Annex I Reefs
Annex I Reefs are rocky marine habitats or biological
concretions that arise from the seabed. They can be divided into
those where animal and plant communities develop on rock or stable
boulders and cobbles, and those where the structure is created by
the animals themselves (biogenic reefs).
Rocky reefs are extremely variable: their structure and
associated communities are determined by underlying geology, depth,
salinity levels, exposure to wave and tides, as well as distance
from the coast. Rocky reefs provide a hard surface for attachment
by sessile organisms such as sponges, anemones, corals, hydroids,
bryozoans
, worms, sea-squirts and molluscs, and also
support diverse mobile species of crustaceans and fish. Biogenic
reefs are also varied, and are formed by the following
reef-building species in UK waters: common mussel, horse mussel,
polychaete worms, and cold-water corals such as
Lophelia
pertusa. Further information about
Annex I Reefs is provided on JNCC's website, and the
formal EU interpretation of this habitat is available in the
EU's
Interpretation
Manual of European Habitats.
Offshore sites should be selected to
represent the main variants of this habitat occurring offshore,
having regard to geographical range (Hopkins & Buck 1995).
Offshore site identification should also complement the reef
habitats already represented within the SAC series inshore. On
current information, sites selected are likely to include the
following reef types:
- Bedrock reefs (e.g. pinnacles,
offshore banks);
- Stony reefs (cobble and boulder
reefs, iceberg ploughmarks);
- Biogenic reefs made by cold-water
corals (e.g. Lophelia pertusa), the Ross worm
Sabellaria spinulosa and horse mussels Modiolus
modiolus.
Within the above categories
different biological communities are likely to be represented, e.g.
those resulting from differences in water masses, water depths and
water currents (cold-water reef communities influenced by arctic
waters, warmer-water reefs influenced by Atlantic waters,
transitional areas of reef, etc.). Site boundaries may be drawn
around solitary reefs, or clusters of reef features.
The map below represents areas of
potential Annex I reef habitat. Through offshore biological
and geomorphological survey, JNCC is working to confirm Annex I
reef presence and identify those sites which merit selection as
SACs. For information on the identification of Annex
I Reef SACs within 12nm of the coast, please contact the
relevant country conservation
agency (Natural England (formally English Nature), Northern
Ireland Environment Agency (formally Environment and Heritage
Service in Northern Ireland), Scottish Natural Heritage or the
Countryside Council for Wales).
References:
Hopkins, JJ & Buck, AL (1995) The Habitats Directive
Atlantic Biogeographical Region. Report of Atlantic Biogeographical
Workshop, Edinburgh, Scotland, 13th-14th
October 1994. JNCC Report, No. 247