The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount MPA

Please be advised, a consultation has begun by Scottish Government on fisheries management measures within Scottish MPA. This will run until 14 October 2024. For more information please visit the Scottish Government website.

Status: Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (Nature Conservation MPA)

Situated to the west of Scotland, adjacent to the boundary with Irish waters, The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount Nature Conservation MPA follows the seabed as it descends from the top of the Hebridean continental slope down into the deep Rockall Trough and beyond.

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Site

The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount MPA, found to the west of Scotland, includes the Hebrides Terrace Seamount to the west of the site – a remnant of an ancient volcano. The seamount supports a diverse range of marine life, including cold-water corals and deep-sea sponges. These seamount communities are considered to be Threatened and/or Declining by the OSPAR Commission across the North-east Atlantic, as are orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus); a long-lived deep-water fish found associated with The Hebrides Terrace Seamount. The ‘Fan’ is a geological protected feature of the site that was created when a large build-up of sediments underwent a series of submarine landslides. These landslides have subsequently been modified by water currents, and were long ago gouged by icebergs grounding on the seabed during past ice ages.

More detailed site information can be found in the Summary section below.

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Site Timeline

The diagram below is a summary of the key milestones involved in the selection and designation of The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount Nature Conservation MPA. More detail can be found in the Relevant Documentation section. 

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Relevant Documentation

The documents referred to below and any other historical documents relating to The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount Nature Conservation MPA were produced during the selection and designation process and therefore may be out of date.  This Site Information Centre is the most up-to-date source of information for this MPA, and will reflect any additional information gathered since these documents were produced. Information about the Nature Conservation MPA site selection process is available on JNCC's Nature Conservation MPA webpages.

• Site Summary Document – Overview of the site and the protected features
• Data Confidence Assessment – Sets out our confidence in the presence and extent of the protected features
• Assessment against MPA Selection Guidelines – Details the application of the Scottish MPA Selection Guidelines
• Management Options Paper – Considers the management options for achieving the conservation objectives for each protected feature in the MPA.
• Designation Order – Scottish Ministerial Order for the designation, including MPA boundary co-ordinates, and information on conservation objectives.
• Business Regulatory Impact Assessment – Assesses the environmental, social and economic costs and benefits of the designation.
• JNCC’s formal conservation advice for this site is accessible through the Conservation Advice section.

These documents are available on JNCC's Resource Hub. 

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Summary

Last updated: October 2017

The information for this site summary was adapted from documents listed in the Relevant Documentation section and incorporates any further information gathered since these documents were produced. 

 

Site Overview

Situated to the west of Scotland, adjacent to the boundary with Irish waters, The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount MPA follows the seabed from the top of the Hebridean continental slope as it descends into the deep Rockall Trough and beyond. The 'Fan' is a geological protected feature of the site that was created when a large build-up of sediments underwent a series of submarine landslides. These landslides have subsequently been modified by water currents, and were long ago gouged by icebergs grounding on the seabed during past ice ages. The Barra Fan is regarded as scientifically important because the morphology and sedimentary sequences have helped in furthering understanding of regional-scale palaeoceanographic changes as well as fluctuations in the extent of the last British Ice Sheet.

On the continental slope part of the MPA, mud, sand and gravel habitats are home to worms and other creatures that have adapted to living buried in and on the seabed. The base of the continental slope provides conditions for the establishment of burrowed mud habitat; specifically seapen and burrowing megafauna communities, which are considered Threatened and/or Declining across the North-east Atlantic by the OSPAR Commission. To the west of the site, the Hebrides Terrace Seamount rises to a height of almost 1 km above the surrounding seabed and is thought to represent a remnant of an ancient volcano. The seamount supports a diverse range of marine life, including cold-water corals and deep-sea sponges. These seamount communities are considered to be Threatened and/or Declining by the OSPAR Commission across the North-east Atlantic, as are orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus); a long-lived deep-water fish found associated with The Hebrides Terrace Seamount. The seamount is thought to be significant to the health of Scotland’s seas due to the effect it has on the movement of underwater currents, which bring a good supply of food to the area. The resulting rich diversity supports many fish species, which in turn attract larger marine animals, such as sharks and whales. Further detail on the evidence for this Nature Conservation MPA can be found in the Monitoring and Evidence section.

