This dataset is derived from the findings of a dedicated survey by JNCC in partnership with Cefas to Wight Barfleur Reef Special Area of Conservation. The dedicated multidisciplinary survey (survey code CEND 03/13) was conducted in March 2013 aboard the RV Cefas Endeavour with the principal aim of collecting information to better delineate the extent of Annex I reef (both bedrock and stony subtypes) within the area, which will be used to assist with the development of management advice in relation to the areas and features designated for conservation. The survey was successful in acquiring multibeam, sidescan and ground-truthing data of the seabed. Although full data coverage of the whole cSAC was not possible in the time available, five areas were targeted for intensive survey, with 100% acoustic data coverage of these areas.

The survey at the Offshore Foreland recommended Marine Conservation Zone (rMCZ) was carried out between 11th April and 8th May 2014 on the RV Cefas Endeavour cruise CEND 06/14. The survey team for the duration of the fieldwork included Cefas Marine Ecologists, Marine Surveyors and Marine Scientists, along with Marine Monitoring Specialists from Natural England. Acoustic and groundtruth datawas collected to establish the seabed habitat of the area.

In accordance with the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, the UK is committed to the development and implementation of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The network will incorporate existing designated sites (e.g., Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas) along with a number of newly designated sites which, within the English territorial waters and offshore waters of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, will be termed Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). The first 27 MCZs were designated in November 2013 and the list includes the Chesil Beach and Stennis Ledges MCZ (UKMO, 2013), reported here. In support of this initiative, four Regional MCZ Projects were set up to select sites that could contribute to this network because they contain one or more features specified in the Ecological Network Guidance (ENG; Natural England and the JNCC, 2010). The Regional MCZ Projects proposed a total of 127 recommended MCZs (rMCZs) and compiled a Site Assessment Document (SAD) for each site. The SAD summarises what evidence was available for the presence and extent of the various habitat, species and geological features specified in the ENG, and for which the site was being recommended. Due to the scarcity of survey-derived seabed habitat maps in UK waters, these assessments were made necessarily using best available evidence, which included historical data, modelled habitat maps and stakeholder knowledge of the areas concerned. It became apparent that the best available evidence regarding features for which some sites had been recommended as MCZs was of variable quality. Consequently, Defra initiated a number of measures aimed at improving the evidence base, one of which took the form of a dedicated survey programme, implemented and coordinated by Cefas, to collect and interpret new survey data at selected rMCZ sites. This map provides an interpretation of the subtidal survey data collected by Environment Agency (EA) personnel at the Chesil Beach and Stennis Ledges MCZ site during April 2013.