This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). In this report maritime archaeology refers to archaeology based on the investigation of the remains of ships, boats, maritime infrastructure and such other material remains as provide insights into past societies by way of their seafaring and sea-use. Archaeological issues relating to the wrecks of aircraft are not included. After summarising the legislative framework applicable to maritime archaeology, e.g. Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, the history of maritime activity in the Irish Sea from the Palaeolithic times to the present day is reviewed. Examples of historic wrecks, some found in recent years by divers, are given. The spatial distribution of maritime archaeological remains is considered and the possible impacts of oil and gas activities are described. The report concludes with an outline of the methods used in investigating maritime archaeological remains.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report provides a synthesis of current knowledge of the benthic communities and seabed habitats in the Clyde Sea, which abuts the northern end of the SEA6 area. The Clyde Sea is a fjordic system consisting of drowned, glacially over-deepened, valleys separated by sills. The southern limit of the area, and the ultimate sill for the Clyde Sea lochs, is formed by a broad sill termed the Great Plateau. The Great Plateau is predominantly less than 50 m deep and is overlooked by the volcanic plug of Ailsa Craig. The report is presented in the context of the hydrography and sedimentology of the area. The focus is on dominant species and broad descriptions of community types (biotopes). It also reviews existing major human activities in the area that are currently affecting the benthos.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report provides a synthesis of current knowledge of the benthic communities and seabed habitats in the SEA6 area. The area is a predominantly shallow, well flushed, fully saline, partially enclosed, temperate sea. The seabed is predominantly sedimentary, ranging between mud and cobbles but consisting mainly of sand. The coastal fringe hosts excellent examples of a broad range of habitat types including exposed rocky shores, sheltered rias, highly productive sand flats, estuaries and areas exposed to rapid tidal currents. This diverse range of habitats supports a broad range of animals and plants with numerous species. The focus of the report is on dominant species and broad descriptions of community types (biotopes). The benthos associated with the littoral (intertidal) and sublittoral zones from the Mull of Kintyre and the Northern Irish coast in the north to Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire in the south are discussed. This area includes the important industrial estuaries of Morecambe, Liverpool and the Mersey, together with a number of minor estuaries, and the major islands of Anglesey and the Isle of Man. The deep water (depth greater than 50 m) and offshore areas are also discussed. Where appropriate, details of rare or unusual species are included, together with the threat offered by oil and gas related activities. Other major human activities in the SEA6 area that are currently affecting the benthos are also discussed.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). Cephalopods are short-lived molluscs, characterised by rapid growth rates, and are important predators and prey in oceanic and neritic environments. They are active predators at all stages of their life-cycle and generally regarded as opportunistic, taking a wide variety of prey. Cannibalism has been frequently recorded in cephalopod species. Cephalopods also sustain a number of marine top predators such as fish, birds and marine mammals, especially whales. Many species are powerful swimmers and carry out vast feeding and spawning migrations, thus influencing prey and predator communities strongly on a seasonal and regional basis. As cephalopods are important elements in food webs they interact with commercial fisheries of finfish. Evidence exists that fishing pressure has changed ecological conditions and shifts in community structures have occurred with cephalopod stocks slowly replacing predatory fish stocks. Their commercial significance to world fisheries is of relatively recent, but growing, importance. From a commercial point of view, the most important cephalopod species in the SEA6 area is Loligo forbesi, which is landed as a by-catch of the demersal trawl fishery (82 tonnes in 2002). But the species Alloteuthis subulata, although of no commercial value, has an important ecological role in the coastal food webs, since it is the most commonly recorded cephalopod species in the stomach contents of demersal fish in UK waters.