The purpose of the verification assessment programme is to collect in-situ marine fauna and epibenthic data from SP-1 in order to confirm the results detailed in the EIA specialist report; (Japp and Smith 2012: Appendix 1a on fish resources, fisheries, marine mammals and birds). Five primary impacts were identified in the EIA report: 1) the likely impact of mining on commercial fisheries; 2) the likely impact of mining on the main commercial fish species; 3) the likely impact of mining on the recruitment of commercially important species; 4) the likely impact of mining on fish biodiversity and 5) the likely impact of mining on seabirds and marine mammals.