4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313234383035 English Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en 2026-03-03T12:01:02.429Z NRW 1.0 wel British National Grid (EPSG::27700) Alien Taxa Environmental and Socio-economic impact classification Alien Taxa Environmental and Socio-economic impact classification Dosbarthiad o effaith Amgylcheddol a Chymdeithasol-economaidd Tacsonau Estron MBA_SEICAT_assessment_042020.xls MBA_EICAT_042020.xlsx 2020-09-01 NRW_DS124805 There are two excel spreadsheets which accompany the report titled ‘Assessing the impact of key Marine Invasive Non-Native Species on Welsh Marine Protected Area habitat features, fisheries and aquaculture’. These are the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) and the Socio-economic Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (SEICAT) which summarise and provide additional information data for the report. The purpose of the spreadsheets (along with the accompanying report) is to assess potential impacts of 16 invasive non-native species on Welsh Marine Protected Area features, commercial fisheries and aquaculture to address knowledge gaps for biosecurity planning. The EICAT Excel workbook consists of a summary matrix for the 16 invasive non-native species providing a summary score for likelihood of establishment and an aggregated (worst-case) score for impact on each of the 41 Marine Protected Area features assessed by the project. The SEICAT Excel workbook consists of a summary matrix for the 16 invasive non-native species providing a summary impact score for direct impacts on fisheries and aquaculture via interactions which affect deployment and operation of gear and installations and impacts on target or cultivated species. It does not consider indirect impacts or ancillary activities (for example, impacts on gaining access or impacts on bait). A number of general limitations regarding the impact assessments should be considered in their application: •The impact assessments are generic and NOT site-specific. They are based on the likely effects of an INNS pressure on a ‘hypothetical’ MPA feature/ biotope based on general characteristics of these features. •The impact assessments are general assessments that indicate the likely effects of a given INNS (likely to arise from one or more impact pathways) on MPA features or aquaculture and fisheries operations as represented in Wales. •The assessments have attempted where possible to take account of spatial or temporal scales. •The significance of impacts arising from pressures also needs to take account of the scale of the features. •There are limitations in the scientific evidence on the biology and ecology of MPA features and their responses to INNS on which the impact assessments have been based. •The EICAT impact assessment methodology takes account of the level of impact and the likely recovery to differentiate between the two most severe impact ranks (massive and major). Eradication of INNS is difficult and recovery will generally only occur where management measures are implemented. There is the potential, therefore for all major impacts to become massive. •As a general rule, where the impact is ranked as higher, the need for management measures is greater. •A rank of ‘Minor or Minimal Concern does not mean that no impact is possible from a particular ‘INNS x feature’ combination, only that a limited impact was judged to be likely based on the available evidence. There are two excel spreadsheets which accompany the report titled ‘Assessing the impact of key Marine Invasive Non-Native Species on Welsh Marine Protected Area habitat features, fisheries and aquaculture’. These are the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) and the Socio-economic Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (SEICAT) which summarise and provide additional information data for the report. The purpose of the spreadsheets (along with the accompanying report) is to assess potential impacts of 16 invasive non-native species on Welsh Marine Protected Area features, commercial fisheries and aquaculture to address knowledge gaps for biosecurity planning. The EICAT Excel workbook consists of a summary matrix for the 16 invasive non-native species providing a summary score for likelihood of establishment and an aggregated (worst-case) score for impact on each of the 41 Marine Protected Area features assessed by the project. The SEICAT Excel workbook consists of a summary matrix for the 16 invasive non-native species providing a summary impact score for direct impacts on fisheries and aquaculture via interactions which affect deployment and operation of gear and installations and impacts on target or cultivated species. It does not consider indirect impacts or ancillary activities (for example, impacts on gaining access or impacts on bait). A number of general limitations regarding the impact assessments should be considered in their application: •The impact assessments are generic and NOT site-specific. They are based on the likely effects of an INNS pressure on a ‘hypothetical’ MPA feature/ biotope based on general characteristics of these features. •The impact assessments are general assessments that indicate the likely effects of a given INNS (likely to arise from one or more impact pathways) on MPA features or aquaculture and fisheries operations as represented in Wales. •The assessments have attempted where possible to take account of spatial or temporal scales. •The significance of impacts arising from pressures also needs to take account of the scale of the features. •There are limitations in the scientific evidence on the biology and ecology of MPA features and their responses to INNS on which the impact assessments have been based. •The EICAT impact assessment methodology takes account of the level of impact and the likely recovery to differentiate between the two most severe impact ranks (massive and major). Eradication of INNS is difficult and recovery will generally only occur where management measures are implemented. There is the potential, therefore for all major impacts to become massive. •As a general rule, where the impact is ranked as higher, the need for management measures is greater. •A rank of ‘Minor or Minimal Concern does not mean that no impact is possible from a particular ‘INNS x feature’ combination, only that a limited impact was judged to be likely based on the available evidence. