2013-2014 Natural England Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) of marinas in S England

notPlanned

"Plotting the current distribution of NNS in English marinas. undertaken to assess presence of non-native species in 43 marinas throughout southern England. Funding from Natural England, The Bromley Trust, Interreg IVA (Marinexus), Defra and the Marine Biological Association of the UK.- Rapid Assessment Survey - at each marina the available floating pontoons were allocated between the 3 surveyors. Each surveyor spent 1 hour searching their allocated area, examining and scraping pontoon sides, and examining any other substrates accessible from the surface e.g. ropes, buoys, fenders, kelps etc.,. All 36 target NNS presence/absence are noted and abundance estimated (using an abbreviated and adapted SACFORN scale where A=SA, F=CF, R=OR, N=N). Any other potential NNS, unidentified specimens, those requiring microscopical examination for species confirmation, and specimens to substantiate significant findings were relaxed, preserved and examined later in the laboratory. The majority of species were determined on site. This method focuses primarily on fouling organisms which live attached to solid substrates. WGS 84 lat/long from www.gridreferencefinder.com. "