Publication Abstract

Protecting our seas: measuring human pressures and impacts on our marine environment

J. Foden*, S.I. Rogers* and A.P. Jones

The Marine Bill will introduce a marine planning system for the first time that promises to make the most use of our marine space, setting clear and long term objectives for the sustainable management of the marine area; maximising the potential of some activities, whilst safeguarding the future of others. However, the offshore zone is poorly understood by many and this can undermine the ability of stakeholders to make sound decisions with regard to marine planning. Understanding and quantifying cumulative and in-combination impacts from major offshore human activities is therefore vital to underpin environmental impact assessment and marine planning, and to provide the basis for integrated marine management.

A cumulative effects assessment (CEA) is being developed for the purposes of marine spatial planning. This requires compilation of spatial data of human activities in the marine environment. These data are stored in a geographical information system (GIS) allowing analysis of spatio-temporal variation and modelling to be carried out. Spatial data representing key biological components of conservation interest or that are affected by human pressures are also being compiled, in order to conduct an impacts assessment. The degree of impact from an activity will relate directly to the type of environment being impacted.

Initial outputs from this work are presented in the form of sensitivity surface maps. These are generated to quantify the impacts of different sectors on a range of marine environments representing different sensitivities. It is then possible to create a multiple sensitivity analysis of the cumulative impacts.

Reference

J. Foden*, S.I. Rogers* and A.P. Jones (2009) Protecting our seas: measuring human pressures and impacts on our marine environment. Challenger Conference for Marine Science, Bangor, 2008