The marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (mNCEA) programme  is a science innovation and transformation programme, which spans across land and water environments. It has been set up to collect data on the extent, condition and change over time of England’s ecosystems and natural capital, and the benefits to society. The following outputs from the proof-of-concept year are now available:

1. A natural capital account for the industrial sandeel fishery (Natural England) – This demonstrates the use of a natural capital and ecosystem-based approach as a tool to improve fisheries management decisions. A natural capital framework was developed and a natural capital assessment of the North Sea industrial sandeel fishery in ICES Area IV was completed to explore how different management scenarios affect the overall value within the system.
2. North Sea carbon, fishing, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and offshore wind farms trade-offs (Cefas) – This demonstrates use of the Spatially Managed Marine Area Tool (SMMART) to provide a flexible framework to evaluate spatial management scenarios.
3. Rapid review of marine natural capital asset classes and logic chains (Cefas) – A rapid review of the application of the natural capital approach to the marine environment in the UK. Outputs include a suite of marine asset classes; definitions supporting development of targeted monitoring; and identified priority data and evidence gaps.
4. Nearshore water quality and pelagic asset status (Cefas and Environment Agency) – This begins to develop the natural capital approach for management of nearshore water. Outputs include logic chains, to connect attributes of nearshore water asset status with ecosystem service delivery, and a monitoring and indicator assessment review to identify information gaps that could be addressed by future data collection.
5. Using the natural capital approach to review the value of English saltmarshes as nursery grounds for commercially important fish (Cefas and Environment Agency) – This reviews and summarises natural capital evidence and approaches to demonstrate the value of saltmarshes as nursery grounds for commercially and, in this case, recreationally important fish, using sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) as a case study.
6. Opportunistic sampling for blue carbon to begin to address evidence gaps for carbon stocks and fluxes in UK continental shelf sediments (Cefas) – This study addressed gaps in the carbon evidence base (stock, sequestration, and condition) by collecting raw data on carbon stocks in the North Sea shelf sediments and developing a carbon analytical toolbox for carbon source and variability observations.