Monitoring and research

By the time the MNR was designated in 1990, it was one of the most thoroughly surveyed areas of seabed in the UK.   It was also the location of the UK’s first long-term subtidal rock biological community monitoring, begun in 1982, and one of the first UK attempts to investigate, in the context of a marine protected area, the impacts of scallop dredging on seabed habitat and wildlife.

Following designation, the monitoring programme was considerably expanded and the MNR / MCZ is now home to the most comprehensive series of marine species and community monitoring projects at a single location in the UK.  Impact assessment research also continued and collaborative research projects with universities and colleges have been developing steadily.  Project status reports give an overview of current and recent monitoring.  Links to the reports from for the years 2002 to present are below.  Prior to 2002, project status reports are included as appendices to the MNR annual reports here.

At present, the MNR / MCZ individual monitoring reports are not available on the Natural Resources for Wales website.  The more recent ones have a fairly wide distribution but, although being in the public domain, they are not generally easily accessible; this page is therefore being expanded to include as many as possible.  Many of the early reports are of very limited availability and this page will also will be developed to make as many as possible of these historical, difficult to find or poorly known reports publicly accessible.

Project Status reports

Skomer MCZ Project Status 2014 (2.1Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2013 (1.8Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2012 (1.4Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2011 (2.1Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2010 (1.1Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2009 (0.8Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2008 (0.6Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status_2007 (1.7Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2006 (1.7Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2005 (1.0Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2004 (0.5Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2003 (0.8Mb)

Skomer MNR Project Status 2002 (1.0Mb)

Monitoring reports – volunteer projects