Abstract

The Maidens (including the North and Outer Klondyke) are a group of bedrock extrusions about 14 km northeast of Larne, off the coast of Northern Ireland (central point for Maidens Complex: 54°57′50.0, −5°42′20.0). Multibeam echosounder data have been combined with extensive ground-truthing to produce broad-scale substratum and biotope maps for the site. The bathymetry was used to derive rasters of slope gradient, rugosity, aspect, and fine- and broad-scale benthic position index which were used for further analyses with Principal Components Analysis. Ground-truthing data were used to create sample signatures and a Maximum Likelihood Analysis performed to classify the surfaces according to that signature. The supervised classifications generated distributions for three broad-scale substrata and habitat biotopes (six level three biotopes, four level four and one level five biotope). The maps provide critical information and distributions that greatly facilitate the conservation, management and monitoring of a proposed Special Area of Conservation.