clyde Sea is a fjordic system consisting of drowned, glacially over-deepened, valleys separated by sills. The southern limit of the area, and the ultimate sill for the Clyde Sea lochs, is formed by a broad sill termed the Great Plateau. The Great Plateau is predominantly less than 50 m deep and is overlooked by the volcanic plug of Ailsa Craig. The report is presented in the context of the hydrography and sedimentology of the area. The focus is on dominant species and broad descriptions of community types (biotopes). It also reviews existing major human activities in the area that are currently affecting the benthos.