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 reviews the many different sources of underwater noise, both natural and anthropogenic, that combine to provide the background noise levels in which marine organisms need to survive throughout the SEA6 region. The sources of sound combine together in a complex manner resulting in significant spatial and temporal variations in the noise field. A map of the dominant noise sources in the Irish Sea is shown, indicating that man-made noise is the dominant source of noise over about 70% of the area. Shipping noise is likely to be dominant across large parts of the SEA6 area. To fully characterise the ambient noise field in the SEA6 area would require multiple measurements at a large number of locations over a period of a year. However, a considerably lower cost approach would be to characterise each sound source and to use this with occurrence statistics for each source to model the ambient noise field across the region. The advantages and disadvantages of the acoustic modelling approach are discussed.

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). Historically there has not been a database of recreational use of the UK's marine environment. This lack of information was highlighted by the SEA which was carried out for the three strategic wind farm development areas: the Thames Estuary, Greater Wash and the North West (Liverpool Bay). In response the RYA published a document in 2004 entitled Sharing the Wind, which provided information on recreational boating in these strategic areas for consideration during the planning, design and approval process for wind farms. This report extends the work undertaken in Sharing the Wind to the SEA6 region. The report provides information on cruising routes, general sailing and racing areas, anchorage areas, the intensity with which each route is used, and the location and size of shore based facilities. The work was produced as a result of consultation with a large number of clubs, regional committees and local experts throughout the SEA6 area, which are listed in the back of the report. There are a total of 143 clubs within 2 miles of the coast, with an estimated membership of 37,000, that use the SEA6 region for boating activities.

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 "Economic and Social Baseline Study" provides baseline information on the key economic activities in the SEA 6 area, namely: offshore oil and gas; offshore wind farms; ports, ferries and other shipping services; fishing; tourism; other marine-related activities. A separate report (SEA6 Socio Economics) by the same authors assesses the socio-economic implications of further oil and gas licensing in the SEA6 area.

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). This "Economic and Social Baseline Study" provides baseline information on the key economic activities in the SEA7 area, namely: offshore oil and gas; ports, ferries and shipping services; fishing; aquaculture tourism; other marine-related activities. A separate report (SEA7 Socio-economics) by the same authors assesses the socio-economic implications of further oil and gas licensing in the SEA7 area.

This report is a contribution to Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA2 conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) and it considers human activities in the North Sea which might have an impact on, or themselves be affected by, further oil and gas developments in the SEA2 areas. The SEA2 areas cover the Northern North Sea (NNS), the Central North Sea (CNS) and the Southern North Sea (SNS). The activities include shipping, energy (both existing oil and gas developments and renewable energy), telecommunications, military activities, waste disposal, dredging and aggregate extraction, marine archaeological sites and wrecks. Commercial fishing is the subject of a separate report.