The Forth And Tay Estuaries and Adjacent Coastline Abstracts of Presentations and Posters
s of Presentations and Posters Held in association with MASTS Index to the Abstracts of Papers presented at the ECSA Focus Meeting on the Forth and Tay Estuaries and Adjacent Coastline. 30 April 1 May 2019 Author(s) Title 1 D. McLusky 50 Years of Change in the Forth Estuary 2 M. Elliott The challenges for the Forth and Tay estuaries for the coming decades; how to adapt, accommodate and manage for natural and anthropogenic change. 3 Stewart Angus Improving the visibility of conservation issues in the Forth and Tay 4 Rhys Cooper 20 years of data collection in the Forth: evolving technology and changing landscapes 5 Fernandes and Calder The role of MASTS in fostering collaborations in marine research and PG education in Scotland and further afield 6 Moffat et al. The Continuing Contaminant Question 7 Ted Schlicke Water Quality in the Forth 8 Wilkinson et al. Effects of coal mining on Forth shores exemplified by attached algae 9 Palamakumbura et al. Geological controls of abandoned mine related subsidence of the Bothkennar Pools areas, near Falkirk 10 John McManus Salinity variations and frontal systems in the Tay Estuary 11 Wilkinson et al. An overview of the seaweeds of the Forth and what changes in their assemblages can tell us 12 Whitlock et al. Examining carbon sequestration in Scottish intertidal seagrass meadows: A case study from the Forth and Tay Estuaries 13 Lyndon et al. Zostera past, present and future? Status of seagrass in the estuaries and Firths of Forth and Tay 14 Defew and Maynard Green Shores: Growing restoring saltmarshes to enhance biodiversity and adapt to coastal changes in the Tay Eden Estuaries the Dornoch Firth, Scotland 15 Russell and Webster Microplastics in Scotlands' Marine Environment with Emphasis on the Forth Tay Area 16 Hartl et al. Inter annual monitoring of microplastics in marine intertidal sediments of the Firth of Forth 17 Madeline Berg Nurdles on the shore tackling the pellet pollution problem in the Firth of Forth and beyond 18 Lee, Diele and Sanderson Towards an understanding of the carbon deposition of the historical native European oyster (O. edulis L. beds in the Firth of Forth 19 Myles O'Reilly Monitoring the Forth Estuary Community under the EU Water Framework Directive 20 Nick Everett Coastal Change and Nature Conservation 21 Yvonne Boles The constraints and opportunities for habitat creation on the Inner Forth 22 Gill et al. Effects of a large offshore wind farm upon seabirds 23 John Hunt The Changing Fortunes of Seabirds in the Firth of Forth 24 Adam Wyness Microbial function is driven by infaunal ecosystem engineering in Tay estuary sediments 25 Kimberley Bennett Persistent organic pollutants in grey seals in the Forth: decadal changes and impacts on energy balance 26 Christopher Cutts Main issues on the Forth and Tay with regard to marine planning 27 Rhona Fairgrieve The Marine Spatial Planning Challenge: a novel approach to stakeholder engagement 1. 50 years of change in the Forth Estuary Donald McLusky ex University of Stirling) d.mclusky@btinternet.com The Forth estuary extends from Stirling to Queensferry. By the 1950s and '60s the upper estuary (Stirling to Kincardine) was grossly polluted by organic waste and experienced very low or anoxic conditions, especially on spring tides. The middle estuary (around Grangemouth) experienced industrial pollution, notably petro chemical and mercury pollution. The lower estuary (towards Queensferry) was less impacted. As a result of major investment in pollution control in the 1980s and '90s the estuary has improved considerably throughout, so that eventually the upper and middle estuary are now classified as being of "moderate ecological potential" and the lower estuary has "good ecological status" 2. The challenges for the Forth and Tay estuaries for the coming decades; how to adapt, accommodate and manage for natural and anthropogenic change. Mike Elliott (Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies University of Hull) mike.elliott@hull.ac.uk The main challenges for estuarine management are to ensure that the areas protect the natural ecological structure and functioning while at the same time deliver ecosystem services from which society can obtain goods and benefits. The main threats to estuaries worldwide constitute what may be termed a 'triple whammy' an increasing urbanisation and industrialisation, and increased use of physical (e.g. space, energy, water) and biological (e.g. fish, shellfish) resources. and a decreased resistance and resilience to the effects of climate change (e.g. sea level rise, storminess, acidification*1. This presentation illustrates these threats for the Forth and Tay Estuaries and shows what accommodation, adaptation and management responses will be needed and what will be possible. It considers the way in which the effects of threats within the estuary are exacerbated by those emanating from the catchment and the sea. It discusses ways of increasing the resistance and resilience to climate change impacts, such as managed realignment, of reducing the impacts of diffuse and pointsource discharges and of balancing the loss and gain of space and habitats. Finally, it discusses the type of science and management required to ensure the sustainability of these estuaries for natural and societal benefit. *1. Wolanski, E. Day, J.W. Elliott, M. Ramachandran, R. (Eds. (2019) Coasts and Estuaries: The Future. Elsevier, Amsterdam, ISBN 978 0 12 814003 1, pp701. 