Additional Annex II Marine Species SACs
Four species listed
on Annex II to the Habitats Directive are known to occur in UK
waters away from the coast:
Otter and river lamprey (or lampern) occur only in inshore and
inland waters. Lamprey, sturgeon and shad are all rare in UK
offshore waters and without regular places of occurrence.
Loggerhead turtle is primarily a tropical and subtropical species
which may wander into temperate waters and is recorded infrequently
in UK waters. No sites 'essential to their life and reproduction'
are likely to be identifiable for these Annex II species in waters
away from the coast.
For the two seal species, coastal SACs have already
been designated in the UK to protect breeding colonies and
moulting and haul out sites, and three SACs have
been designated for bottlenose dolphin within UK territorial
waters. The UK currently has no proposed SACs for harbour
porpoise.
The four marine species listed above are
typically wide ranging in waters away from the coast, thus making
it difficult to identify specific areas which may be deemed
essential to their life and reproduction. Analysis of
existing data for harbour porpoise and
bottlenose
dolphin suggests it may not be possible
to identify suitable SACs in UK offshore waters for these
two species. However, the data can be used to assess whether
SACs defined for habitats should have these species added as
qualifying features if they are present in sufficient numbers at
different times of year. Suggested
thresholds for grading
of harbour porpoise at SACs with boundaries defined for an
Annex I habitat feature was approved by
JNCC
Committee in September 2008. For the two seal species,
analysis of data from recent tracking studies needs to be carried
out to determine if JNCC are able to identify sites for these
animals whilst they are at sea.