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.

As part of Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA1, sediment samples were collected at the request of the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) from Charles Darwin between July and September 2000. Samples for a number of chemical and biological analyses were collected. The analysis undertaken on the sediment samples collected were: total organic carbon and total organic nitrogen; total hydrocarbon and n-alkane content; and 2 to 6 ring polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) content. Excel files containing the data are also available.

This data report contains the results of the analysis of sediment samples collected by Geotek on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) as part of the Strategic Environment Assessment SEA1 (White Zone) environmental sampling programme conducted from RRS Charles Darwin in summer 1999 (cruise 119C leg 2). The analyses undertaken includes total organic carbon and total organic nitrogen, particle size distribution (including silt, clay, silt/clay, carbonate and organic matter content), total and aliphatic hydrocarbon content); 2 to 6 ring polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) content and metal oxides and heavy metal content.

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). The report documents the known and likely occurrence of prehistoric archaeological remains across the whole floor of the North Sea including the SEA3 area, and makes suggestions on how to enhance the finding and reporting of such artefacts. Sea level change associated with the retreat of the last glaciation led to almost the whole floor of the North Sea being dry land at some time or another in the past 20,000 years. Similar exposure of the North Sea floor was also associated with earlier glacial cycles. Thus prehistoric submarine archaeological artefacts can occur over a wide area of the North Sea floor, as far north as the latitude of the Shetland Islands. While artefacts dating from the last 12,000 years are most likely, human or proto-human artefacts as old as half a million years may have survived in places. Submarine archaeological studies in the Danish Archipelago have established that coastal sites were an optimal place for prehistoric human occupation. Similar coastal sites existed over many parts of the North Sea floor in the past. The potential impact of oil and gas operations on submarine archaeological remains is discussed. Pipe entrenching is the most likely process to uncover prehistoric archaeological deposits.

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). This report is a synthesis of information on human activities which might have an impact on, or themselves be affected by, further oil and gas developments in the SEA4 area. The activities include fishing, mariculture, shipping, energy (both existing oil and gas developments and renewable energy), telecommunications, military activities, waste disposal, dredging and aggregate extraction, tourism, coastal and marine archaeological sites. The SEA4 area hosts a wide variety of different users. Some have been there for centuries, others are more recent arrivals. Among the older industries and activities are fisheries, ports and shipping and military activities; the oil and gas industry and mariculture are newer arrivals. Orkney and Shetland have provided major infrastructure for the North Sea oil and gas industry since the 1970s, and there have been producing oil fields to the west of Shetland since 1997. Finfish and shellfish farming are important industries in the coastal regions of the SEA4 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). Twenty-one cetacean species have been recorded in the SEA7 region. Of these, ten species are known to occur regularly: harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphin, short-beaked common dolphin, Risso's dolphin, white-beaked dolphin, Atlantic white-sided dolphin, long-finned pilot whale, killer whale, sperm whale and minke whale. Five further species, though not very often recorded, and primarily associated with deep water, probably also occur regularly: striped dolphins, fin whales, northern bottlenose whales, Cuvier's beaked whale and Sowerby's beaked whale. There are occasional at-sea records of a further 6 species: Sei whale, humpback whale, blue whale, northern right whale and false killer whale. Pygmy sperm whales and at least three further species of beaked whale might also be expected in the general area on occasion. In this report, each of the more abundant species is briefly described with particular reference to its distribution and abundance in the SEA-7 area.

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). Eight marine mammal species are known to occur regularly in this area: grey seal, harbour seal, harbour porpoise, white-beaked dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, Atlantic white-sided dolphin, killer whale, and minke whale. Long-finned pilot whales and Risso's dolphins are regularly seen in waters around Shetland. There are occasional at-sea records of at least a further five cetacean species (humpback whale, fin whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin and short-beaked common dolphin) and four pinniped species (hooded seal, bearded seal, ringed seal and walrus).

Sediment samples were collected from selected areas of the southern North Sea as part of the ongoing Department of Trade and Industry's (now Department of Energy and Climate Change) Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA2). The aim of the survey was to describe the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of a range of offshore sandbanks and pockmarks (more than 12 km from the coast). The survey focused on three main study areas in the southern North Sea: the Dogger Bank study area; the South Fladen Pockmark study area and a major sand bank area off the coasts of Norfolk and Lincolnshire. This report presents the following sediment data: Total hydrocarbon and n-alkane concentrations; 2 to 6 ring polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) content; selected metals concentrations.

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.

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 deals with fishing activity in the SEA6 area over the period 1998 - 2003. The different types of fishing carried out are briefly described and the fishing effort is presented in annual and seasonal maps for the area, based on data acquired by aerial surveillance by regular British Fishery Protection flights. The major fleets in the Irish Sea are otter trawlers, beam trawlers, scallop trawlers and potters.