The Development of a Seascape Character and Sensitivity Assessment Toolkit to Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of Plymouth Sound and the Tamar Estuaries Area and Recreational Activities

An increase in marine planning following the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, has led to an increase in the use of seascape character assessment. Through this project, the seascape character assessment process has been extended to include a seascape sensitivity assessment to cultural ecosystem services. The seascape character and sensitivity assessment toolkit methodology developed, has been implemented through the use of a case study area within Plymouth Sound and the Tamar Estuaries; an area which includes features representative of much of the UK coasts, thus demonstrating the national context of the toolkit. Within the case study seascape character assessment, completed at a local scale, 19 seascape character types have been identified. The sensitivity assessment for the case study area has been carried out with regards to recreational activities, highlighting the seascape character types which are more able to absorb an increase in recreation. Stakeholder engagement has proved to be a valuable stage in both seascape characterisation and seascape sensitivity assessment. The use of geocaching has been trailed as a new approach to aid stakeholder consultation and has been found to be successful in improving the gathering of perceptual seascape, location-based data. The importance of continuing to improve the gap between landscape and seascape assessments is acknowledged