CEFASc86ea621-2dea-4679-88d3-8963ae7e5c94 English dataset Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk pointOfContact 2026-01-29T10:10:50 EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry 2022-01-07 revision WGS 84 Select benthic invertebrate and sediment data collected between 1969 and 2023 for an Ecological Risk-Based Approach to Facilitate Licensing Offshore Wind Development 2025-10-14 publication 2026-01-29 revision 2025-09-01 creation CEFAS22304 https://data.cefas.co.uk The **OneBenthic** dataset contains records of benthic invertebrate assemblages and associated sediment particle size analyses (PSA) collected between 1969 and 2023 across the UK continental shelf and wider North Sea. It brings together harmonised information on macrofaunal abundance, biomass, and sediment composition derived from more than 50,000 seabed grab and core samples. For this study, a quality-controlled subset of 18,348 samples was used to generate spatial models of three ecological risk elements: benthic sensitivity (based on biological traits), biodiversity, and assemblage rarity. The dataset supports the development of ecological risk maps and an online decision-support tool to inform offshore wind farm licensing and marine spatial planning. Users should note that the dataset represents sedimentary habitats sampled by grabs and cores; results may not accurately describe rocky or hard-substrate environments and are not intended for navigational use. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk originator Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk custodian Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk distributor Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) data.manager@cefas.co.uk owner Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk owner The Crown Estate enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk owner British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) bmapa@mineralproducts.org owner unknown Biodiversity Benthos Invertebrate Sediment GEMET, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Sediment grain size parameters SeaDataNet P02 parameter discovery vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Species distribution GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Unknown Infralittoral Sediment Deep Circalittoral SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2010-05-18 revision Marine Environmental Data and Information Network MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication data.gov.uk MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication otherRestrictions noLimitations otherRestrictions Publicly available data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ( `https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/`_ ) – Please note the applicable attribution statement is as follows: ‘includes Crown copyright, Cefas 2025' Data Contributors: Hanson Aggregates Marine Limited Bristol Channel Zone Ltd Barrow Offshore Wind Ltd National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) EDF Energy SeaScape Energy Greater Gabbard Offshire Winds Ltd Enron Wind Gunfleet Ltd RWE Innogy Lincs Wind Farm Limited (Centrica (DSW) Limited) SMart Wind Limited Centrica Renewable Energy Limited (Centrica PLC) West of Duddon Sands East Anglia Offshore Wind Limited Galloper Wind Farm Limited Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited Kentish Flats limited (Vattenfall Wind Power Limited) Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd PMSS Ormonde Energy Limited E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Limited Scira Offshore Energy Limited Teeside Windfarm Limited (EDF Energy Renewables) Scottish Power Generation Ltd .. _`https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/`: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ English biota -14.00 12.00 48.00 61.00 1969-01-01 2023-11-23 Unknown https://data.cefas.co.uk/view/22304 Cefas Data Portal information The Cefas Data Portal contains metadata records and data sets available to download and connect to in support of our commitment to open science. dataset INSPIRE Data Specification on Species Distribution – Technical Guidelines 2013-12-10 publication false See the referenced specification Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 publication true See the referenced specification The dataset was compiled from publicly available benthic invertebrate and sediment particle size analysis (PSA) data stored within the OneBenthic database, a cloud-based PostgreSQL repository maintained by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS). The database integrates over 50,000 grab and core samples collected between 1969 and 2023 from UK shelf waters and neighbouring areas of the northeast Atlantic. Sampling methods followed established methodology, with the subset used here restricted to samples collected using a 0.1 m² grab or core and processed on a 1 millimetre sieve. Colonial taxa were included and recorded with a value of one. Raw abundance data were fourth-root transformed to down-weight highly abundant taxa, and samples less than 50 metres apart were removed to mitigate spatial autocorrelation. Biological traits information for taxa was sourced primarily from Clare et al. (2022), with trait data inferred for missing taxa using closely related genera or families. Samples were subject to quality control checks to ensure consistency in taxonomic nomenclature (via the World Register of Marine Species, WoRMS) and comparability of sampling methods. Environmental predictor variables used for modelling were obtained from Bio-ORACLE, gridded bathymetry data (GEBCO), and sediment composition layers from Mitchell et al. (2019). Spatial modelling of sensitivity, biodiversity, and assemblage rarity was carried out using Random Forest approaches with cross-validation to assess model robustness. Overall, the dataset is considered of high quality for large-scale spatial analyses of benthic assemblages in sedimentary habitats. Users should note that the dataset does not include rocky or hard-substrate habitats and is therefore not comprehensive for all benthic environments. MEDIN 3.1.1