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Protected sites Species distribution Habitats and biotopes GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeutheme-theme impact assessment marine protected areas(marine consultation areas)(sensitive marine areas)seealso marine conservation&marine nature reserve Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) NRW Thesaurus 2025-01-08 geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-keywords Habitat extent SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2024-06-19 geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.rdf+xml IPSV Subjects List 2020-11-18 geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.subjects NRW SMNR Keywords 2024-06-26 geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-smnr-keywords There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely. no limitations © CNC/NRW Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose. Attribution statement: Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. English biota SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2021-01-06 inapplicable Wales (WLS) -5.777741 -2.608865 51.240829 53.513067 2007-01-01 2020-04-01 Tillin, H.M., Kessel, C., Sewell, J., Wood, C.A., Bishop, J.D.D. 2020. Assessing the impact of key Marine Invasive Non-Native Species on Welsh MPA habitat features, fisheries and aquaculture. NRW Evidence Report. Report No: 454, 260pp, Natural Resources Wales, Bangor. Assessing the Impact of Key Marine Invasive Non-Native Species on Welsh MPA Habitat Features, Fisheries and Aquaculture. Delimited [A] Two excel spreadsheets [B] A report titled ‘Assessing the impact of key Marine Invasive Non-Native Species on Welsh MPA habitat features, fisheries and aquaculture’. Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation. false EICAT spreadsheet: The impact assessment criteria and impact categories were adopted from the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) project (IUCN 2019), as these are well established, peer-reviewed and supported internationally by experts. The impact categories in this project were applied to species that were either key characterising, functional or structuring species within habitats that comprise the MPA features or that were target species for fisheries and aquaculture. In order to capture habitat feature impacts, the project team added qualifiers to the EICAT definitions for habitat level impacts. SEICAT spreadsheet: An approach to assess the socio economic impacts of non-native species on human welfare was proposed by Bacher et al., (2018). This approach assesses the impact on human capabilities. INNS can impact people’ opportunities through changes in environmental factors, economic settings or social context. For the current project assessments of socio-economic impact focused on aquaculture and commercial fishing operations and target species which largely maps to the category of material and immaterial assets. Other impacts on human capabilities were noted where evidence was found, for example the sharp shells of Crassostrea gigas may impact on access to fishing grounds and impact collection of bait and other target species. Key fishery and aquaculture operations were identified from work by Hall et al., (2008) based on the habitat types and fishing techniques known to occur, or to have recently been pursued, in Wales at the time of the study (January 2007) and ABPmer (2016). Target species were identified from UK Sea Fisheries Statistics (MMO 2018). EICAT spreadsheet: The impact assessment criteria and impact categories were adopted from the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) project (IUCN 2019), as these are well established, peer-reviewed and supported internationally by experts. The impact categories in this project were applied to species that were either key characterising, functional or structuring species within habitats that comprise the MPA features or that were target species for fisheries and aquaculture. In order to capture habitat feature impacts, the project team added qualifiers to the EICAT definitions for habitat level impacts. SEICAT spreadsheet: An approach to assess the socio economic impacts of non-native species on human welfare was proposed by Bacher et al., (2018). This approach assesses the impact on human capabilities. INNS can impact people’ opportunities through changes in environmental factors, economic settings or social context. For the current project assessments of socio-economic impact focused on aquaculture and commercial fishing operations and target species which largely maps to the category of material and immaterial assets. Other impacts on human capabilities were noted where evidence was found, for example the sharp shells of Crassostrea gigas may impact on access to fishing grounds and impact collection of bait and other target species. Key fishery and aquaculture operations were identified from work by Hall et al., (2008) based on the habitat types and fishing techniques known to occur, or to have recently been pursued, in Wales at the time of the study (January 2007) and ABPmer (2016). Target species were identified from UK Sea Fisheries Statistics (MMO 2018).