Offshore Areas of Search

 

The Areas of Search for future offshore SACs are based upon the best available evidence of the location of Annex I sandbanks slightly covered by seawater all the time, reefs and submarine structures made by leaking gases. An ESRI shapefile of the point locations of our offshore Areas of Search is available.

 

Area of Search	Annex I Habitat	Regional Sea
Solan Bank	Reef	Scottish Continental Shelf
Reef East of Shetland Isles	Reef	Northern North Sea
Wight-Barfleur Reef	Reef	Eastern Channel
Submarine Structures in the mid-Irish Sea	Submarine Structures	Irish Sea
North-West Anglesey Reef	Reef	Irish Sea
Pisces Reef Complex	Reef	Irish Sea
North-West Irish Sea Mounds	Reef	Irish Sea
Anton Dohrn Seamount	Reef	Rockall Trough and Bank
East Rockall Bank	Reef	Rockall Trough and Bank
George Bligh Bank	Reef	Rockall Trough and Bank

 

For the majority of UK offshore waters the data available on the habitats present is sparse. Therefore JNCC has a programme to survey offshore areas that are deemed as a high priority for inclusion in the SAC network. Further information on former Areas of Search that are not currently being further considered in the SAC selection process is provided in the paper considered by JNCC Committee in December 2008.

 

If you would like information on the potential Annex I habitat shapefiles please contact our offshore survey team. These shapefiles are subject to licencing agreements and therefore to obtain them you will need to purchase licences for British Geological Survey UK Seabed Sediments (DIG SBS 250K) and SeaZone Bathymetry data either in the form of a SeaZone Hydrospaital or SeaZone Bathymetry Topic layer.