JNCC was leading an international marine habitat
mapping programme entitled 'Development of a framework for
Mapping European
Seabed Habitats, or
MESH for short, which started in spring 2004 and
finished in January 2008. A consortium of 12 partners across
the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France gained
financial support from the EU INTERREG IIIB fund for an
international marine habitat mapping programme. The MESH
partnership covered all five countries in the INTERREG (IIIb)
north-west Europe area, drawing together scientific and technical
habitat mapping skills, national data collation and management
expertise, and experience in the use of habitat mapping in
management and regulatory frameworks.
The MESH Project produced seabed habitat maps for
north-west Europe (see MESH study area) and developed international
standards and protocols for seabed mapping studies. The final
products are a
meta
database of mapping studies, a web-delivered
geographic
information system (GIS) with habitat maps, a
guidance
framework for marine habitat mapping including
protocols and
standards, a report on case histories of habitat mapping, a
stakeholder database and an international
conference (March
2007) with published proceedings.
Further information about the MESH Project available on
the JNCC website includes: