View of Lough Hyne from the north

Human population is less than 10 people per square kilometre. The surrounding countryside around Lough Hyne has a few private houses. The population is unlikely to increase significantly over the years.

There is little or no sewage input into the area as there are only one or two houses in the locality. Sewage from these houses would use septic tanks or cesspits to dispose of waste.

No commercial fishing occurs within the reserve boundary, although one license is held by a local fisherman to set prawn pots in the Lough. Some potting and drift net fishing may occur along the open coastline, however this would be outside the reserve boundary.

The number of tourists visiting the Lough would be in the 100s rather than in the 1000s. The main activities would be walking along the shoreline and taking photographs. Any activity within the Lough requires a license, which is obtained from the local wildlife ranger. Some limited angling may occur in the Lough itself and along the open coast.

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Ultra sheltered to very wave exposed rocky shores;

Extensive rockpools;

Gravel and boulder shores;

Limited areas of shingle shoreline;

Caves.

Limited sand shores on the open coast.

Little intertidal mud.

Tidal rapids;

Deep and shallow sponge dominated rock;

Wave sheltered and exposed kelp forests;

Tide-swept and sheltered rock;

Infralittoral algae dominated communities;

Shallow kelp dominated rock.

Sand communities in the entrance to the Lough.

Deep mud communities;

Deep anoxic mud present during the summer months.

Sea grass (Zostera) beds in Barloge Creek at the entrance to the Lough.

Lough Hyne is a unique feature in Ireland and is therefore not typical. However the open coast section of the area is very typical of this region of south west Ireland. The fauna and flora of the area include those species that are typical plus many other species which would be atypical.

The absence of a large river in the region means that there are no estuarine or reduced salinity habitats present in or near the site. Lithothamnion (maerl) beds are absent from the area although are abundant to the west along the open coast.

Data is available for many of the groups although it would be necessary to extract species inventories from individual papers.

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Some long-term time series data has been collected from Lough Hyne. Colin Little has monitored rocky shore sites over a number of years and the Sherkin Island Marine station have a number of rocky shore monitoring stations along the coast. This data unfortunately is not available at present.

Limited information would be available on the BioMar viewer CD (Picton & Costello 1998). There would not be a comprehensive electronic database of other information for Lough Hyne.

Lough Hyne is the only National Marine Nature Reserve in Ireland. It was established in 1981 and is managed by Dúchas – the Heritage Service. Lough Hyne also has interpretive boards explaining the importance of it as a marine reserve and is promoted locally as such. It is also a proposed candidate Special Area of Conservation (pcSAC) (see Appendix 1 for site synopsis) and Natural Heritage Area. The byelaws of the Marine Stature Reserve Status are strictly followed. No activities are permitted within the bounds of the reserve without prior application for a license. Protection is afforded to the site under the European Habitats Directive as a proposed candidate Special Area of Conservation, however any activities that may breach this designation would be covered by the more stringent Marine Nature Reserve legislation.

It is possible to drive down to the shore of Lough Hyne, however access to the southern shore is restricted and is only accessible by foot. Likewise, the open coast area is only accessible by foot, although there is a good track to walk along. The Lough itself is not accessible from the sea by boat.

Most of the site is accessible all year round. The open coast section would generally not be accessible in the winter or during periods of strong southerly winds. The Lough itself is accessible in all weather conditions.

The Lough is accessible by car with launching facilities within the Lough for boats. The open coast section is not accessible by boats launched in the Lough. To access the open coast a boat would need to come from a nearby slipway. The maximum distance by boat to the open coast section would be less than 5 km.

A small laboratory is available on site, providing facilities for sample sorting, preserving and identification. The closest university laboratory would be in Cork, approximately 50-60 km away.

Small laboratory with limited facilities and equipment on site.

There are no boats available onsite although there is a good road and slipway into the lough for launching. No boats are allowed on the lough without a license.

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The laboratory has a small compressor and space for drying gear although diving equipment would have to be brought in. No major diving facilities are available on site although it is possible to obtain air and gear locally.

Limited bunkhouse accommodation is available, although there are many guesthouses and self-catering cottages available locally.

There is no specific funding available for marine biodiversity research in Lough Hyne. However there are a number of initiatives and national funding bodies in Ireland that may be able to provide funding in the future. These include the:

• Environmental Protection Agency
• Marine Institute
• Dúchas – the Heritage Service

Regional catchment management plans for the Republic of Ireland are being commissioned at present, although the one for the South West has not been yet been developed. All legislative requirements are being examined and this may lead to biodiversity monitoring programmes being developed under the Water Framework and Habitats Directive.

The development of management plans for marine SACs are currently being tendered for. These will establish best practices for managing sites that will include recommendations for monitoring. Requirements exist under the Habitats Directive to carry out monitoring of SACs, this will most likely be funded by Dúchas – the Heritage Service in the future.

Lough Hyne is an internationally renowned marine ecological site and has a very long history of biodiversity research extending back almost a century and resulting in over of 300 scientific publications. It is currently well established as a biogeographical reference point along the Atlantic seaboard. Although the biogeographical information is widely dispersed through the literature, Lough Hyne is, by far, the most thoroughly studied marine site in Ireland. If species data for Lough Hyne is compiled it will be a very useful basis on which to establish a monitoring programme.

Lough Hyne fulfils the criteria for establishing a BIOMARE flagship site if the broader coast outside of the lough itself is included. The site is pristine, with a long research history, is very well protected and has readily available facilities for biodiversity research studies. It is easily accessible all year and offers a broad range of habitats and communities and species typical of the west of Ireland. It also has many species that are restricted in the distribution in Ireland to the Lough and many species near the edge of their biogeographic range. Such species may act as very good indicators for changes in biodiversity.

