SACs for Marine Habitats and Species

There are 13 marine habitats and 8 marine species present in the UK that are listed on Annexes I and II of the Habitats Directive.

Annex I Marine Habitats

These Annex I habitats are considered to be marine as they are covered either continuously or intermittently by the sea. For four of these habitats the European Commission has stated that additional SACs must be designated. JNCC and the country conservation agencies are currently working to identify additional sites for these habitats in waters away from the coast.

	Annex I Habitat
	Sandbanks which are slightly covered by seawater all the time
	Estuaries
	Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide
	Coastal lagoons [except where landwards of Highest Astronomical Tide and not directly connected to the sea]
	Large shallow inlets and bays
	Reefs
	Submarine structures made by leaking gases
	Submerged or partially submerged sea caves
	Annual vegetation of drift lines
	Salicornia and other annuals colonising mud and sand
	Spartina swards (Spartinion maritimae)
	Atlantic salt meadows (Glauco-Puccinellietalia maritimae) [except where landwards of Highest Astronomical Tide]
	Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilious scrubs (Sarcocornetea fruticosi) [except where landwards of Highest Astronomical Tide]

Annex II Marine Species

The Annex II species considered to be marine are listed below. In order to avoid the inclusion of freshwater SACs designated for anadromous/catadromous fish species, sea lamprey, allis shad and twaite shad need to be associated with marine areas (within the SAC) for the site in which they are found to be defined as a ‘SAC with a marine component’.

This also applies to otters, as some SACs contain qualifying otter populations which are either not reliant on the marine environment, or are reliant on marine areas outside SAC boundaries.

Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) is not included in this list as it is very rare in UK waters; as such its conservation through SAC designation is currently considered inappropriate. Equally, the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is considered to be a vagrant in UK waters and therefore SACs will not be designated for this species.

For four of these species the European Commission has stated that additional SACs must be designated. JNCC and the country conservation agencies are further investigating the possibiilty of designating additional sites in waters away from the coast.

	Annex II Species
	Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
	Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)
	Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus)
	Common seal (Phoca vitulina)
	Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
	Allis shad (Alosa alosa)
	Twaite shad (Alosa fallax)
	Otter (Lutra lutra)