2001 Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Sound of Barra sublittoral habitats joint broad-scale mapping survey

A comprehensive biotope mapping survey of the sublittoral habitats was undertaken in August 2001, by a collaborative research group comprising staff from the University of St Andrews, Heriot-Watt University and SNH. Rapid broadscale remote acoustic mapping techniques were utilised and 'groundtruth' data were collected to enable the interpretation of of acoustically classed seafloor maps. Groundtruthing data were collected in the field using a range of sampling techniques including snorkel diver-based observations with video, observations through a glass bottomed bucket, cores, video imagery collected by remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or drop-down video and grab sampling of sedimentary habitats for infaunal and sediment analyses. It is the MNCR diver data (20 stations) that is currently present in this Marine Recorder Survey.