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Additional Annex II Marine Species SACs

 
Annex II Bottlenose Dolphin © Caroline WeirFour 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.