Following proposals made by the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST), a no take zone (NTZ) of 268 ha was established in the northern part of Lamlash Bay in 2008 under the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has a commitment to contribute to monitoring the success of the management measures in delivering benefits to the subtidal habitats and species of the bay. Earlier surveys in 2008 and 2009 mapped the seabed habitats of Lamlash Bay and surrounding waters. The aim of the study described in this report was to refine the biotope mapping within and immediately adjacent to the NTZ, to design a monitoring programme for the NTZ and to conduct baseline monitoring. The baseline survey and monitoring programme focuses on benthic habitats and sessile and low mobility species although highly mobile species (e.g. fish species) were also noted. A combination of methods, including remote video, remote stills, grab sampling and diving, were employed to collect this baseline data.
The baseline monitoring survey was conducted between the 21st August and the 4th September 2010. All survey work was conducted from Marine Bio-images road-trailable vessel Freyja, a 5.4m Avon rigid hulled inflatable. In order to identify suitable areas in which to locate monitoring stations it was first necessary to refine the biotope maps produced in the earlier survey (Axelsson et al., 2010). In particular, the Phymatolithon calcareum maerl bed biotope (SS.SMp.Mrl.Pcal) provisionally mapped were expected to be the highest priority and so identifying the boundaries of the bed was prioritised. As a deeper draft vessel was used for mapping during the earlier survey it was also necessary to complete the mapping exercise in the shallow areas that had not been covered. Once this mapping was achieved 12 dive monitoring stations and 12 grab stations were identified, plus 20 stations for towed video and stills. The locations of these were evenly split between inside and outside the NTZ to provide comparative data.