Isles of Scilly Marine Epibenthos Baseline Survey for Fishing Impact Study, 2023

2023 marine epibenthos data from sites east of the Isles of Scilly, collected by the University of Plymouth. The dataset comprises quantified video data from Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) and Towed Underwater Video (TUV) transects, establishing a baseline for a Before-After-Control-Impact study on bottom-towed fishing gear. The survey was carried out to quantify potential changes in habitat complexity and biodiversity following the resumption of trawling.

Use Cases

• Assessing species richness and abundance changes based on the quantified MaxN and density/cover data.
• Modeling community composition shifts in response to trawling based on the baseline survey data.
• Conducting a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) study on the effects of bottom-towed fishing gear.
• Monitoring habitat complexity and biodiversity metrics over time using the established baseline.

Strengths

• Designed for a Before-After-Control-Impact study, providing a controlled baseline for measuring change.
• Includes data from both BRUV (3x45 minute deployments per site) and TUV (2x100m transects per site) methodologies.
• Survey was replicated at reference sites that will fall under the new fishing byelaw.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

University of Plymouth, aggregated via Government Digital Service on eu_open_data.

Collection Method

Marine epibenthos quantified from BRUV and TUV video transects.

Time Range

2023

Freshness

Data is from a 2023 survey.

Geography

Sites east of the Isles of Scilly, UK.