1016S Survey Benthic Infaunal Analysis Phase 1

The aim of this project is to undertake the taxonomic analysis of benthic infaunal samples collected on a recent offshore seabed survey of Geikie Slide and the Hebridean Slope Scottish Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA). The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Marine Scotland Science (MSS) have undertaken an offshore seabed survey of Geikie Slide and the Hebridean Slope Scottish Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA) on the Marine Research Vessel (MRV) Scotia (survey code 1016S). Located to the north-west of Scotland, the Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope (hereafter GSH) NCMPA (Figure 1) follows the slope of the continental shelf break from a depth of 200 m on the Hebridean continental shelf to a depth of 1700 m towards the Rockall Trough. The survey departed Aberdeen on 18th July 2016 and arrived back into Aberdeen on 3rd August 2016. Benthic sediments and biological communities were sampled using a 0.25 m2 surface area USNEL type box corer (Figure 2). Samples have been collected from within and adjacent to the GSH NCMPA site boundary, from water depths of 200 m to 900 m. The top 150 mm of each box core sample was processed on board. Particle Size (PS) sediment samples were extracted from the centre of the sample using a clear 55 mm diameter acrylic sub-sampler. The remaining top 150 mm of the box core sample was sieved in the field using stacked 0.5 mm and 0.25 mm mesh diameter sieves, with both fractions retained separately and preserved in 5% formaldehyde solution buffered with borax.