West of Walney Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) Monitoring Report 2018 (NECR464)

West of Walney Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) is an inshore site located off the coast of Walney Island, Cumbria within the ‘Irish Sea’ Charting Progress Area. The MCZ was designated in 2016 to protect the habitat Feature of Conservation Importance ‘Sea-Pen and Burrowing Megafauna Communities’ and the Broadscale Habitats ‘Subtidal sand’ and ‘Subtidal mud’. This report is one of a series of the Marine Protected Area monitoring reports delivered to Defra by the Marine Protected Areas Group. It provides a characterisation of the Broadscale Habitats present in a northern section of the MCZ in the form of an updated habitat map and assessment of the infauna communities. The report also presents additional evidence on the presence and distribution of the Feature of Conservation Importance within that region.