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 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.

Many of the early reports are of very limited availability; the more recent ones have a wider distribution but although public domain they are not generally easily accessible.  These pages will be developed to make as many of the historical, difficult to find or poorly known reports as accessible as possible.

For now, the project status reports for the years 2002 to present give an overview of current and recent monitoring.  Prior to 2002, project status reports are included as appendices to the MNR’s annual reports here.

Skomer MNR Project Status 2010 (link to CCW website)

Skomer MNR_Project Status 2009 (0.8Mb)

Skomer MNR_Project Status_2008 (0.6Mb)

Skomer MNR_Project Sttatus_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)

Also available from the Skomer MNR page on CCW’s website

Distribution and Abundance of Zostera marina in North Haven 2010. Volunteer diver resurvey the North Haven seagrass bed

Distribution and Abundance of Echinus Esculentus and Selected Starfish Species 2007