East Rockall habitats

Translated from East Rockall habitat map showing all Annex I and non-Annex I habitats. Translated to EUNIS by JNCC. Data collected in 2009 aboard the MV Franklin in July 2009: Acoustics (Multibeam echosounder), Sidescan Sonar, Drop camera/towed video (17 sites). For the East Rockall Bank AoS the original survey plan consisted primarily of a series of traverses along the top and base of the eastern flank of Rockall Bank and several traverses at right angles across the top of the bank and down into the Rockall Trough. However to maximise the coverage along the rocky escarpment that runs along the length of the AoS, this initial plan was replaced with a long double swath width of multibeam echosounder data acquired along the escarpment; the upper break in slope, roughly coincident with the 500m bathymetric contour, as imaged previously by the SEA 7 2005 multibeam echosounder datasets. From previous studies (including FRS drop camera surveys), this area was selected as being the most likely place to host Annex I reef habitats, in particular as potential sites for Lophelia pertusa. A number of survey lines at right angles to the break in slope were added to the along-escarpment line to better characterise features of interest observed on the 2005 multibeam echosounder dataset downslope of the escarpment. Additionally several survey lines were located on the top of the bank, across an area of suspected iceberg ploughmarks.