Broadscale habitat confidence for Bassurelle Sandbank SCI

Broadscale habitat confidence for Bassurelle Sandbank SCI (CEND 03/13). MESH confidence score for the newly produced habitat map of Bassurelle Sandbank SCI. The technical quality of the habitat map was assessed using the MESH �Confidence Assessment? Tool, originally developed by an international consortium of marine scientists working on the MESH (Mapping European Seabed Habitats) project. This tool considers the provenance of the data used to make a biotope/habitat map, including the techniques and technology used to characterise the physical and biological environment and the expertise of the people who had made the map. Both physical and biological survey data are required to achieve the top mark of 100, but as the current assessment process requiredthe mapping of only physical habitats, not biotopes, it excludedbiological data. In the absence of biological data, the maximum score attainable for a perfect physical map is 82. This map attained a score of 79. In applying the tool to the current work, none of the weighting options were altered; that is, the tool was applied in its standard form, as downloaded from the internet. (http://www.searchmesh.net/default.aspx?page=1635).