1999 English Nature (EN) Monitoring the subtidal sandbanks of the Wash and the North Norfolk coast cSAC, Eastern Sea Fisheries Joint Committee (ESFJC) dataset https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=010_b62413b59e455e8d482aaa92b97b4286 The main objective of this study was to establish a baseline for monitoring in the Wash. Cost is an important consideration and the survey design was a compromise between information requirements and the likely level of funding that will be available for running the monitoring program. The strategy adopted was based on a nested survey design. (1) Four belt transects about 250m wide were surveyed using acoustic ground discrimination systems (AGDS) and rapid ground truth sampling (particularly video). The four transects were positioned to cross major features and be representative of the range of ground types in the Wash. They were selected on the information obtained from previous surveys. (2) Eight monitoring stations were then positioned within the transects and at each site three replicate samples were taken. Although three samples are regarded as minimal, it was a compromise between costs and the requirement for statistical sampling. The AGDS survey provided a broad characterisation of the transects in terms of the distribution of biotope (or broader life from categories) and sediment type. The grab samples were treated with a range of statistical techniques and the samples described in some detail. Although the two approaches (broad scale interpretation of biotope categories based on epifauna versus the statistical analysis of point source infaunal data) are very different, the information can be combined into one overall synthesis that shows major environmental gradients running (1) east/west from the exposed outer Wash to the more sheltered inner areas and (2) north/south across the deep channel (Lynn Deeps). Although this is a baseline survey, the data were compared with similar data from 1997 and there were indications that the numbers of some species had fluctuated markedly. In particular it appeared that the tube worm Sabellaria spinulosa and the small deposit feeding bivalve Abra alba declined markedly whilst the sand mason Lanice conchilegaI, the bivalve Ensis americanus and tubificid worms increased markedly. The uncertainty underlying these examples, however, highlights the requirement for a well designed monitoring strategy and some of the major issues were discussed and recommendations made. 20011231