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:

1. Sandy mounds; and
2. 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:

• There is further information on Annex I sandbanks provided on the JNCC website.
• The European Commission have published "Guidelines for the establishment of the Natura 2000 network in the marine environment" to better inform site selection for the marine habitats and species listed on the Habitats and Birds Directives. This includes further interpretation of the sandbank definition as laid out in the Directive.

References:

• Dyer, K.R. and Huntley, D.A. (1999) The origin, classification and modelling of sandbanks and ridges. Continental Shelf Research, 19, 1285-1330.