Broadscale remote survey and mapping of sublittoral habitats and their associated biota in the Firth of Lorn: biotopes

Methodologies for broad scale mapping of sublittoral habitats and biota based on acoustic remote sensing was developed as the Broadscale Mapping Project (BMP), a three year project funded by a consortium consisting of the Crown Estate, the Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and Newcastle University through the SeaMap Research Group. The project was also supported by the European Commission’s Life programme. The Firth of Lorn study area was selected by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) because it encompassed a wide range of physical environmental conditions and had considerable existing conservation value. Part of the BMP study area was recently put forward as a possible Special Area of Conservation in recognition of the significant marine biological interest of both intertidal and subtidal rocky reefs. A nested survey strategy was developed for the Firth of Lorn which involved careful pre-planning and iterative field survey. By adopting this nested and iterative approach, the overall summary maps comprise a jigsaw of small maps where the underlying data vary in their level of detail. The main features and biota were mapped using acoustic remote sensing techniques combined with biological sampling. Linking the biological data with the acoustic data was completed using classification techniques developed for processing satellite images. Additional information source: Davies, J., 1999. Broad scale remote survey and mapping of sublittoral habitats and their associated biota in the Firth of Lorn. Report for SNH