Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), in association with the other country agencies, has established a series of common standards for the monitoring of sites of nature conservation interest. These common standards apply to statutory sites notified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and to areas designated as part of the Natura 2000 series including Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), together with Ramsar sites listed under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. Many of the notified marine features of SSSI lie outwith the current suite of marine SAC and have yet to be subject to marine condition monitoring assessments (at the time of publication). The principal aim of this research was to formulate cost-effective and pragmatic solutions to the future monitoring of the sites that would meet the requirements of agreed monitoring standards. Specific objectives of the research were to: - derive biotope maps of each site to show the location of features, biotopes and species of interest; - establish an appropriate baseline biological dataset that will permit an assessment of current site condition, and be a basis for comparison with future monitoring surveys; - gather and present sufficient data for SNH to form a judgement on the current condition of the qualifying features - develop simple cost-effective survey methods and guidance that could be used in the future by non-specialist staff, and which would be suitable for each of the study sites - revise where necessary the SNH lagoon feature guidance developed in 2007. The project encompassed 15 designated features in total at 11 sites: Cromarty Firth SSSI and Ramsar, Inner Moray Firth Ramsar, Longman and Castle Stuart Bay SSSI, Munlochy Bay SSSI, Whiteness Head SSSI, Moray and Nairn Coast Ramsar, Rosehearty to Fraserburgh Coast SSSI, Montrose Basin SSSI and Ramsar and Firth of Forth SSSI. The features covered were intertidal mudflats and sandflats, seagrass beds and lagoons. Survey work was undertaken in August to October 2008. A baseline of biological data has been established to facilitate future condition assessment of the features, including mapping and sampling techniques. Site specific guidance has been developed to aid future monitoring by SNH staff. The approach taken to achieve these objectives was to establish a series of re-locatable stations and transects that reflect the biological and environmental diversity of the features of these sites