Candidate SACs for lagoons: The Vadills, Loch of Stenness, Loch Roag Lagoons, Loch Eport Lagoons, Loch Nam Madadh, Chesil & The Fleet, Solent and Isle of Wight Lagoons, Orfordness-Shingle Street, Benacre to Easton Bavents Lagoons, North Norfolk Coast and Gibraltar Point Dunes.

Lagoons in the UK are essentially bodies, natural or artificial, of saline water partially separated from the adjacent sea. They retain a proportion of their sea water at low tide and may develop as brackish, fully saline or hyper-saline water bodies. They provide important habitat for waterfowl, marshland birds and seabirds and the presence of certain indigenous and specialist plants and animals.

Commercial fisheries are rare in the lagoons which have been proposed for SAC status although some aquaculture does take place. This fishing activity is more common in inlets and bays and is therefore discussed in section 4.5.4, however, lagoons are more vulnerable to aquaculture related impacts due to their restricted water exchange.

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