Bassurelle Sandbank SAC Monitoring Report 2017

Bassurelle Sandbank Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is a Marine Protected Area (MPA) located in the Dover Strait, 30 km south of the Dungeness peninsula within the ‘Eastern English Channel’ Charting Progress 2 (CP2) sea area. The site was designated to protect the Annex I Habitat ‘Sandbanks which are slightly covered by seawater all the time’. This monitoring report is informed by data acquired during the first Sentinel (Type 1) monitoring survey carried out at the Bassurelle Sandbank SAC in 2017 and will form part of the ongoing time series data for this MPA. The report describes the extent and distribution of the topographical sandbank and supporting habitat and determines the structural and functional attributes of this feature. It also compares sediment composition and biological assemblages to observations made during the habitat verification survey in 2013.