Scientific diving surveys are often required to obtain quality data from habitats such as sub-tidal reefs which, depending upon the aims of individual studies, do not always lend themselves well to remote sensing techniques such as drop down video (and cannot be physically sampled using a grab as soft sediments can be).
Ecospan Environmental Ltd is a registered diving contractor and undertakes all diving surveys according to the HSE’s Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for Scientific Diving. All divers are trained to HSE part IV or equivalent and are suitably scientifically trained for the task being undertaken (usually experienced graduate marine biologists). All diving takes place using positive pressure masks (to minimise the potential risks of diving in contaminated water) and two way voice communication. It has been found that the ability of the divers to communicate to the surface support team greatly improves the quality of the data gathered as well as enabling the location of any noteworthy observations to be accurately pinpointed using dGPS.
- Underwater stills and video surveys.
- Sediment core collection.
- Ecological surveys and ecological reconnaissance.
- Biotope mapping of sub-tidal rocky areas.
- Seagrass bed surveys.
- Macroalgae surveys.
- Fisheries surveys (e.g. scallops).
- Species abundance surveys (e.g. Sea Fans, Ross coral etc).
- Biota collection.
- Impact assessments (marine protected areas, fishing, development, dredging, effluents).
- Artificial substrate experiments.
- Installation of scientific equipment.
- Wide area visual assessments.