Chevron Rosebank North SERPENT final report

This report documents the SERPENT project collaborative research with Chevron at the Rosebank North exploration drilling site at 1100m water depth in the Faroe-Shetland Channel. The opportunity enabled access to the Magnum 156 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on the Stena Carron drill ship to carry out a detailed biodiversity survey. Video transects were carried out in high definition extending to approximately 500m. Twenty-eight megafaunal taxa were observed at Rosebank North with representatives from 8 phyla and combined imaging and sampling ensured that the taxonomic resolution was high. SNAPS, a novel device for preservation of nucleic acids of specimens collected at depth, developed through SERPENT was tested during this visit and push core samples of the sediment were collected to assess drilling disturbance. During this visit video footage of deep-sea fauna and interviews with offshore staff were collected for use in an episode of the BBC television series “Coast”.