Mooring and Anchoring
Moorings can be categorised as conventional swing moorings, trot moorings and ‘eco-moorings’. Other forms of mooring include bolts attached directly to rock (subtidal and intertidal), pontoons and pile moorings.
This category encompasses the following activities:
- Operational use of berths, moorings, anchorages including the presence of these structures and vessels using them. Includes consideration of vessels when berthing/berthed, mooring/moored, anchoring/anchored.
- Includes impacts from anchors and impacts of boat when at anchor or mooring.
- Does not include impacts from boats getting to and from moorings, these should be assessed in the relevant 'recreation' category.
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The activity of anchoring generically and use of allocated anchorage areas where ships are permitted to anchor inside and outside harbours/ports. Includes consideration of vessels when anchoring, anchored or weighing anchor
Environmentally Friendly Moorings (EFMs), or eco moorings, are mooring systems designed to have less impact on the sea bed than conventional swing moorings. They aim to minimise interaction with the seabed to prevent abrasion and therefore the potential to damage sensitive habitats. Pages are now available on the RYA website dedicated to EFMs. These pages are a collaborative effort, designed to provide a useful resource to explore what EFMs are, the types and manufacturers of them, to give examples of existing trials and projects, to host a variety of reports and study documentation, and to provide a means of collating further information as the EFM landscape evolves.
Potential Impacts
- Abrasion/disturbance of the substrate on the surface of the seabed, e.g. when mooring tackle and ground chains are lifted and inspected, maintained and replaced
- Penetration and/or disturbance of the substratum below the surface of the seabed, including abrasion
- Physical change (to another seabed type)
- Tangling and snagging of erect epifauna/epiflora
- Boats moored in the intertidal and shallow subtidal will rest on the seabed for a portion of the tidal cycle, leading to localised sediment abrasion and compaction
- Swing moorings can scour a circular region around the anchor point by the chain/line
