Moray Firth benthic biotope map

Envision Mapping Ltd was contracted to undertake a survey of the Moray Firth cSAC within the 30 m contour. The purpose was to map the main sediment features and biota using acoustic remote sensing techniques combined with grab and video sampling. A RoxAnn? acoustic ground discrimination system was used in conjunction with a GeoSwath? interferometric swath bathymetric system. The survey was comprehensive (100 % cover with the swath system or a minimum track spacing of 80 m) over priority areas but incomplete over areas outside these priority areas. The biotopes were classified using the most recent Marine Habitat Classification (Connor et al. 2004) using a combination of multivariate analysis and video analysis and matching the characterising species to the classification system.