aba64100-c112-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd English dataset Mary Mowat British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2011-08-30 MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard Version 2.3.5 urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326 OGP 2002 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA3 Technical report - Conservation sites and habitats (North Sea) 2002-08-01 publication BGS_SEA_28 British Geological Survey This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA3) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report summarises the large number of existing conservation sites and potential sites of conservation importance in the SEA3 area of the North Sea. The SEA 3 area displays a wide variety of habitat types, from those of a coastal nature, such as estuarine mudflats and sandflats, saltmarsh, sea cliffs and reef habitats, to those associated with the offshore environment. Some of these habitats are rare in a national and/or international context, and many support important numbers of birds, insects and other animals. Existing coastal and nearshore conservation sites are protected by international, national and local conservation designations. Statutory sites are legally protected whilst non-statutory sites rely on the planning process to confer protection. The UK Government is currently taking steps to implement the EC Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive in offshore waters. A process to designate Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas, both within territorial waters and out to the limits of the UKCS, is under way. Potential offshore conservation sites are reviewed. Paul Henni British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 Murchison House, West Mains Road Edinburgh EH9 3LA UK offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk custodian Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) +44 0300 060 4000 +44 (0) 1823 284077 Admiralty Way London SW1A 2HD UK enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk originator notPlanned Documents NDGO0001 Bird taxonomy-related counts Cetacean abundance Habitat characterisation Habitat extent Seal abundance SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Habitats and biotopes Protected sites Sea regions GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication crust sediment SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2008-06-01 publication The SEAs data were produced as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme; Crown Copyright, all rights reserved. The DECC SEA must be acknowledged in any maps or publications that make use of the data. All the data files are freely available to the public. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. BGS (NERC) has been contracted by DECC to publish SEA datasets on its behalf. All intellectual property rights (including , without limitation, copyrights, database rights and all other rights which subsist or may at any time in the future subsist in the Dataset(s)) in the Dataset(s) ('Intellectual Property Rights') are owned by DECC (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). BGS has been authorised by DECC to use SEA datasets for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit basis'. BGS has been authorised by DECC to pass on SEA datasets to third parties so that they can use them for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit' basis. intellectualPropertyRights 5 English biota environment oceans SeaVoX salt and fresh water body gazetteer 2006-01-01 revision North Sea -2 3.3 51.1 56.4 2002-01-01 2002-01-01 http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. download dataset Report published in August 2002 as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. Much of the information utilised by this report including site descriptions, mapping information and species inventories has come from JNCC and English Nature. Other sources of information include both species and habitat biodiversity action plans, the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Countryside Agency and various non-governmental conservation organisations, including the National Trust, RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts.