Explore top questions within Restoration & Enhancement
- What are my options for marine enhancement?
- How should I assess the baseline?
- What guidance is available for saltmarsh restoration?
- What guidance is available for sand dune restoration?
- What guidance is available for seagrass restoration?
- What guidance is available for native oyster restoration?
- What guidance is there for the enhancement of other species and habitats?
What are my options for marine enhancement?
Terminology
The words ‘restoration’, ‘recovery’, ‘regeneration’, ‘rewilding’ and ‘habitat creation’ are used in different settings and for different reasons, but the term ‘marine enhancement’ can be considered an umbrella term for “actions that aim to improve the quality, size or geographic distribution of a habitat and status of the species that it encompasses”. In general, the priority is to protect species and habitats where they currently exist and to remove pressures to allow natural recovery where a feature has been lost or damaged before active restoration is considered. In some cases, active restoration may be considered where appropriate and necessary.
The most common species and habitats currently being restored in Scotland are…
- Native Oysters
- Seagrass
- Sand Dunes
- Saltmarsh
Other species and habitats may also be responsive to restoration efforts in your area and a whole system approach can be very rewarding. For example it is worth considering enhancement of coastal amphibians, reef-forming bivalves such as flameshell or horse mussel alongside targeted work on other species. Whilst SMEEF only funds work on species and habitats which have salt water as a core part of their life cycle, you may want to look at other options for restoration such as Scotland’s coastal rainforests. Choosing your target species for restoration can be difficult and we recommend that you spend some time looking at available data about existing and historic populations (start with the relevant regional assessment and data in the National Marine Plan interactive’ (NMPi)) and then talk to local and national experts about what is possible, what is involved in terms of regulations, and what unintended consequences might occur, before deciding.
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Glossary
It can feel overwhelming with the amount of terminology surrounding restoration. Search for specific words or explore our glossary through the below themes:
- Algae = A photosynthetic, plant-like single- or multi-cellular organism.
- Bathyscope = Underwater viewer that can be used from a boat or dry land, generally as a clear bottom viewing cone. It works by eliminating both water surface glare and internal reflection, thereby allowing underwater viewing as far as water clarity and light will permit.
- Bed = Used to describe when a marine animal forms a bed like structure that is greater than 5mx5m.
- Boat draught = The vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel).
- BSL = Below sea level (water depth).
- Colonial = Several individual organisms (of the same species) living together in close association.
- Datum = A known, fixed point.
- DDV = A drop down video system (DDV) is a marine survey equipment setup that is typically an underwater camera and lights on a robust sled/frame. DDV systems generally have a live stream of footage to the surface, built in depth sensors and lasers to provide a scale to estimate the field of view.
- Ebb and flood tide = Ebb is the tidal phase during which the water level is falling and flood the tidal phase during which the water level is rising.
- Eddies = An eddy is a circular current of water.
- Epiphyte = A small plant that grows attached to another plant.
- GIS = Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present all types of geographical data.
- GPS = Global Positioning System used to navigate and mark locations.
- Inshore water = Scotland’s inshore waters are the marine region within 12 nautical miles of the coast.
- Intertidal = The intertidal zone or “littoral zone” is the term used to describe the seashore which is covered during high tide and exposed during low tide.
- Marine life cover = The dominating marine community on the seabed or shoreline.
- MPA = Marine Protected Area
- Native Range = Native range refers to the part of the natural range where a species or other taxonomic entity currently naturally occurs (e.g. the places it has reached without movement by humans and still occurs at)
- Native range = A species range is the area where a particular species can normally be found during its lifetime.
- Non-native species = Species introduced or spread from one region to another outside their normal range.
- PMF = Priority Marine Feature. This is used in Scotland to describe features characteristic of the Scottish marine environment. The list of PMFs is used to focus conservation and they are given policy protection in the National Marine Plan.
- Polecam = A polecam is a video camera attached to a pole that can be deployed to record underwater.
- Quadrat = A defined area for scientific sampling, and the frame that is used to define this area.
- Random = Lack of pattern or predictability.
- ROV = Remotely Operated Vehicle is an unoccupied underwater robot that is connected to the surface by a cable.
- SCUBA = Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
- Sessile = Permanently attached to the substrate. Can only move by external forces (such as water currents).
- Slack water = A short period in a body of tidal water when the water is completely unstressed, and there is no movement either way in the tidal stream, which occurs before the direction of the tidal stream reverses.
- Species = A name of a living organism.
- Spring tide = A tide in which the difference between high and low tide is the greatest. This results in very low, low tides and very high, high tides.
- Substrate = The surface or material on or from which an organism lives (e.g. rock, cobbles or mud).
- Subtidal = The area of coast which is covered by water at low tide.
- Taxonomic hierarchy = Taxonomic hierarchy is the process of arranging various organisms into successive levels of the biological classification.
- Tether = The cable that connected an underwater camera to the surface, which transfers information or power.
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