The   UK  lacks  any  national  programme to  assess the  state of the sea  floor ecosystem (benthos). The National Marine Monitoring ProgrammeThe UK National Marine Monitoring Programme (NMMP) was established to provide a coordinated approach to environmental monitoring in coastal and estuarine areas. The programme brings together the statutory marine monitoring agencies throughout the UK around the need to provide reliable and harmonised information for the UK coastal area. network of sites covers estuaries and a limited number of nearshore stations with data runs of over 15 years. The two Dove Time Series Stations (an element of the MECNThe Marine Environmental Change Network (MECN) is a collaboration between organisations in England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland collecting long-term time series information for marine waters. It is coordinated by the Marine Biological Association of the UK (MBA) and is funded by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The goal of the network is to use long-term marine environmental data from around the British Isles and Ireland to separate natural fluctuations from global, regional and local anthropogenic impacts.) represent probably the best Life in and on the seabed.benthic time series anywhere in the world, however they alone cannot provide the spatial coverage needed for a UK perspective.

• The available data show that climatic processes, both directly, e.g. winter mortality, and indirectly, via Pertaining to the physical properties of the oceans and seas- including its depth, temperature and salinity.hydrographic conditions, influence the abundance and species composition of sea bed communities.
• These variations will directly affect the availability of food for bottom feeding fish such as cod and haddock, impact on shellfish populations (Nephrops and scallops/clams) and potentially alter patterns of biodiversity and ecological functioning.
• The alteration in the seafloor communities could alter rates and timing of processes such as nutrient cycling, larval supply to the plankton and organic waste assimilation.
• At local (although still large) spatial scales there is also evidence of effects resulting from fishing impacts and at smaller scales habitat modification e.g. wind farms, and impacts from contaminants e.g. oil and gas exploration, waste dumping.
• Changes to sea temperature and/or food supply are likely to continue to alter the ecological structure of the seabed.

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What is happening now - Medium

There is a growing body of data – direct and indirect, for change in Life in and on the seabed.benthic systems over the last 2-3 decades. This is based on a limited number of locations. It is less certain that climate is the main driver of the changes. It is clear that fishing has also brought about large scale, multi-decadal changes and any effects of eutrophicationThe undesirable disturbance to ecosystem health and water quality that arises from nutrient enrichment caused by human activity. in the southern North Sea will have also contributed to benthic change via altered food inputs.

What could happen in the future - Low

Very limited data. The predicted changes go outside the range of current observations, the system has non-linear dynamics, and it is multi-factorial, so predictive power is limited.

Better spatial coverage – i.e. more offshore data sets/monitoring and in more regions.

Potentially a large impact on fish stocks due to changed prey availability. Altered patterns of species abundance will impact on nutrient regeneration, waste processing and biodiversity. This could compromise delivery of other ecosystem services.

C.L.J. Frid
Professor of Marine Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZB.

D. Moore
Fisheries Research Services, Offshore Energy Environmental Advice Group, Marine Laboratory, PO Box 101, 375  Victoria Road, Aberdeen, AB11 9DB  Scotland.