Fladen Ground is an area in the Scottish sector of the North Sea, between Scotland and Norway, about northeast of Aberdeen. The Fair Isle current and adjacent East

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

Atlantic tides contribute to a weak, anti-clockwise rotating vast vortex or eddy easily shown in the surface of the seabed.Athena Field Development, p 61 Due to stratification of the water column in the summer months, seasonal change of deep water temperature is low. This measures (). Water depths are predominantly between , and the mostly muddy sea floor has accumulated sediments from some storm-driven scouring action to surrounds.Athena Field Development, p 60 The dominant benthic animals are polychaetes and

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...

and other

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

s are common. The name is not used by the British shipping (weather) forecast sectors, which extend the Long Forties depth zone eastward as Forties (see Long Forties) for simplicity. Fladen Ground is rich in oil and natural gas and offers good fishing.Athena Field Development, p 7Athena Field Development, p 68 Scottish vessels catch low-fat fish species, and Norway lobster. Danish and English vessels catch

Northern prawn ''Pandalus borealis'' is a species of caridean shrimp found in cold parts of the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans, although the latter population now often is regarded as a separate species, ''P. eous''. The Food and Agriculture Orga ...

.Athena Field Development, p 84

Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area

Since 2014, of the Fladen Ground has been a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area under the title Central Fladen MPA(NC).

Notes

References

* North Sea Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas of Scotland {{marine-geo-stub

Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area

See also

Notes

References