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). An integral element of any environmental assessment for offshore oil and gas development, and for possible nearshore renewable energy proposals, is a review of potential sites of conservational importance within the region of interest. For the purpose of SEA 6, this is especially important given the scale of the area (over 400 km from the tip of SW Wales to the Mull of Kintyre); its division into five separate states/provinces, each with their own nature conservation authorities and some differences in nature conservation legislation; the fact that it includes a very considerable length of coastal zone and that a very large proportion of those coasts are designated as nature conservation sites. The report identifies and locates coastal and nearshore sites within the SEA 6 area which are protected by international, national and local conservation designations. The sites are briefly described and the reasons for their protected status are given. For internationally important sites, summary information describing the main features of the site is provided and there is also an assessment of the vulnerability of the site and any relevant management issues. The ordering of the national sites does not imply any formal ranking, but is a relative judgement of their conservation importance.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report considers the major sources of contamination to the Irish Sea from offshore energy installations and puts them in the context of other sources of contamination to the region. The report also considers contamination of the wider environment, making use of data provided by monitoring programmes and other specific studies. The oil and gas industry in the Irish Sea is small by comparison to that of the North Sea, but bears comparison to that of the Southern North Sea which is dominated by gas production and for which many of the platforms are in relatively shallow water. The discharge of production and drilling chemicals, residual oil and compounds derived from the formation water co-produced with the oil or gas contribute to the contamination concentration in sediments and water. However, in Liverpool Bay and Morecambe Bay, where the oil and gas fields are located, the riverine inputs of major groups of organic contaminants and metals are found to be several orders of magnitude greater than those from the offshore oil and gas industry. Inputs of artificial radionuclides into the Irish Sea are dominated by discharges from Sellafield on the Cumbrian coast. The distribution of radionuclides in seawater, in the sediment and in biota are reviewed.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This "Economic and Social Baseline Study" provides baseline information on the key economic activities in the SEA 6 area, namely: offshore oil and gas; offshore wind farms; ports, ferries and other shipping services; fishing; tourism; other marine-related activities. A separate report (SEA6 Socio Economics) by the same authors assesses the socio-economic implications of further oil and gas licensing in the SEA6 area.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). The report assesses the socio-economic implications of further oil and gas licensing the SEA 6 area. The Department of Trade and Industry provided scenarios of possible exploration and development activity in the area and these scenarios were converted into optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. They were then used to produce forecasts of: oil and gas production; oil and gas reserves; expenditure; employment; and tax revenues. The implications for existing facilities in the area are discussed and the potential social impacts. An underpinning report, Economic and Social Baseline Study, is also available.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report discusses the seabed geology and the surficial geology and processes of the SEA6 region of the Irish Sea. The East Irish Sea Basin is at a mature exploration phase, having produced oil and predominantly gas since 1985. The hydrocarbon geology of the region is reviewed. Other prospectivity plays in the SEA6 area are the Caernarfon Bay Basin and the Cardigan Bay Basin. The seabed sediments, seabed sedimentary processes and the corresponding diverse range of seabed habitats in the area are described, drawing upon published data and on the new information acquired from surveys specifically conducted for this SEA in 2004.

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). Seven marine mammal species are known to occur regularly in the SEA6 area. A relatively small but fairly discrete population of grey seals utilises all but the northwest Irish Sea. Harbour seals are found primarily in the far north of the area. Harbour porpoises are seen year round throughout the area and bottlenose dolphins are present year round off Wales. Minke whales, Risso's dolphins and short-beaked common dolphins are regularly seen in summer mainly in the far south. The report discusses the distribution and abundance of these mammals and their ecological importance. Marine mammals make use of sound for a variety of purposes: finding prey, detecting predators, communication and probably navigation. The offshore oil and gas industry generates underwater noise at every stage of the process: during exploration seismic surveys, drilling, production and decommissioning. The effects of these different sources of underwater noise on marine mammals are discussed. The use of explosives for underwater cutting and demolition during the decommissioning of platforms and installations may pose a serious threat to some marine mammals. The effects of pollution on seals and cetaceans are discussed, including the effects of oil spills. The prevalence of disease among the marine mammal populations is reviewed.