EMFF National Sediment Sampling & Seabed Imagery Catalogue

It provides a ‘signpost’ to the multiple sources of seabed data. The integration of this information will be vital to support the National marine planning process, in terms of habitat mapping, climate change assessment, resource assessment (e.g. aggregates) and invasive species incidence.

Benthic and seabed sediment data are collected in Irish waters in response to a wide range of biodiversity, development, resource assessment, environmental and legislative drivers; however, there is, as yet, no single source of information. It is thus proposed to carry out a scoping study to assess the sources of coastal and offshore sediment samples and seabed imagery, and develop an integrated catalogue and spatial data resource (GIS) of ground-truthed information and metadata for seabed characterisation and habitat mapping.