Seasearch Achievements

Seasearch data is made available in three ways:

1. Survey reports - either in summary form or full reports. All of the Summary Reports can be downloaded from this site

2. On the National Biodiversity Network website

3. In Marine Recorder format

ANNUAL REPORT 2007

To view and download an 8 page illustrated summary of our activities in 2007 click the following link:

Seasearch Annual Report 2007

SURVEY REPORTS

Seasearch Summary Reports are illustrated reports of individual surveys which can be downloaded from this site in PDF format. They include a summary of the surveys undertaken and of the findings and include maps/charts and a sumary list of species recorded. The 80+ summary reports currently available are shown on the map and listed below (in date order - the newest reports are at the end of the list). Just click on the report name to access it:

Fully detailed reports have been prepared for the following surveys. Except for those in blue they are only available in paper format on request (or CD where shown). A charge will be made for supplying any of these reports to cover their preparation and copying. The Pink sea fan, Alderney and Lyme Bay 2007 reports can be downloaded below.

NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY NETWORK

www.searchnbn.net

All of the Seasearch data, and data from earlier Marine Conservation Society surveys, is available to use and download from the National Biodiversity network website. Data can be searched for by species or by grid square and you can choose to see just the Seasearch data or data from all of the providers - In terms of marine data this means mainly Marine Nature Conservation Review and MarLIN data.

All of the Seasearch data up to and including 2007 is now available on the website, with the exception of a few late forms which we are currently entering.

MARINE RECORDER

All of the data from Seasearch surveys is being entered into Marine Recorder, the database used by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and all of the government conservation agenices and most local record centres. This data is available on request to any Marine Recorder user though a charge may be made for its provision. The data can be for a single survey or a group of surveys and summary information can also be provided in database or spreadsheet format in a number of Marine Recorder pre-determined 'snapshot' tables.

The data is supplied on Seasearch survey forms. The graph shows the great increase in recording effort since 2000 with the 2005 data being almost twice that of any previous year. The 2007 records have now exceeded 2005 making 2007 the most prolific year ever for Seasearch recording with 1332 forms received.

The locations of the data submitted for 2007 is shown in the map and table below:.

	Observation forms	Survey forms	Sea fan forms	Pipefish forms	Other	Total
Scotland	97	75	4	47	0	223
NW England	3	0	0	0	0	3
Northern Ireland	75	33	0	3	0	111
Eire	10	17	2	5	0	34
Wales	130	125	0	3	8	266
Cornwall/IOS	96	33	26	8	0	165
Devon	161	58	24	6	0	249
Dorset	65	40	6	9	0	120
Channel Islands	6	19	1	0	0	26
Hants/IOW	20	9	0	0	0	29
Sussex	3	5	0	4	0	13
Kent	10	28	0	0	0	38
East Anglia	26	7	0	8	0	41
NE England	7	4	0	2	0	14
Total	710	453	67	94	8	1332

You can now view a summary of the Seasearch data for 2007 in Google Earth

If you have Google Earth installed on your computer clicking on the link below will open Google Earth and show locations for all of the Seasearch 2007 forms. Click on a point and you will see the date, type of form, the recorder and any comments on special features of the dive.

Seasearch 2007 Google Earth file

If you don't already have Google Earth on your computer you can download it for free from Google.

Seasearch data for 2008

At the end of July 582 forms had been submitted and the summaries recorded. These are listed below. There are certainly more as in some areas local coordiantors had not submitted their summaries of forms received. On the basis of the data received so far Devon and Wales have been the two the most active areas.

	Observation forms	Survey forms	Sea fan forms	Pipefish forms	Other	Total
Scotland	47	3	0	0	0	50
NW England	0	0	0	0	0	0
Northern Ireland	29	14	0	3	0	47
Republic of Ireland	12	2	3	7	0	25
Isle of Man	3	0	0	0	0	3
Wales	102	44	1	4	5	155
Cornwall/IOS	20	2	2	1	0	25
Devon	60	73	20	1	0	155
Dorset	24	20	0	0	0	44
Channel Islands	1	18	9	0	0	31
Hants/IOW	15	3	0	0	0	19
Sussex	2	0	0	0	0	2
Kent	10	5	0	0	0	15
East Anglia	0	0	0	0	0	0
NE England	9	2	0	0	0	11
Total	334	190	36	17	5	582

The Seasearch Biotope Key

During 2007 Seasearch undertook an exercise to attach JNCC biotope codes to Seasearch Survey Data. This demonstrated the difficulties of using the biotope codes as they currently stand. A document was produced and tested to assist in the allocation of Biotopes and can be downloaded below. In addition this work led to the revision of the Seasearch Survey Form and Guidance and a radical change in the Seasearch Surveyor Course in spring 2008.

