Summer 2009 - Scottish Natural Heritage

NEWS
Searching beneath the surface
Interesting times lie ahead for Scotland’s marine environment. Next year will see
the publication of the fi rst State of Scotland’s Seas report and the passing of the
Scottish Marine Act.
In addition, the Scottish Government’s new champion for our marine
environment, Marine Scotland, will be developing new marine protected areas
and a new marine planning system. Both of these will need to be underpinned by
high-quality marine data.
SNH have been working with partners, communities and the public to improve
knowledge of the marine environment. For example, SNH’s dive team used a
recent training session to look at the previously unsurveyed fl ameshell beds in
Loch Carron and Loch Alsh. Flameshell (pictured above) beds are distinctly
Scottish, but not much is known about how they live and where they can be
found.
These colourful molluscs are unique in the way they take materials from the
seabed fl oor and form ‘nests’, which are then taken over by a range of other
plants and animals. The results from the survey will be used to work out how to
safeguard these creatures in the future.
Another recent example of survey work has been taken forward with
others at Lamlash Bay in Arran. A ‘no take zone’ was set up in 2008 and SNH
commissioned a map of the bay to show where different species live. Marine
Scotland’s laboratory has begun monitoring the population of scallops, and
volunteer divers will be checking out the important maerl (red seaweed) beds
within Lamlash Bay. The combined results will allow us to judge what effect the
‘no take zone’ is having on the maerl beds and scallops.
This kind of monitoring and survey work means we can improve our knowledge
of Scotland’s seas, which puts us in a better position to advise on where we need
to focus our conservation efforts. You can fi nd published reports on SNH’s marine
survey and monitoring at www.snh.org/publications
26
The Nature of Scotland