This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA5) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). Macrofaunal analysis was carried out on sediment samples collected in the Moray Firth between September and October 2003.

As part of Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA1, sediment samples were collected from the area designated as the White Zone at the request of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as part of its sea-going research activities during summer 2000. The objective of the cruise was to provide a description of the current state of the seabed in the survey area, while providing baseline environmental data and identifying larger-scale environmental patterns and processes. The survey programme was conducted from Charles Darwin between July and September 2000, with samples for a number of chemical and biological analyses being collected. An Excel file containing detail of species abundance is available.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA4) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) and discusses temporal variability in benthic populations from the Faroe-Shetland Channel. The West of Shetland transect is situated between 60 40 N, 2 15 W; 61 20 N - 2 50 W, to the North and West of the Shetland islands. Statistical analyses was carried out on data collected previously.

This report describes the processing method employed for the analysis of biological samples from a range of depths in the SEA5 area, North Sea collected from Wessex Explorer in summer 2003 as part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA5. A spreadsheet of data is included.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA4) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) and it presents results from the macrofaunal analysis of sixty-three macrobenthos samples. The samples were from a range of depths in the SEA4 Northern Triangle area, at the northernmost extent of British waters. Most of the samples were rich in terms of numbers of taxa and individuals and all major benthic invertebrate phyla were represented in the survey. The fauna included several taxa that are likely to be undescribed species and many have been recorded by nominal names. Several groups have also been left at higher taxonomic levels. Data analysis was not included for this part of the project. A preliminary literature list for deep-sea taxonomy was compiled for the project and provided in the report. A spreadsheet of data is also available.

This report describes the processing methods employed for the analysis of the SEA6 biological samples from a range of depths in the Irish Sea collected from SV Kommandor Jack in October 2004 as part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA5. . A spreadsheet of data is included.

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.

Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) as part of the SEA1 (White Zone) environmental sampling programme. The biodiversity, characteristics and distinguishing features of deep-water epifaunal communities from the Wyville-Thomson Ridge, Darwin Mounds and Faeroes Plateau. Samples were obtained using a benthic television (TV) grab on board the R/V Professor Logachev during cruises in August 2000. 19 grab samples were collected.

As part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) 1999 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA1 (White Zone) Environmental Survey: Seabed survey of the deep-waters to the north and west of Scotland. The aims were to : Complete TOBI sidescan sonar survey of the "White Zone" begun on RRS Charles Darwin cruise 119C leg A; To carry out photographic surveys of the "White Zone" to ground truth the sidescan sonar imagery and provide an assessment of the seabed fauna; To carry out seabed sampling to further ground truth the sidescan sonar imagery and generate samples for the future analysis of selected environmental parameters (hydrocarbons, elements, particle size). 39 samples were collected. Raw TOBI Bathymetry - includes sidescan sonar, sub-bottom profiler and magnetometer data and Mosaiced TOBI sidescan imagery are available. The survey report is also available. The preliminary report describes the data collection and interpretation carried out by Southampton Oceanography Centre in the summer of 1999 on behalf of the DTI. The areas surveyed were in unlicensed parts of the UKCS NW of Scotland, and the purpose of the work was to obtain regional environmental information. The work was carried out in two survey legs, Leg A was a regional side-scan sonar survey, whilst leg B was a seafloor survey of targets selected from the results of leg 1. This report is presented in 4 sections: Section 1 - Cruise report for Leg A; Section 2 - Cruise report for Leg B; Section 3 - Regional environmental interpretation from side-scan sonar and camera data; Section 4 - Initial environmental assessment.