NCEA Seagrass Analysis Ready Data: Seagrass Bed Locations in England

The Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment Seagrass Network dataset shows the location of seagrass bed presence detected from Environment Agency surveys undertaken between 2007 and 2024. It includes intertidal beds surveyed since 2007 and subtidal beds surveyed since 2016, with point and polygon layers representing bed locations and extents. The dataset is part of Defra's largest R&D programme, aiming to establish a national asset inventory by 2029.

Use Cases

• Map seagrass bed distribution based on the Seagrass Bed Location Layer (points)
• Analyze changes in seagrass extent over time based on surveys from 2007 to 2024
• Compare survey methodologies (walkover, aerial, camera, echosounder) for intertidal and subtidal beds
• Support natural capital assessments for policy-making based on the national asset inventory goal

Strengths

• Data spans surveys from 2007 to 2024, providing a long-term measurement series
• Includes both intertidal (since 2007) and subtidal (since 2016) bed surveys
• Point locations are calculated from the most recent survey at each bed
• Supported by the UK Government's Defra NCEA programme, a major R&D initiative

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency

Collection Method

Seagrass presence and locations identified using multiple survey methods including walkover surveys, aerial mapping (drone/airplane), drop-down camera, and echosounder.

Time Range

2007 to 2024

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-17 13:13:00.216051

Geography

Estuarine and coastal areas across England