This is a large coastal site (400 ha.) some 5 km south-west of Skibbereen, county Cork. It includes Lough Hyne Nature Reserve on its western end, Ballyally Lough, the adjacent marshland area along the Bealariree stream and the coastline eastwards to Gokane Point. The site therefore encompasses a range of both marine and terrestrial habitats, including three habitats listed on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive.

Lough Hyne is a deep landlocked bay joined by a narrow channel (Barloge Creek) to the sea. It is situated on alternating bands of lower Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous slates. Approximately 4,000 years ago in post-glacial times this was a freshwater lake, but due to the post-glacial rise in sea-level it is now saline. The narrowness of the connecting sea channel means that the tidal fluctuations are reduced to approximately lm and consequently the zonation of the intertidal communities is confined to a narrow band along the shore. Another unusual feature of the site is the rapids created in the narrow channel when the tidal levels inside and outside the lough differ.

The site contains reefs that are very exposed to wave action on the open coast, as well as extremely sheltered reefs within the Lough, the latter is a very rare habitat in Ireland. Reefs are listed on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive. Many of the communities found on the reefs are more characteristic of the exposed open coast and in Lough Hyne the sponge dominated communities occur at much shallower depths than on the open coast. Lough Hyne has been extensively studied and is known to have a very high species diversity and very high species richness for such a small area.

On the open coast and within the Lough the rocky shores are renowned for the presence of the Mediterranean sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. This is the most easterly limit for this species in Ireland. Dense stands of the kelp Laminaria saccharina are found in the rapids with a species rich faunal community under the boulders. Within the lough the shallow subtidal reefs may be characterised by a mixed kelp forest of Laminaria saccharina and Saccorhiza polyschides with some Laminaria digitata and foliose red algae while in other areas Laminaria saccharina and Cystoseira species are the characterising algae. At the entrance to the lough where there is strong water movement the brown algae Halidrys siliquosa and mixed kelp species are characteristic, a community that is typical of moderately exposed tide swept areas. With increasing depth at this area communities more characteristic of areas expose to wave action on the open coast are found; sponges hydroids, cup-corals, solitary sea squirts and red algae dominate the boulders. The vertical surfaces are colonised by the jewel anemone, the sponge Esperiopsis fucorum and solitary sea squirts; a bryozoan turf of Crisia species may also be present. Cobbles, pebbles and gravel support a community of keel worm Pomatoceros triqueter, the barnacle Balanus crenatus and bryozoan crusts.

In sheltered areas away form the turbulent water entering the lough solitary sea squirts and sponges cover much of the rock. The cliffs within the lough support a wide variety of sponges the cup coral and a community characterised by the rare soft coral Parerythropodium coralloides that is more characteristic of open water. Rare sponges that are known to occur within the lough includes Plakortis simplex and Halicnemia patera. Two rare gobies are found in Lough Hyne: Couch’s goby Gobius couchi and the Red-mouthed goby Gobius cruentatus. Two sea slugs more commonly found in the Mediterranean occur in Lough Hyne: Dicata odhneri and Facelina dubia. The southern cup coral Caryophyllia inornatus occurs close to the rapids and is the only known site in Ireland for this species. 75% of the marine algae on the national species list have been recorded in the area. These include the rare species Osmundea truncata, Gymnogongrus devoniensis and Notastoma canariensis. Large mats of the red algae Trailliella also occur

Much of the floor of Lough Hyne is soft mud, but areas of pebbles, gravel and muddy sand also occur in shallow water around the edges of the lough. In sheltered areas the pebbles and gravel are colonised by solitary sea squirts while the sand and mud are colonised by burrowing anemones. The scallop Pecten maximus may also be present and in some areas the Dublin Bay prawn Nephrops norvegicus is common.

To the north of Lough Hyne is the mixed woodland of Knockoma, whose species include Oak (Quercus petraea), Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) with some Holly (Ilex aquifolium) and Yew (Taxus baccata). However, there has been much planting of coniferous species such as Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and Larch (Larix spp.) in the wood over the last 30 years.

Surrounding the lough are areas of heathland with western gorse (Ulex gallii) and Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), scrub woodland and some improved agricultural grassland. The land to the east includes Ballyally Lough and Bealariree Marsh. The northern end of the marsh supports some wet woodland with Willow (Salix spp.) and Alder (Alnus glutinosa); the marsh itself is dominated by the Common Reed (Phragmities australis), with much wild celery (Apium graveolens) in the upper reaches of Bealariree stream.

The remainder of the site follows the rocky coastline, whose physical features include marine caves, a habitat listed on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive, cliffs and a blow-hole. The cliffs on the eastern edge of Tragumna Bay are used by breeding seabirds, Raven, Peregrine and Chough are seen here. The two latter species are listed on Annex I of the EU Birds Directive. Fields to the north-east of Gokane Point also contain the rare Red Data Book Sharp-leaved Fluellen (Kickxia elatine).

Because it is nearly land-locked with relatively little tidal exchange of water, Lough Hyne is vulnerable to the effects of eutrophication. Polluting operations around the lake (including heavy fertilization of agricultural land), and pollution of the streams and drains which feed into the lough, should be prevented where possible. The lough is also used by scuba-divers and field studies groups and disturbance of the habitats and the removal of biological material, especially of Shellfish (e.g. Scallop, Sea Urchins and Lobster) is a potential threat.

Lough Hyne has been recognised as an internationally important ecological site, with both botanical and zoological interest. The surrounding coastland area also supports a range of habitats that are both scientifically interesting and very scenic. This site contains important examples of three habitats listed on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive. The high species diversity and the presence of a number of rare and unusual species adds further interest to the area.