21affc43259ae7c0f5925583c4cbd508 English dataset 9e656b7e-5517-47fe-9c1e-5c759b210a3f NatureScot (HQ Inverness) data_supply@nature.scot pointOfContact 2025-06-10 MEDIN 3.1.2 EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry 2021-01-06 revision OSGB 1936 / British National Grid 2003 Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Mousa broad-scale mapping survey 2008-11-24 publication GB-SCT-SNH-ME-000103-MRSNH01100000017-MOU NS-000103 NatureScot project ID Mousa was identified as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) because of the presence of a large breeding colony of common seals, Phoca vitulina, a species listed in Annex II of the EC Habitats Directive; and for the presence of ‘reefs’ and ‘submerged and partly submerged sea caves’, habitats that are listed in Annex 1 of the EC Habitats Directive. Mousa cSAC supports one of the largest groups of common seals in Shetland and one of the most northerly groups in the UK. The reefs and sea caves within Mousa cSAC are considered highly natural and representative of the Shetland environment. The seaward boundary extends to a minimum distance of 500m offshore, using the simplest straight-line boundaries possible. The boundary for the cSAC also includes all offshore rocks and skerries (Figure 1.1). The intertidal areas up to mean high water springs around the island are also included within the cSAC. The present survey visited the island of Mousa cSAC in August and September 2003 with the aim of providing a comprehensive broad scale intertidal and subtidal biotope distribution map of Mousa cSAC. Particular emphasis was placed upon the mapping and recording of the reef and cave communities present on the island. Intertidal surveys of the island were supplemented by the use of acoustic ground discrimination system (AGDS) mapping techniques of the subtidal area. Photography, video footage and illustrations were used to illustrate habitats, communities and species. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Headquaters Data Manager 01463 725000 data_supply@nature.scot owner NatureScot (HQ Inverness) NatureScot Data Manager data_supply@nature.scot custodian Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Headquaters Data Manager 01463 725000 data_supply@nature.scot originator Esther Hughes Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH) Data Manager 01752 633102 dassh.enquiries@mba.ac.uk distributor notPlanned Marine Environmental Data and Information Network MEDIN metadata record availability 2025-06-10 revision NDGO0005 NDGO0005 2025-06-10 revision Habitats and biotopes GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2021-09-28 revision Habitat characterisation Habitat extent Macroalgae and seagrass taxonomy-related counts Sediment acoustics Zoobenthos taxonomic abundance Zoobenthos taxonomy-related counts SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2021-09-28 revision otherRestrictions Not for navigational use; SNH copyright data which is available for re-use under government licence terms: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ otherRestrictions no restrictions to public access English 8-bit variable size UCS Transfer Format, based on ISO/IEC 10646 biota environment geoscientificInformation oceans -1.2278 -1.1265 59.9779 60.0150 SeaVox salt and freshwater body gazetteer 2021-01-06 creation North Sea Charting Progress 2 Sea Areas 2021-01-06 creation Scottish Continental Shelf 2003-08-30 2003-09-03 SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2021-01-06 revision circalittoral SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2021-01-06 revision infralittoral Posford Haskoning Ltd (2004) Broad Scale Mapping of Mousa cSAC. Final Report. Scottish Natural Heritage. (Unpublished Report). Database Marine Recorder Documents Unpublished report Geographic Information System shapefile Image dataset 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 The implication of the lack of aerial data has been minimised as far as possible by careful manipulation and interpretation of existing photos. However, new aerial photos would have provided a contemporaneous record of the site and survey and may have allowed more detail to be transferred to the field wireframe maps. It is felt that the additional time and detail invested by the field surveyors in utilising two tides on most survey days has compensated for the inability to acquire more up-to-date aerial photography in terms of data density and data quality. On return from the fieldwork, the hand-drawn maps were digitised into ArcView GIS. Biotopes have been coloured in accordance with the JNCC guidelines (Connor et al., 1997a). Due to the narrowness of the shoreline and the vertical zonation of biotopes, on much of the island the shore has been mapped to ‘habitat complex’ level rather than to biotope. In these areas, regular shore profiles have been produced to illustrate the biotopes present, their position on the shore and the relative extent up the shore. These are presented as a separate layer in the GIS. The video data was captured using an Access™ database (Figure 2.7). The video tapes were replayed and at least one frame grab was captured for each video drop. The frame grabs were stored in a sub-table linked to the master table. Notes were taken in a systematic way recording main habitat features, conspicuous species or, where this detail was not possible, general growth forms and higher taxonomic categories. The biota was also scored from 1 to 5 to show their relative abundance. The species were recorded in a sub-table linked to the master table so that site/species tables could easily be extracted (see Figure 2.7). The notes were first made on paper and then the tapes were replayed and the notes entered into a database, but with entries for biotope codes and habitat categories left blank. The final stage consisted of reviewing the database, frame grabs and if necessary the tapes, in order to tag the records with biotope codes and habitat classes. This staged process to biotope recording and the use of look-up tables for codes and terminology was designed to promote consistency in classification of the records.