UK launches landmark multi-agency survey of the south-west coast's seabed
A coalition of 11 government organizations has embarked on the UK's most ambitious collaborative seabed mapping exercise to date. Cutting-edge survey technology is being deployed to chart the south-west coastline in a venture that stands to reshape how Britain manages its marine estate.
The four-week survey, designated CSM2026, set sail from Lowestoft, Suffolk, on 20 April aboard the RV Cefas Endeavour, with 26 scientists drawn from across the maritime research sector. The expedition will conclude in Falmouth, Cornwall, on 19 May. Covering two survey legs, the venture is gathering hydrographic, geological and environmental data that will feed into a broad range of commercial and policy applications – from offshore energy and infrastructure development to defence and safety at sea.
“Gather once, use many times”
The initiative is coordinated by the UK Centre for Seabed Mapping (UK CSM), a group of more than 30 public sector bodies. Participating organizations include the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO), British Geological Survey, Cefas, Defra, The Crown Estate, Historic England, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute Northern Ireland, Natural England and the Royal Navy.
Marine Minister Emma Hardy said: "The UK is at the forefront of marine protection with a comprehensive network of 374 Marine Protected Areas, protecting more than 38% of our waters. This survey is an excellent example of our work in partnership to improve our understanding of our maritime estate, providing data to deliver our commitments and make advances in how our seabed is mapped, understood and managed."
Andrew Colenutt, chair of the CSM2026 project team and head of hydrography and meteorology at the MCA, called the survey a landmark moment. Describing it as the first large-scale, multi-agency collaborative survey of its kind undertaken in the UK, he highlighted the opportunity it creates to share knowledge and provide hands-on offshore fieldwork experience across government. The alliance of organizations, he explained, is operating under a "gather once, use many times" philosophy to increase efficiencies across data collection, processing and analysis.
"Seabed mapping data provides the UK with a foundational basemap of its marine estate," he said. "Such valuable datasets are increasingly underpinning the maritime economy and energy security, enabling sustainable management of marine resources, development of marine policies and planning, and improves our understanding of the marine environment."
Defining moment for inter-agency cooperation
Alison Pettafor, Cefas Overseas Territories Country Lead and co-chair of the Project Team, described the survey as a defining moment for inter-agency cooperation, noting that the "collect once, use many times" model it embodies could fundamentally change the economics of marine data gathering. She characterized CSM2026 as the most ambitious collaborative exercise ever undertaken on the RV Cefas Endeavour, and suggested it may signal the start of a new chapter in how Britain maps and understands its seabed.
That view was echoed by Rear Admiral Angus Essenhigh OBE, UK national hydrographer and director of Data Acquisition at the UKHO, who chairs the UK CSM Steering Committee. He pointed to high-quality seabed mapping as foundational infrastructure underpinning everything from maritime safety and environmental protection to national security, arguing that the collective model allows government to extract far greater value from its data than any single agency could deliver independently.
