Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
The Carmarthen Bay & Estuaries SAC covers an area from St. Catherineās Island in the west to just west of Oxwich Point in the east. It is a large site, encompassing the Three Rivers estuary complex (Rivers Taf , Tywi and Gwendraeth), the Burry Inlet and Loughor Estuary, and the northern and western parts of the Gower peninsula.
The SAC was formally designated in December 2004 for having excellent European examples of six of the habitat and five of the species conservation features of interest listed in the EU Habitats Directive. These are:
Habitats:
- Estuaries
- Large shallow inlets and bays
- Atlantic salt meadows
- Salicornia and other annuals colonising mud and sand
- Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide
- Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time
Species:
- Allis shad Alosa alosa
- Twaite shad Alosa fallax
- River lamprey Lampetra fluviatilis
- Sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus
- Eurasian otter Lutra lutra
Carmarthen Bay is an extensive shallow bay with a wide variety of seabed types, including mud, sand and rock, although the majority of the seabed is sandy.Ā
There are extensive areas of intertidal mudflats and sandflats with large areas of these flats dominated by bivalves.
The SAC includes Helwick Bank, a linear shallow subtidal sandbank that is unusual in being highly exposed to wave and tidal action.
The Burry Inlet and Three Rivers system provides a migratory route for salmonids, lampreys and shad.
Further information:
Summary information about the site is available from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee website here.
A summary map showing the indicative distribution of the habitat features is available here.