North West Irish Sea Mounds: Hard and Soft Substrata Habitats

A series of cruises attempting to characterise the primary biological features of this area were undertaken in November 2006 and January/February 2007.

This report contains the interpretation of both the soft bottom infauna data abd epifauna data together with supporting physical descriptors.

Based on the Natura 2000 Code 1170 definition of reefs/EC Habitats Directive Interpretation Manual, the report concludes that this site represents Annex I reef habitat.

A number of important sub-features in the area are also discussed, in particular small pockets of firmer sediment between rock surfaces were often characterised by dense tube worm communities.