Seasearch Biotope Key - December 2007

This work was carried out under contract to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and a copy of the report can be downloaded. Work continues to find a consistent was of identifying biotopes from Seasearch Survey data.

JNCC Biotope Report - December 2007

Conservation Outcomes

Seasearch information has been used to identify Marine Sites of Nature Conservation Importance in Sussex - designated by the County and City Councils and supported by local marine user groups. The location of the first 12 sites, designated in 1996, is shown in the map below. A second tranche of sites is to be designated as a result of further Seasearch studies.

In North Wales Seasearch data was used by the Countryside Council for Wales to help identify reef areas for inclusion in Special Areas of Conservation. The map below includes Seasearch data from a range of sites over a period of time.

The Arran COAST group have used Seasearch to gather information about habitats and species in Lamlash Bay, Arran. COAST divers completed 42 forms in 2004 from a variety of sites where they discovered a 4km long eelgrass bed – a biodiversity action plan habitat
and also found one of the healthiest maerl beds in the Clyde estuary. The information they were able to provide ensured that a pipeline which would have gone through the maerl bed was moved to a less sensitive location.

photos by Howard Wood

Biodiversity Outcomes

Seasearch records and surveys have led to the identification of a number of species new to their areas:

A colony of mantis shrimps, rarely seen by divers, was discovered in North Wales on a Seasearch dive. This has led to inclusion in a Special Area of Conservation and more detailed studies of the area.

The rare deep water brittlestar Asteronyx loveni, previously known only from sites more than 100m deep, was discovered on a Seasearch dive in Loch Torridon.

Jewel anemones, Corynactis viridis, were recorded from the Farne Islands, Northumberland, in 2005 - the first record for the North Sea

Seasearch has specifically targeted research on two species on the government's Biodiveristy Action Plan lists, the Pink sea fan, Eunicella verrucosa, and the Sea fan anemone, Amphianthus dohrnii, which lives on it. The work has expanded the known range for sea fans, both to the north in Pembrokeshire and to the east in Dorset. It has also identified where the densest populations are and where the sea fans are and are not in good condition. The Sea fan anemone has been shown to be very rare indeed only being found at a small number of sites between Lands End and Plymouth, with the largest concentration in The Manacles.

Local sea fan surveys have also taken place in Cornwall, Devon and Dorset and a number of reports have been produced all of which can be downloaded from the list of reports above.

Seasearch and the Marine Life Information Network (MarLIN) are targetting 40 species of conservation importance which we ask divers to make a special look out for. One of these is the Fan shell, Atrina fragilis, which was the subject of dedicated MCS/Seasearch surveys in Devon, South Wales and the west of Scotland in 2003. A colony was discovered and recorded in 2004 in Plymouth Sound.

Following a successful hunt by A Seasearch team of 8 divers from the Marine Conservation Society and MarLIN in July 2004, Seasearch divers returned to the Fanshell site in Plymouth Sound on 6th September and located at least 4 more fanshells in the area, bringing the total of these rare mussels to at least 8 - and we are sure there are more. A resurvey took place in April 2006.

In addition to the living shells we also have a dead mussel, which had clearly been damaged, possibly by anchoring. Sad though it was to find a dead shell it will enable us to age the mussel and relate its age to its size, thus getting an idea of the age of the living shells, all of which have been measured in situ.

The pictures below show a living fanshell, with sea squirts and a brittle star on the exposed part of the shell (Photo: Sally Sharrock). To the right is the dead shell showing its damaged top to the left.

Nergotiations are taking place with a view to preventing further damage to this population of rare shells by banning anchoring in the area where they are found.

Elsewhere single living shells have been recorded from Skye and Rathlin Island, and 4 living shells found intertidally in Salcombe.

Seasearch Contacts

Seasearch Shop