So What Is a Special Area of Conservation?

Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are areas of land and sea that are considered important for threatened European habitats and species. They make up part of the Natura 2000 network of sites.  This network of sites is designed to conserve rare, endangered or vulnerable habitats, wild animals and plants, both on land and at sea.

The Natura 2000 network is being created by the EEC through Council Directive 92/43/EEC (1992) (which is usually known as the "Habitats Directive").  The Directive includes lists of 169 habitat types (Annexe I) and 623 species (Annexe II) that the Natura 2000 network will conserve.  These lists also define some of these habitats/species as "Priority Habitats/Species".  The Habitats Directive requires the establishment of a series of high quality Special Areas of Conservation across Europe that will make a significant contribution to conserving the habitats and species in the lists.

Where a Natura 2000 designated area includes areas of sea or seashore, it can also be known as an "European marine site".

The Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries site was originally submitted to The European Union in June 1995 as the smaller "Burry Inlet: Saltmarsh and Estuary possible Special Area of Conservation".  That site then became a candidate SAC (Once possible Special Areas of Conservation, or pSACs, are submitted to the European Union they become candidate Special Areas of Conservation, or cSACs).  As part of the moderation process the site was significantly enlarged and was renamed the Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries cSAC. 

SACs are expected to be fully designated (i.e. they will no longer be candidate SACs) by the European Union in 2004.