North Sea Net Gain

Status: Complete

Start Date: December 2022

Lead Organisation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas)

The project is an international collaboration to provide further evidence on how benthic biodiversity is distributed across the North Sea and around the UK, with a view to supporting the continued sustainable expansion of the offshore wind industry. Through a thorough data mining process, data has been harnessed to produce detailed maps of habitats and distributions of key benthic species in the North Sea. Building on the OneBenthic initiative and forging links with the European Ocean Biodiversity Information System (EurOBIS), this project looks beyond national boundaries to enhance our understanding of the biodiversity of the seabed, with outputs made available via interactive web apps.