Abstract | MESH (Mapping European Sediment Habitats) is an international marine habitat mapping programme. A consortium of twelve partners across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France gained financial support from the EU INTERREG IIIB fund. The MESH project draws together scientific and technical habitat mapping skills from the participating countries, as well as expertise in data collection and management and proven practical experience in the use of seabed habitat maps for environmental management within national regulatory frameworks. The aims of the MESH project are to produce seabed habitat maps for northwest Europe and to develop international standards and protocols for seabed mapping studies. The end products will be a meta database of mapping studies, a web-delivered GIS, guidance for marine habitat mapping, a report describing case histories of habitat mapping, a stakeholder database and an international conference with published proceedings. |
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