Marine Ecological Surveys Lt d (MESL) was comm issioned by ERM Ltd on behalf of East Angl ia Offshore Wind Ltd (EAOW) to undertake a benthic biological characterisation of the East Angl ia Offshore Windfarm Zone.
This report presents the findings of the EAOW Zonal Environmental Assessment (ZEA) survey. The EAOW ZEA zone compri ses two areas known as Ar ea A and Area B, which are separated by an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) deep water shipping route. This report is based on the analysis of data drawn from a total of 643 faunal grabs (of whi ch 77 were speci fically targeted over areas of interest), 78 trawl samples, 639 PSD samples (of which 75 were specifically targeted over areas of interest), and seabed images from 107 stations. All samples were acquired between July 2010 and January 2011.
The primary aim of this report is to provide a detailed documentation of the EAOW ZEA benthic characterisation programme. The fi ndings of thi s report will be used by E AOW Ltd i n order to identify areas which have the greatest potential to support the development of future wi ndfarms across the ZEA area.
Marine Ecological Surveys Limited is a member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) and is a leading participant in the National Marine Biological Analytical Control (NMBAQC) scheme.
