IMIS

Sample analysis included coarse identification of groups of taxa - few specimens were identified to species level. The final results include counts for: lobster, crab, fish eggs and larvae, gastropods, mysids, amphipods, ostracods, euphausiids, chaetognaths, ctenophores, scyphozoa. There was also a group of unknown or other - counts for this group are not included as part of the OBIS dataset.
Plankton sampling in 2011 spanned a six-month period from mid-July to mid-December, chosen to occur before, during, and after the planned dredging of the Harbour (i.e. 1 September to 21 December 2011). Sampling was initiated in early Summer to capture the first stages of lobster, crab, and fish, based on the timing of occurrence of these species in the 2009 pilot study. Sampling extended through the autumn and into the winter of 2011 to determine the abundances of larvae (if any remained) during dredging activity. Ancillary experiments (irregular sampling) beyond this core sampling program were undertaken to test key assumptions of the sampling regime as time permitted.