Restoration potential maps have been developed to provide a national ‘high level’ indication of where intertidal and subtidal seagrass, native oysters and saltmarsh could potentially be restored based on some key physical attributes.
The maps are accessible on the Coastal Data Explorer portal hosted by the Rivers Trust that is being developed as part of the Wholescale Approach to Marine Management (WAMM) project. The data can also be accessed through the Defra Data Services Platform. The maps are derived from physical parameters from large scale models, (e.g. flood zones, seabed sediment type, tidal currents, wave energy) and extend out to 1 nautical mile from the shore. The maps do not consider the location of existing saltmarsh, seagrass or native oysters. They also do not exclude restoration from occurring outside of the modelled areas. The saltmarsh map was originally commissioned by the MMO and the seagrass and native oyster maps developed by the Environment Agency using data provided by JNCC and Natural England.
They can be considered as an initial aid to identifying potential sites and encourage local discussion as part of measures for the River Basin plans. It is hoped that the discussions will encourage more projects to come forward, creating new partnerships to undertake habitat restoration.
The explorer portal also hosts a range of other key Environment Agency estuarine and coastal data, such as current saltmarsh and seagrass extents, Water Framework Directive classifications for estuarine and coastal waterbodies and Bathing Water Status.
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