Abstract
The pace of development in the offshore wind, wave, and tidal sectors in Scotland, referred to here as Marine Renewable Energy (MRE), has increased significantly recently. This is especially the case in the offshore wind sector with the ScotWind and Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing rounds now completed. Development in this sector is likely to continue to progress to meet Scottish and wider UK decarbonisation targets.
A variety of environmental assessments are needed as part of the MRE development process. Characterising the intertidal and seabed features within development areas is key to establish a baseline and can be useful during and post-construction to monitor any potential changes arising from development activity.
Scotland has a rich marine geodiversity and biodiversity that are intrinsically linked to the unique physical characteristics and processes that occur within the marine environment. These features and patterns have some similarities to the other parts of the UK but can also be distinctly different. The equipment and methods employed elsewhere for intertidal and seabed ecology surveys are therefore not necessarily suitable for the inshore and offshore waters around Scotland.
The Scottish Government aims to ensure that planning and consenting decisions are informed by sound evidence and makes reasonable efforts to address any gaps in knowledge in line with the National Marine Plan (Scottish Government, 2015). This report, commissioned by the Scottish Marine Energy Research (ScotMER) programme, provides a detailed appraisal of possible intertidal and seabed ecology surveying options. It also provides recommendations on planning and executing seabed ecology surveys for the characterisation and monitoring of Marine Renewable Energy Developments (MREDs) at each stage of activity.
At the heart of the project outputs is a tabular “tool, technology and technique evaluation matrix”, which is presented as an Appendix to the main report. This Evaluation Matrix and supporting commentary in the report provides users with a comprehensive option evaluation toolkit. The toolkit can be used to identify the technical solutions best suited for surveying benthic ecology features in the context of specific MRED project needs within Scottish waters.
The report evaluates the key issues and decisions linked to applying these tool, technology and technique options within an overall seabed survey planning and delivery framework.