2003 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA4 Analysis of macroinvertebrate samples from the Northern Triangle area (north UKCS)

Samples were taken by a variety of methods (mostly day grabs or megacores) during summer 2002 from S/V Kommandor Jack by Geotek as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. ERT (Scotland) Ltd. Were responsible for the initial storage of the SEA4 samples at their Edinburgh laboratory. Samples were forwarded for analysis by Unicomarine Ltd. The samples were sieved in the laboratory over a 0.5mm mesh and fauna and fragments were removed from the sediment. Laboratory sample processing was carried out according to Unicomarine standard operating procedures (Worsfold and Hall, 2002). Fragments of animals were extracted, including colonies of non-countable taxa. There were no specific instructions on which taxa were to be extracted so in-house policy was adopted. In general, all animal material was removed, though Foraminifera were extracted as representative examples only. Animals were transferred to 70% industrial methylated spirits (IMS), except bryozoa, which were dried. Taxa were tentatively separated into major groups at the extraction stage.

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