COAST Chairman urges Members & supporters to respond to the consultation on the NTZ


	Baseline Survey starts for the No Take Zone Between the 12th to the 20th of October 2008 the Research Vessel Alba na Mara surveyed Lamlash Bay and surrounding areas of the Clyde. The vessel was launched in February 2008 and handed over to the Scottish Fisheries Research Service in April of this year. It has a crew of 8 plus accommodation for up to 5 scientists using, as you can imagine, the latest state of the art equipment. For more information on the Research Vessel check out :- http://www.frs-scotland.gov.uk/FRS.Web/Uploads/Documents/OR10Albaweb2.pdf So what exactly has it been doing & why? With the No Take Zone (NTZ) now in place, it is important to carry out a baseline survey of NTZ area. The opportunity is also being taken to look at areas adjacent to the NTZ. If you were doing this on land you would be able to use one of numerous maps, such as Ordinance Survey, as your canvas. This would enable you to mark accurately where you are, what elevation you are at, if you are in forestry, moor etc. However although we have Charts of the area a much more accurate picture of the seabed is needed. So for the first few days the research vessel was towing a side scan sonar transducer approximately 5 metres over the seabed. This sends back to the vessel, through an umbilical cable, millions of sonic pings which build up a very accurate picture of the seabed. Each pass of the vessel covers a track of 100 metres across. Once the vessel has covered the majority of the bay these tracks are put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. This acoustic survey picks out stones and cobbles as small as 10cm, so it had no problem picking out one solitary rock of 10 metres in height in the middle of the bay. Depending on the strength of the returned sound signal a different colour comes up on the computer screen and from experience the scientists generally know what colour is sand, rock mud or other marine sediments. To verify the acoustic map produced by the side scan sonar the area is surveyed independently by a process known as ground truthing. In Lamlash bay this will be accomplished principally by video and stills photography so that the physical nature of the sea bed and associated fauna can be confirmed . Additionally, in some areas small samples of the sea bed sediment may be taken by grab sampling. What comes up is then analysed for both bottom sediment and creatures within it. This is repeated over the whole area, slowly building up a habitat map. At this point all the information is of use to both organisations involved in doing the survey which are our Government’s own Fisheries Research Service (FRS) and Sea Star Surveys of Southampton, who are working on behalf of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). FRS is looking at the possible effects of the NTZ relating to fished species, in this case both to King & Queen Scallops, while SNH is looking at possible changes in biodiversity which are a result of leaving an area of seabed undisturbed. In addition to the habitat survey FRS is developing a low impact visual method for assessing scallop densities in Lamlash and other areas. The steel pyramid, drop camera frame used in this assessment has been used successfully in the USA for the last few years and is currently being adapted by FRS for use with our scallop species. The frame stands approximately 2 metres high with a 2.2 metre square base and is lowered onto the seabed from Alba Na Mara. Attached to it are a mixture of lights, video and still digital cameras. These have direct feeds through an umbilical cord to the laboratory up in the vessel. Every time this pyramid is moved to a new location an area of seabed is recorded not only by the cameras but also by GPS, allowing a map of scallop abundance to be drawn up. SNH’s contractors have a similar but slightly smaller frame that is again fitted with lights, cameras and other sensors. It records what creatures are attached to the seabed or are scuttling around it. Another survey being carried out in all parts of the Bay is the taking of CTD samples, which measures conductivity, temperature and depth in the water column. This tells us the makeup of the seawater at all depths, such as its salinity and where the temperature thermo-cline lies on that particular day. Once the present survey is completed Alba na Mara will return to her home port of Fraserburgh on the east coast. The process of data analysis, started on board, will continue after completion of the voyage. The results from the baseline survey will be important in monitoring future changes in the NTZ and add to the knowledge gained from previous surveys done by Millport marine station and last but not least COAST divers own Seasearch surveys done in and around the Bay since 2003. COAST would like to thank the crew and all scientists aboard the Alba na Mara for their hard work and cooperation over the past week and look forward to their return in future years. Also Tom & Jim of the Holy Isle ferry hire and Charlie Weir of the fishing boat Kimberley for their help and cooperation during the survey. HW

Baseline Survey starts for the No Take Zone

Between the 12th to the 20th of October 2008 the Research Vessel Alba na Mara surveyed Lamlash Bay and surrounding areas of the Clyde. The vessel was launched in February 2008 and handed over to the Scottish Fisheries Research Service in April of this year. It has a crew of 8 plus accommodation for up to 5 scientists using, as you can imagine, the latest state of the art equipment. For more information on the Research Vessel check out :-

http://www.frs-scotland.gov.uk/FRS.Web/Uploads/Documents/OR10Albaweb2.pdf

So what exactly has it been doing & why?

With the No Take Zone (NTZ) now in place, it is important to carry out a baseline survey of NTZ area. The opportunity is also being taken to look at areas adjacent to the NTZ. If you were doing this on land you would be able to use one of numerous maps, such as Ordinance Survey, as your canvas. This would enable you to mark accurately where you are, what elevation you are at, if you are in forestry, moor etc. However although we have Charts of the area a much more accurate picture of the seabed is needed. So for the first few days the research vessel was towing a side scan sonar transducer approximately 5 metres over the seabed. This sends back to the vessel, through an umbilical cable, millions of sonic pings which build up a very accurate picture of the seabed. Each pass of the vessel covers a track of 100 metres across. Once the vessel has covered the majority of the bay these tracks are put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. This acoustic survey picks out stones and cobbles as small as 10cm, so it had no problem picking out one solitary rock of 10 metres in height in the middle of the bay. Depending on the strength of the returned sound signal a different colour comes up on the computer screen and from experience the scientists generally know what colour is sand, rock mud or other marine sediments.

To verify the acoustic map produced by the side scan sonar the area is surveyed independently by a process known as ground truthing. In Lamlash bay this will be accomplished principally by video and stills photography so that the physical nature of the sea bed and associated fauna can be confirmed . Additionally, in some areas small samples of the sea bed sediment may be taken by grab sampling. What comes up is then analysed for both bottom sediment and creatures within it. This is repeated over the whole area, slowly building up a habitat map. At this point all the information is of use to both organisations involved in doing the survey which are our Government’s own Fisheries Research Service (FRS) and Sea Star Surveys of Southampton, who are working on behalf of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). FRS is looking at the possible effects of the NTZ relating to fished species, in this case both to King & Queen Scallops, while SNH is looking at possible changes in biodiversity which are a result of leaving an area of seabed undisturbed.
In addition to the habitat survey FRS is developing a low impact visual method for assessing scallop densities in Lamlash and other areas. The steel pyramid, drop camera frame used in this assessment has been used successfully in the USA for the last few years and is currently being adapted by FRS for use with our scallop species. The frame stands approximately 2 metres high with a 2.2 metre square base and is lowered onto the seabed from Alba Na Mara. Attached to it are a mixture of lights, video and still digital cameras. These have direct feeds through an umbilical cord to the laboratory up in the vessel. Every time this pyramid is moved to a new location an area of seabed is recorded not only by the cameras but also by GPS, allowing a map of scallop abundance to be drawn up.

SNH’s contractors have a similar but slightly smaller frame that is again fitted with lights, cameras and other sensors. It records what creatures are attached to the seabed or are scuttling around it.
Another survey being carried out in all parts of the Bay is the taking of CTD samples, which measures conductivity, temperature and depth in the water column. This tells us the makeup of the seawater at all depths, such as its salinity and where the temperature thermo-cline lies on that particular day.
Once the present survey is completed Alba na Mara will return to her home port of Fraserburgh on the east coast. The process of data analysis, started on board, will continue after completion of the voyage. The results from the baseline survey will be important in monitoring future changes in the NTZ and add to the knowledge gained from previous surveys done by Millport marine station and last but not least COAST divers own Seasearch surveys done in and around the Bay since 2003.
COAST would like to thank the crew and all scientists aboard the Alba na Mara for their hard work and cooperation over the past week and look forward to their return in future years. Also Tom & Jim of the Holy Isle ferry hire and Charlie Weir of the fishing boat Kimberley for their help and cooperation during the survey.

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