Site location:  Co-ordinates for this Nature Conservation MPA can be found in the Designation Order listed in the Relevant Documentation section.

Site area: 4,373 km².

Site depth range: Depth of the site ranges from 2,341 m below sea-level at the lowest point of the Rockall Trough within this MPA, to 145 m in the east of the site.

Charting Progress 2 Biogeographic Region: Atlantic North-West Approaches, Rockall Trough and Faroe-Shetland Channel.

Site boundary description: On the Hebridean slope to the east of the MPA, the boundary captures the biological diversity of sediments that change with depth and include burrowed mud data points in the bathyal zone. To the west, the boundary has been drawn to encompass the full extent of The Hebrides Terrace Seamount in Scottish waters to support seamount communities and an orange roughy spawning aggregation. The area between the Hebridean continental slope and The Hebrides Terrace Seamount includes the geomorphological protected features of the site.

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Monitoring and Evidence

Last updated: November 2023

The full overview of the data used to support site identification along with information on confidence in feature presence and extent is available in the Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount Nature Conservation MPA Data Confidence Assessment. JNCC will be adding relevant survey data for this MPA to its MPA mapper in due course.

Some of the data for this Nature Conservation MPA has been collected through JNCC-funded or collaborative surveys and some through other means.  Data from these surveys provide direct evidence confirming the presence of the protected features within the site.

 

Survey and data gathering

• Habitat survey of The Hebrides Terrace Seamount (2012) – On behalf of JNCC, Herriot-Watt University conducted habitat surveys of the Hebrides Terrace Seamount using a remotely operated vehicle. The habitat surveys were an extension to the university’s planned research programme to study the functional ecology of cold-water coral habitats.

 

Data analysis reports

• EMODnet – Provides supporting information on the presence and extent of sedimentary habitats from a predictive seabed habitat map of European waters. 
• Biotope analysis of Marine Scotland Science underwater footage from the Hebridean Slope (2014) – Analysis of underwater video footage from Marine Scotland Science Nephrops norvegicus stock assessment surveys confirmed the presence of offshore subtidal sands and gravels on the Hebridean slope.
• Mapping habitats and biotopes from acoustic datasets (Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount Area) (2014) – Full coverage multibeam data were processed and interpreted by the National Oceanographic Centre to generate a new seabed substrate layer for parts of the site. The resulting habitat map was classed to level 4 of the deep-water section of the Marine Nature Conservation Review habitat classification scheme and further supports the presence of sedimentary habitats within the site.
• Analysis of seabed imagery from the Hebrides Terrace Seamount (2013) (2014) – Three remotely operated vehicle transects were surveyed in 2012, one across the summit and two down the eastern slope. High Definition video and photographic images were acquired, which were analysed by Cross et al. (2014) to determine the biological communities present and whether they were characteristic of the seamount communities MPA search feature. From the underwater footage, biological communities attributable to the MPA search feature were identified from the two eastern transects.
• Report on the identification of Key Geodiversity Areas in Scotland’s seas (2013) – Provides information on the presence and extent of important geological/geomphological areas in Scotland’s seas, which includes The Barra Fan and Peaches Slide Complex Key Geodiversity Areas of relevance to this Nature Conservation MPA.
• Biotope analysis of archived stills from the Strategic Environmental Area 7 region of Scotland's seas (2011) (2014) – Hughes et al. (2014) characterised the biological diversity of the Hebridean continental slope based on archived stills data from 1988–1998. The findings indicate that five distinct biological zones with associated communities that change with depth on the slope and help to define the communities that characterise the protected features of the MPA.

 

Additional relevant literature

References for further supporting scientific literature consulted during the identification of this site can be found in the Data Confidence Assessment. Please be aware that although these sources contain information which is of interest in relation to this MPA, they do not necessarily represent the views of JNCC:

• Henry, L.-A., Stehmann. M.F.W., De Clippele, L., Findlay, H.S., Golding, N. and Roberts, J.M. (2016). Seamount egg-laying grounds of the deep-water skate Bathyraja richardsoni. Journal of Fish Biology.
• Henry, L.A., Vad. J., Findlay, H.S., Murillo, J., Milligan, R. & Murray Roberts, J. (2014) Environmental variability and biodiversity of megabenthos on the Hebrides Terrace Seamount (Northeast Atlantic). Science Report, 4: 5589.
• Peer-reviewed papers published based on the findings of the Remotely Operated Vehicle dives on the Hebrides Terrace Seamount in 2012. 

