The Lundy Special Area of Conservation
1994-2005
Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are designated under the EC Habitats Directive [correctly termed as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora] which was adopted in 1992*. SACs are of European importance and help protect areas of land as well as areas of sea.
* The EU Habitats Directive (1992) was transposed into UK law by The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 and subsequent amendment (2019) within 12 nautical miles (nm), and The Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 between 12 nm out to 200 nm or the UK continental shelf.
It can take quite a while for a SAC to be fully recognised and granted its rightful status, thanks to the machinations of legislative bureaucracy. In 1994 the shores and shallow waters around Lundy, with the same borders as the MNR, were put forward to Brussels as a ‘proposed SAC’. By 1998, the area was elevated to the status of ‘candidate SAC’; and finally, on 1st April 2005, the fully fledged Lundy SAC was designated.
The Lundy SAC was designated for three habitats and one species in particular. The three habitats, as listed in Annex I of the Directive and which were identified as ‘qualifying features’ are:
- Reefs;
- Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water at all times, otherwise known as ‘subtidal sandbanks’; and
- Submerged or partially submerged sea caves.
The one species, listed in Annex II of the Directive, which was identified as a ‘qualifying feature’, is:
