Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP) proposes to recover pelletal phosphate from the Sandpiper ore body situated in Mining Licence Area (MLA) 170, offshore of Namibia. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the marine component of this project was submitted in 2012. A biodiversity verification survey was conducted to investigate concerns raised during the production of the review of the EIA report. This report details the water column characteristics during the fisheries biodiversity verification survey. This report should be viewed as a supplement to the detailed fisheries biodiversity verification report. Water column characteristics were found to be consistent with those expected of the region. South Atlantic central water was present throughout the survey and relatively low oxygen conditions were experienced near the bottom. In general the bottom water layers were 2.5 to 4C cooler than the surface water.