The storms of January and February have killed  many seabirds and washed many marine animals out of the sandy habitats where they live and onto beaches all around SW Britain.  Already there are records of spiny cockles, razor clams, otter shells, ocean quahogs and sea cucumbers having been deposited on beaches as well as razorbills, guillemots and puffins.  If you have seen any mass stranded marine wildlife on the beaches of Carmarthen Bay and its estuaries during and since the storms, please do let us know through the contacts page.  Also let us know if you have photographs of the strandings you would like to share.

Many thanks.

The 2013 Habitats Directive Report (aka Article 17 Reporting) is now available on the JNCC website here. This includes all of the information and maps submitted to the European Commission, plus various supporting documents and spreadsheets. It does not include site-level reports and patience is needed to dig through each of the Wales habitats and species feeder reports.

It is not encouraging reading.  Many marine habitats and species, including all the habitats that occur in Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries SAC are classified as inadequate or bad.  We will not know whether these judgments apply to all of this site’s habitat features until Natural Resources Wales publishes site-level reports but there is clearly no room for complacency and management needs to continue to be improved.

There are regulations prohibiting boats over a certain size or capacity from fishing in the 0-6 nautical mile zone around Wales.  At present, there are exceptions to those provisions which allow vessels over the specified size or capacity limits to continue to fish in those areas.

A consultation was undertaken in 2011/12 regarding proposals to remove historic access rights. A number of complex issues arose as a result of the responses received, and subsequent analysis of the same.  The Minister for Natural Resources and Food has decided that a further period of consultation is needed to ensure that the Welsh Government has the fullest possible understanding of the current situation and the possible effects of the proposed removal of these historic access rights.

More information and the consultation document are available here.

A scientific Symposium on the Problems of Small Estuaries was held at Swansea University in April 2013.  It followed on from earlier symposia at the University ‘Problems of a Small Estuary‘ in 1976 which looked as issues affecting small estuaries, in particular the Burry Inlet, and the ‘Burry Inlet and Loughor Estuary Symposium’ in 1996.

A presentation on the EMS set the scene for many of the other contributions.  All the presentations, including the EMS presentation, are available as PDFs here.

Natural Resources Wales, the new body that will manage, maintain, and enhance Wales’ natural environment officially replaced the Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales and Forestry Commission for Wales and took on full responsibility for managing Wales’ natural resources on 1 April 2013.  See here and here.

Wales’ nature, land, water and air are our ultimate resource – the basis on which everything else is possible. If we are to realise our aspirations for better quality of life and future prospects, we need to ensure that that resource is put to best and most sustainable use.

The Welsh Government’s Green Paper on a new approach to natural resource management in Wales is open to consultation until 31 May 2012.

NATUR, the Welsh Institute of Countryside and Conservation Management, has been welcomed by the Natural Environment Framework team as a ‘critical friend’.  Watch NATUR’s website for constructive criticism of the Green Paper.

The draft Carmarthen Bay & Estuaries EMS Management Scheme is open to comment until 31 October 2011.  Responses from the public, stakeholders, local communities and regulatory and management authorities are invited and welcomed.

The Scheme document and supporting technical annexes can be downloaded here.

Stocks have fallen to a level which do not currently allow for a Fishery. Consequently, the Welsh Government has issued a Public Notice which maintains the fishery closure until 5 September 2011. Welsh Government Fisheries Science staff will continue to monitor the cockle population.  They will monitor with a view to considering if cockle growth might allow a fishery to take place later in 2011.

More here

The draft Carmarthen Bay & Estuaries EMS Management Scheme will be published at the beginning of September and will remain open for comment until 31 October 2011.

Responses from the public, stakeholders, local communities and regulatory and management authorities will be invited and welcomed.

Please subscribe to the newsletter to ensure you are notified when the consultation draft is published.

CCW have published a new report on the current state of knowledge of SACs in Wales as at September 2010 available here.

Overall, on land and in the seas 27% of designated habitats and species within SAC are considered to be in favourable condition, with 11% in a process of recovery.  But that leaves almost two thirds not doing well.   Within marine SACs, 80% of saltmarshes, 60% of intertidal sand and muflats and half of estuary and bays features are not in favourable condition or recovering towards it.  Much more work is clearly needed to improve on this situation.