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.