Healthy marine protected areas are required in UK law, can help tackle climate change and provide a natural capital benefits including coastal protection and food provisioning. However marine surveys to check on their health are much more expensive than those on land, so data is often lacking.
The dive unit recognised that by adapting their approach, the data they collect, could have higher confidence and wider use and so the sentinel monitoring program was born. A smaller number of sites are visited more frequently improving data confidence and acting as the canary in the coal mine. This allows changes in health to be noticed more quickly, similar sites will then be checked, and action taken.
For more information, please see the initial report for the trial site, follow up reports and an additional North Sea site will follow in 2022.
A survey sample point with soft corals, sea-squirts, and hydroids. © Trudy Russell / Natural England
Marine Dive Unit (MDU)
Natural England
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Email : NaturalEnglandDiveUnit@naturalengland.org.uk
The dive unit is a team of 12 experienced scientific divers from a range of teams in Natural England that come together for marine monitoring surveys. The team undertakes a weeks training annually to continually improve their skills, putting this into practice in 4 surveys a year. We work with the Scientific Diving Supervisory Committee and industry partners to share our expertise.