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SURVEYS OF ESTUARIES AND COASTAL WATERS

ESTUARIES AND COASTAL WATERS

Estuaries, Harbours and Lagoons

Aquatonics Ltd have surveyed most of the major estuaries in England, including the Humber estuary, Thames estuary, Southampton Water and Severn estuary. In addition we have surveyed a wide range of smaller estuaries, ports, harbours and some lagoons. The full list is below:

Axe estuary Beauly Firth Bembridge Blackpool beach Burry Port Chesil Beach Clacton beach Clyde estuary Dart estuary Exe estuary Folkestone harbour Great Ouse estuary Hayle harbour, Lelant Water and Copperhouse Pool Humber estuary Kingsbridge estuary Lulworth Cove Medina estuary

Medway estuary Moray Firth Orwell estuary Otter estuary Plym estuary Portland harbour Portsmouth harbour Tees estuary Thames estuary The Fleet Truro river estuary Severn estuary Southampton Water Ventnor beach Wash West Bay beach Offshore

Aquatonics have worked in several offshore areas, mainly in the UK, but with some international experience. The regions we have worked in include:

English Channel Lyme Bay North Sea Irish Sea

Liverpool Bay Oman Qatar Hong Kong

PROTECTED SPECIES

Aquatonics Ltd are familiar with the legislation protecting rare or threatened estuarine and marine species. We currently hold a Licence from English Nature under the Wildlife and Countryside Act for surveying the tentacled lagoon worm (Alkmaria romijni) in the Dart estuary. AEC can advise on whether it is necessary to undertake special surveys for the following:

Alosa fallax Twaite shad

Cetorhinus maximus Basking shark

Gobius cobitis Giant goby

Gobius couchii Couch's goby

Atrina fragilis Fan mussel

Clavopsella navis Marine hydroid

INTRODUCED SPECIES

Many of the common estuarine invertebrates are relatively recent additions to the UK fauna. Some have been brought in deliberately:

Soft-shelled clam, Mya arenaria

American hard-shelled clam, Mercenaria mercenaria

Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas

Others may have come in ballast water (eg American jack-knife clam, Ensis americanus) or unintentionally with other species (eg American oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea). Some species (eg slipper limpet, Crepidula fornicata) can form dense populations, competing with native fauna and out-competing some native species. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee has produced a report on introduced marine species in the UK:

Non-native marine species in British waters: a review and directory. Eno, NC, Clark, RA and Sanderson, WG (editors). JNCC, Peterborough. 1997.

In our surveys of Southampton Water (a hot spot for introduced species) for ABP Southampton Aquatonics has found two species new to the UK. One is a small sabellid polychaete worm called Desdemona ornata and the other is an amphipod crustacean called Grandidierella japonica. Details of these new records can be found in:

Smith, P R J, Perrett, J, Garwood, P and Moore, G (1999). Two additions to the UK marine fauna: Desdemona ornata Banse, 1957 (Polychaeta, Sabellidae) and Grandidierella japonica Stephensen, 1938 (Amphipoda, Gammaridea). Newsletter of the Porcupine Natural History Society, p 8-11, Number 2, July 1999.

REVIEWS OF DATA ON MARINE INVERTEBRATE FISHERIES

Three of the most important invertebrate fisheries in UK estuaries are cockles (Cerastoderma edule), mussels (Mytilus edulis) and brown shrimps (Crangon crangon). Aquatonics has reviewed the available ecological and fishery data for all three species as part of the studies of the Wash (client Essex and Suffolk Water). These reports are available from Aquatonics for £20 each (to cover printing and postage):

Cockle Ecology and Fisheries

Mussel Ecology and Fisheries

Brown Shrimp Ecology and Fisheries