National Seabed Geology Scoping Project: stakeholder needs and existing data review

The Crown Estate have proposed a potential project aimed at updating and improving national-scale seabed geology data holdings to ensure that their decision-making processes are informed by the highest quality information. The development of any new data compilation should also be of benefit to external users across multiple marine sectors. This report describes a scoping exercise for the project, aimed at understanding stakeholder needs in relation to national-scale seabed geology information. An online survey was conducted in which 82 participants, representing at least 60 different organisations, responded to questions concerning: access and use of seabed geology data, thematic data needs, regions of interest, and resolution and format. In addition, more than 80 existing primary and derived datasets have been identified that relate to UK seabed geology. These were assessed alongside the survey results to determine a picture of stakeholder needs and priority areas for improvement and development of new datasets. The results are summarised in this report alongside recommendations for a potential new data compilation.