Benthic Survey

Large scale marine projects such as interconnectors, offshore wind farm and tidal turbine developments, marina developments and dredging activities require characterisation of the seabed biological environment.

With the introduction of the draft Marine Bill more protection is being offered to rare and important species. Benthic surveys are able to identify abundance and diversity of these species and potentially provide supporting evidence for applications for conservation status.

Visual reconnaissance of seabed areas is often required in advance of site investigations to establish the presence of any sensitive and important seabed species and habitats (Annex I). In many cases this is complemented with seabed samples to further identify and quantify benthic species.

We offer the following services to support site surveys:

  • Survey management
  • Analysis of acoustic data
  • High definition video and stills photography
  • Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) surveys
  • Seabed sampling (grab sampling, box coring, trawling)
  • Single beam echosounder capabilities (dredge monitoring, beach profiling, monitoring of disposal sites etc)
  • Identification of seabed biotopes
  • Physio-chemical analysis
  • Taxonomic identification

For further details, please contact Dr Kevin Black, kblack@partrac.com.