3. Improving the visibility of conservation issues in the Forth and Tay Stewart Angus (Scottish Natural Heritage) stewart.angus@nature.scot The Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth contain extensive areas of coastal habitat designated as SSSI or Natura. It is suggested here that the complexity of aggregated approaches to nature conservation can be counter productive in that resources may be unintentionally misdirected. In particular the aggregation of habitat designated because of the quality of that habitat can become confused with that same habitat designated purely for its breeding, roosting or feeding birds, where different priorities would apply. Conservation objectives for habitat conservation may not coincide with conservation objectives for birds. In addition, conservation objectives are often too narrowly focused and do not consider sufficient context. The value of cross disciplinary approaches to habitat conservation is highlighted. Finally, monitoring is insufficient at reporting aspects of habitat change that are of importance for climate change studies. Examples are given from both Firths, with the caveat that these issues are not confined to the two Firths. 4. 20 years of data collection in the Forth: evolving technology and changing landscapes Rhys Cooper (British Geological Survey) rcooper@bgs.ac.uk Over the last 20 years, the British Geological Survey (BGS) has been active in acquiring data in the Firth of Forth to produce a wide range of map outputs and publications. This talk will provide a narrative to the range of projects BGS has been involved in and how the technology applied has evolved over time to make acquisition easier with better results. 5. The role of MASTS in fostering collaborations in marine research and PG education in Scotland and further afield Teresa Fernandes (Heriot Watt University, MASTS, NERC DTP SUPER) Lois Calder (MASTS, NERC DTP SUPER) t.fernandes@hw.ac.uk Launched in 2009, supported by the Scottish Funding Council, the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS) creates a collaborative national framework of excellence and capacity in marine and environmental science in Scotland and beyond. With 17 partners and numerous national and international links, MASTS delivers interdisciplinary and collaborative research and representation of marine and related issues. Working with government, policy makers, regulators and industry, MASTS creates partnerships which support action to address current environmental challenges. These partnerships have been successful in securing funding from the across the UK and Europe, including H2020, UKRI Global Challenges and government and industry sources. Focussing on issues such as biodiversity and management of protected areas, local management of natural resources and improving environmental quality, this research has made real impact, for example in the area of fisheries and coastal zone management. At the heart of MASTS lies the graduate school, providing advance training and support for postgraduate researchers. Recent funding success in a NERC Doctoral Training Partnership will extend the community to include students in the Scottish Universities Partnership for Environmental Research (SUPER) Delivering high quality, flexible and bespoke training, contextualised to marine and environmental sciences, MASTS and SUPER deliver confident, capable, networked researchers primed for high quality careers in environmental and related sectors across the globe. 6. The Continuing Contaminant Question Colin F Moffat, Ashley Roberts, Rob Fryer and Lynda Webster Chief Scientific Advisor Marine, Marine Scotland, Scottish Government, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Angus Smith Building, 6 Parklands Avenue, Eurocentral, Holytown, North Lanarkshire, ML1 4WQ Office of the Chief Scientific Advisor Marine, Marine Scotland, Scottish Government, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB Marine Scotland Science, Marine Scotland, Scottish Government, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB colin.moffat@gov.scot Contaminants are ubiquitous in our marine systems, including Scottish estuarine ecosystems. Some are local, others have been carried by wind and water, settling within the sediments where the currents allow. They enter the food web, many biomagnify, some tend to accumulate in specific tissues. Whether they are organic or inorganic, key to any asses