Loch Laxford Marine Habitat Condition Monitoring Survey, 2015

70 drop-down video drift sites and 3 relocatable transects were surveyed in 2015 to assess the condition of protected marine features in the Loch Laxford Special Area of Conservation. The survey, carried out from the vessel MV Halton by Scottish Natural Heritage, aimed to identify deterioration in 'large shallow inlets and bays' and 'reefs' habitats. This work was an opportunistic subset of a baseline monitoring program established in 2009.

Use Cases

• Assessing habitat deterioration over time based on the comparison to 2009 baseline sites.
• Monitoring the condition of 'reefs' and 'large shallow inlets and bays' features as described.
• Analyzing geographic coverage of monitoring sites within a Special Area of Conservation.
• Studying maerl bed habitats based on the three dive transect sites surveyed.

Strengths

• Survey includes 70 distinct video drift sites, providing broad spatial sampling.
• Data collection includes detailed transect surveys for reef and mixed reef/sediment habitats.
• Establishes a temporal comparison point with baseline monitoring from 2009.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• The survey scope was reduced and opportunistic, utilizing poor weather conditions on a scheduled cruise.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), aggregated via Government Digital Service on eu_open_data.

Collection Method

Drop-down video drift survey and detailed reef/sediment habitat surveys along transects.

Time Range

2015

Freshness

Data is from a 2015 survey; update frequency is unknown.

Geography

Loch Laxford Special Area of Conservation, Scotland.