Annex I Sandbanks
Annex I sandbanks slightly covered by seawater all the time
occur where areas of sand are predominantly surrounded by deeper
water and where the top of the sandbank is in less than 20 metres
water depth. However, the sides of these sandbanks, particularly in
offshore waters, can extend into waters deeper than 20m. Some
shallow sandbanks are vegetated with eel grass beds or maerl and
animals that live on sandbanks include worms, crabs, starfish,
sandeels and flatfish such as plaice and sole. The presence of
sandeels in particular also makes sandbanks a rich feeding ground
for other wildlife such as seabirds, seals and porpoises.
Sandbanks can be categorised either by sediment type or by
topography. The different sediments Annex I sandbanks can consist
of are sands, gravelly sands and muddy sands. The different types
of topographic sandbank are:
- Sandy mounds; and
- Current tidal sandbanks that are either:
- Open shelf ridge sandbanks;
- Estuary mouth sandbanks; or
- Headland associated banks (Dyer and Huntley, 1999).
SACs are being selected for sandbanks in UK waters to ensure
that we have the full range of different sandbank types included in
the SAC network and to ensure that we have sandbanks that have been
selected throughout the full geographic range of the habitat. In
the UK the majority of sandbanks are situated in the southern North
Sea and therefore a higher number of potential SACs for this
habitat have been identified in that region than around the rest of
the country. More information is available on how we are selecting
where SACs should be located.
JNCC maintain a map that shows areas of potential Annex I
sandbank habitat in UK offshore waters. These are areas where JNCC
believe that Annex I sandbank might be present. Through offshore
survey, JNCC is working to confirm the presence of Annex I
sandbank in these areas and to identify those sites which merit
selection as SACs. For information on the identification of Annex I
sandbank SACs within 12 nautical miles of the coast, please contact
the relevant country conservation agency.
Further reading
General:
References:
- Dyer, K.R. and Huntley, D.A. (1999) The origin, classification
and modelling of sandbanks and ridges. Continental Shelf Research,
19, 1285-1330.