Monday 3 December 2001

Conference Reveals Marine Life Secrets of Scotland’s Atlantic Margin

A conference in Edinburgh tomorrow (4 December) will hear that studies of the marine environment in the "Atlantic Margin" to the north and west of Scotland have led to a number of new discoveries unknown to science, and changed perspectives on the biodiversity of the region and relative importance of the area for some species.

The two-day conference "Managing the Resources of the Atlantic Margin A Sustainable Future?" is the first major review of the pioneering research work carried out by the Atlantic Frontier Environmental Network (AFEN), a consortium oil and gas companies, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Fisheries Research Service and Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

More than £5 million has been channelled over the last seven years into the research, opening up this little known area to some of the UKs top marine scientists for study. The funding has allowed new scientific techniques to be employed, such as the use of submarine tracking hydrophones to monitor whales and dolphins, and the use of broadscale seabed topographic and habitat mapping to help direct a sampling strategy for deepwater seabed creatures.

Oil and gas companies use the information to manage the environmental impact of their exploration and development activities in the region.

An area of the seabed the size of Belgium has been mapped. Extensive surveys of seabirds, whales and dolphins have been carried out and comprehensive mapping and site prioritisation for coastal protection from potential oil spills have been drawn up, covering the entire northern and western Scottish coastline, including the islands, as far south as the Mull of Kintyre.

Key findings include:

1. The "Darwin Mounds", unique geological and biological features in an area 90 miles to the north west of Cape Wrath. The mounds are generally up to 5m high and appear to attract marine life such as fish, clusters of the cold water coral Lophelia pertusa, sponges and giant protozoans (single-celled creatures measuring up to 10 cm in diameter). The mounds are likely to be included in the first UK Special Area of Conservation offshore beyond territorial waters;

2. A rich diversity of seabed fauna: over 2000 different species have been found (for example shellfish, molluscs, crustaceans, sea worms, starfish, sea urchins and sea spiders), with a large number previously unknown to science. Many are now being studied further;

3. Although previously thought to occur in the area, the AFEN surveys showed that large cold water coral reefs are absent;

4. Acoustic recordings show that blue whales occur in deep waters to the south west of Scotland and that humpback whales, previously thought only to migrate through the area, are now known to be present for most of the year;

5. Despite a long history of industrial and military activity (the oil industry has drilled more than 200 wells here in the past 30 years and two oil fields are already in production), analysis of the seabed sediments shows that concentrations of contaminants are at normal levels. The few traces of oil found on beaches have not been a direct consequence of the exploration and production activities taking place in the area, but are associated with marine traffic.

"AFENs funding has resulted in a significant body of work which has greatly improved scientific knowledge of the Atlantic Margin and triggered a number of other research programmes, including MIME (Managing Impacts in the Marine Environment) and ACES (Atlantic Coral Ecosystem Study)," said Gillian Bishop, AFEN chairman.

"As fields in the North Sea decline, the development of new fields in the Atlantic Margin will be critical to the long-term future of the oil and gas industry in the UK, preserving jobs, boosting local economies and maintaining an indigenous energy supply.

"Our focus has been to generate the information that is essential for making sound environmental management decisions about oil and gas activities in the area. The work plays a role in contributing towards the sustainable development and management of the regions resources, not just by the oil and gas industry which uses the information to sharpen environmental practice, but also by other users of the sea such as the fishing and coastal communities."

For more information, please call 020 7802 2400.