Priority Marine Habitats of Wales: Oyster Beds (Ostrea edulis)
dataset
https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=007_4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313134373336
UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) priority habitats cover a wide range of semi-natural habitat types, and were those that were identified as being the most threatened and requiring conservation action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP). The UK BAP habitats and species lists have been used to draw statutory lists of priority habitats as required under Section 42 of the Natural Environmental and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006. The habitats listed as priority habitats include; blue mussel beds, Fragile sponge and anthozoan communities, Tide swept channels, Horse mussel beds, Maerl beds, Honeycomb worm reefs, Seagrass beds, Oyster beds, Intertidal boulder communities, Intertidal mudflats, mud habitats in deep water, Sheltered muddy gravels, subtidal mixed muddy sediments
, Estuarine rocky habitats, Peat and clay exposures, Carbonate reefs, Musculus discors beds, Saline lagoons, Coastal Saltmarsh and Subtidal sands and gravels.
The data is related to Oyster (Ostrea edulis) beds only. Native Oyster (Ostrea edulis) beds occur in shallow water (usually less than about 10 m deep) on fine, muddy sand, native oysters can be found in large numbers. Where this happens, the oysters themselves and the dead shells amongst them form extensive beds, which become home to many other marine creatures, including crabs, worms, sea snails, sponges, sea urchins, and seaweed. Majority of the records are from the 1960s onwards. This data is still in draft format and has not yet been finalised. All habitat records include a confidence measure. Decisions about how these were applied are documented in the processing notes for each habitats.
19980430