 

Knowledge gaps

As part of the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy (UKMMAS), JNCC led the development of a UK Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Strategy, working with partners across the UK monitoring community. The Strategy spans UK territorial and offshore waters, focusing on biodiversity in the wider environment and within Marine Protected Areas.  Its aim is to implement efficient, integrated monitoring of marine biodiversity to provide the evidence needed for all the UK's policy drivers.

The Marine Directorate of Scottish Government, in partnership with JNCC and NatureScot, developed a Scottish Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring strategy. The Strategy spans Scottish territorial and offshore waters, focusing on biodiversity within Marine Protected Areas. The Strategy is supported by a series of annexes which provide more detail on monitoring methods, collaborative working, current monitoring and a two year forward look for MPA monitoring in Scottish waters.

The evidence collected during MPA monitoring surveys is used in combination with other available evidence to:

• Enable assessment of condition of the features within sites;
• Contribute to the assessment of the degree to which management measures are effective in achieving the conservation objectives for the protected features;
• Support the identification of priorities for future protection and/or management; and,
• Enable Government to fulfil its national and international assessment and reporting commitments in relation to MPAs and help identify where further action may be required.

More detail on offshore MPA monitoring can be found on the Offshore MPA monitoring webpage. A list of monitoring surveys and relevant reports can be found on the MPA monitoring survey reports webpage.

If you are aware of any additional information not referred to in the Relevant Documentation section, please contact us. 

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Conservation Advice

Last updated: March 2018

Updated formal conservation advice for this MPA was produced in March 2018.  Further information on the approach used to develop this advice is available on our Conserving MPAs webpage along with a Glossary of Terms used in JNCC's conservation advice and a short video explaining how to use the conservation advice packages. 

You must refer to this advice if you:

• undertake an impact assessment for a plan or project that could impact the site;
• provide information for such an assessment;
•  respond to specific measures to further the conservation objectives for the site; and 
• consider the need to put new or additional management measures in place.

You may also find it useful to refer to this advice if you:

• carry out any other activity that could impact the site.

We will engage with stakeholders to identify any lessons which JNCC can learn from customers who have used the advice, with a view to continuing to ensure it is fit-for-purpose.

The following table provides an overview of the components of the conservation advice, and provides hyperlinks to each of the products for this MPA.  These elements together form JNCC’s formal conservation advice for this site and should be read in conjunction with each other.  This advice reflects the most up-to-date evidence held by JNCC (correct as of March 2018).  

Document	Overview
Background Information	Explains the purpose of the advice and when it must be referred to.
Conservation Objectives Supplementary Advice on the Conservation Objectives (SACO)	The Conservation Objectives set out the broad ecological aims for the site. JNCC provides supplementary advice in the SACO which is essential reading to support interpretation of these conservation objectives. You can use these documents to assess the impacts of your planned activity on the important attributes of the site. Please note our current understanding of whether the available evidence indicates that each attribute needs to be recovered or maintained is not provided here. However, links to available evidence for the site are provided and should you require further site-specific information for the site, please contact us.
Conservation advice statements	These statements provide a summary of the Supplementary Advice on the Conservation Objectives (SACO). Site condition presents our up-to-date understanding of the condition of features within the site; Conservation benefits which the site can provide, these help you understand what is important about the site and why it needs protecting; and Conservation measures which JNCC considers are needed to support achievement of the conservation objectives. These provide clarity around measures needed to support restoration or maintenance of the feature(s) within the site.
Feature Activity Sensitivity Tool (FeAST)	Provides an initial assessment of whether a proposed plan or project (or ongoing activity) may have an impact on a protected feature in the site. FeAST identifies pressures associated with the most commonly occurring marine activities, and provides a detailed assessment of feature sensitivity to these pressures. A human activity is considered capable of affecting, other than insignificantly, a feature where the feature is known to be sensitive to associated pressures. The sensitivity assessments provided in FeAST, should be used at an early stage of a plan or project when considering potential impacts of an activity.

These documents are available on JNCC's Resource Hub. 

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