UK Marine SACs Project
The vast coastline and seas of the United Kingdom have a remarkable marine natural heritage and provide rich resources for both work and play. These are treasures that need to be safeguarded and the UK Marine SACs Project will play a major role in achieving this.

European Life Project Website The project is a partnership between Scottish Natural Heritage , English Nature , Countryside Council for Wales , Environment and Heritage Service DoE Northern Ireland, Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Scottish Association for Marine Science. The duration of the project is from May 1996 to February 2001.

Project Funding is provided by the UK’s nature conservation bodies and matched equally by the European Commission’s LIFE – Nature Programme.

Papa Stour marine cSAC has been selected as one of twelve sites included in the UK Marine SACs Project.

The main aim of the Project is to develop individual management schemes for the candidate SACs in Britain and to collate and improve knowledge on the management of marine SACs throughout Europe. To develop the management schemes a Project Officer has been employed on each site to work with locally established management groups. Katie Gillham is the project officer for Papa Stour.

To find out more about the UK Marine SACs Project, visit the UK Marine SACs Project website.

Location of UK Marine SAC sites

Key to map of Marine SAC sites in the UK and their special features:

  • S - Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water at all times
  • E - Estuaries
  • M - Mud and sand flats not covered by sea water at low tide
  • I - Large shallow inlets and bays
  • L - Lagoons
  • R - Reefs
  • C - Submerged or partly submerged sea caves
  • GS - Grey Seal
  • CS - Common Seal
  • BD - Bottlenose Dolphin