Biological analyses of seabed imagery from within and around Marine Protected Areas in Orkney, Shetland, Inner Sound, and Islay and Jura in 2019.

This project, “Engaging the fishing industry in marine environmental survey and monitoring”, has been funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), led by Marine Scotland and supported by Marine Scotland Science and NatureScot. The project worked with the fishing industry to undertake survey and monitoring work1. During 2019, seabed surveys were carried out at four regions along the western and northern Scottish coast in and around Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) using a drop down video (DDV) system deployed from a fishing vessel.

The objective of each survey was to improve knowledge of the extent and distribution of Priority Marine Features (PMFs) within and adjacent to MPAs. PMFs were observed within each region surveyed, with observations occurring both within and outside of designated sites. This report presents the results of those four surveys.