Deep-sea epifaunal imagery analysis of 1218S Wyville Thomson Ridge SAC survey

1. Project Background JNCC and Marine Scotland Science (MSS) have conducted a survey aboard MRV Scotia (1218S) to gather evidence to monitor Wyville Thomson Ridge (WTR) (Figure 1) Special Area of Conversation (SAC) and inform assessment of condition of the designated features of the site. WTR is located on the Scottish continental shelf. The protected feature of WTR is Annex I 'Reef'. For more information regarding WTR please see http://archive.jncc.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=6545. The 1218S survey departed from Aberdeen on the 21st August 2018 and ended on the 15th September 2018. Imagery was collected with a drop camera (DC) system. The DC was equipped with a high-definition video camera and a separate still image camera unit, in a planar (downwards facing) orientation inside the frame. The stills camera was fitted with a four-spot (green) laser-scaling device forming a 21 cm x 21 cm square The primary survey objective, related to seabed imagery, was to acquire video and still images for the purposes of MPA feature monitoring. Camera stations were positioned using a triangular grid. 1 x 15 minute transects between depths of 320 - 910m, were collected at each of these stations. All video data will be analysed. In total 3,937 images and 19 hours of video will be analysed (Table 1). Still images were taken at ~ 20 second intervals. Maps of the camera stations sampled at WTR are shown in Figures 1. More detailed metadata is provided in the cruise report from the survey alongside representative images