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Nearshore environmental surveys for dredging disposal or aggregate extraction consent, baseline survey for EIAs, outfalls, fish farms, wind farms and power stations.
 The majority of surveys are based upon a benthic sampling regime using grabs, corers, video, photography and occasionally dredges. Sampling equipment and techniques sometimes are adapted to the sediment conditions experienced. Multiple replicates are recovered and processed for biological macrofauna, with additional material sub-sampled for physcio-chemical determination. All recovered samples are quality controlled offshore, with macrofauna processed over 500 or 1000µm mesh sieves. All biology and chemical samples are fixed and stored in the appropriate containers and conditions commensurate to the later analysis. On completion of the field acquisition, all materials are processed at specialist laboratories and the data analysed for both spatial (or sometimes temporal) patterns in each individual parameter together with multivariate analysis comparing data collectively. Biological data are interpreted using both univariate and multivariate techniques, with population clustering and varying environmental factors used to describe community trends and variances.
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