Habitat point records from 1988 UMBSM Lochs a' Chairn Bhain, Glencoul & Glendhu survey

Loch Cairnbawn is one of the most northerly of Scottish sea lochs, only Lochs Laxford, Dughaill and Inchard lying further north on the west coast. The `Y'-shaped loch system, comprising Lochs a' Chairn Bhain, Glencoul, Glendhu, Beag and Shark, is 15 km long and reaches maximum depths of 111 m in the deepest of its six basins. The relatively complex series of basins and sills categorize the system as a type `C' (Milne 1972), and result in the absence of the seasonal fjordic loch stagnation of deep water shown by other fjordic lochs. The system is steep-sided, with a relatively small littoral area, bedrock and boulders extending through the littoral and into the circalittoral in almost all areas. Sediment predominates in the middle of the loch. The sediment composition depends heavily upon the level of exposure to water movement with coarse, clean sediments in Eddrachillis Bay grading to fine soft muds in the deep water basins and at the loch heads. The sequence of sediments is interupted in the narrows region at Kylesku and on the sills, where increased current speed results in the presence of coarser sediments. The area in which the loch lies is fairly remote, with little habitation and no shore-based industry. Major uses of the loch are scampi fishing, by trawl and creel, and fish farming. The number of leased fish farm sites is currently at least 12, not all of which were occupied by fish farms at the time of the survey. Two Sites of Special Scientific Interest border on Loch Cairnbawn, one at the head of Loch Glencoul, and the other along most of the southern shore of Loch a'Chairn Bhain. Very few marine biological studies have been carried out in the loch, these being limited to some littoral recording and some grab sampling of sublittoral sediments. The present survey, carried out in October 1988, aimed to describe the marine habitats and communities present in the loch and to assess their nature conservation importance. A total of 40 sites were visited, of which 4 were littoral and 36 were sublittoral. At each site the abundance of the epiflora and fauna was recorded and the habitats described. No infaunal sampling was carried out. Thirty two sublittoral and three littoral habitat types were identified, and these are described in this report. A list of the taxa recorded is also given. The communities present in Eddrachillis Bay were open coast in nature, and there was a transition to sheltered sea loch communities further into the system. The narrows area in the middle of the loch an exception to the gradual transition, with the presence of a range of high energy habitats due to the accelerated tidal streams in this region, and was one of the more interesting features of the system. The scientific interest and conservation importance of the area have been assessed using standard criteria. These have been applied to each of the habitats or community types identified which have been provisionally graded as of Local, Regional, National or International importance. Species of particular scientific and conservation interest have been provisionally graded as of provisional Regional or National importance. Loch Cairnbawn appears to contain a good range of the habitats and community types typical of sheltered, fjordic sea lochs, with no particularly unique features. The full conservation significance of communities in the loch will only be adequately assessed when surveys of other Scottish lochs are complete. Records currently considered sensitive have been removed from this dataset.

洛赫·凯恩鲍恩位于苏格兰最北端的海洋湖泊之中，仅洛赫·拉克斯福德、杜加尔和因查德位于其北，位于西海岸。由洛赫·a'查恩·贝恩、格伦库尔、格伦杜、比格和鲨鱼组成的Y形湖泊系统，全长15公里，最深处的六处盆地最大深度可达111米。该系统由相对复杂的盆地和岩礁组成，被归类为C型（米尔恩，1972年），并导致其与其他峡湾湖泊所展示的深水季节性停滞现象不同。该系统陡峭的边坡，相对较小的沿岸区域，基岩和巨石几乎遍布沿岸及近岸区域。湖泊中部以沉积物为主。沉积物组成高度依赖于水动力作用的程度，从爱德雷奇利斯湾的粗洁沉积物逐渐过渡至深水盆地和湖头处的细腻软泥。在凯尔斯库的狭窄区域和岩礁处，沉积物序列被中断，由于流速增加，粗粒沉积物更为常见。湖泊所处的区域相对偏远，人烟稀少，沿岸无工业设施。该湖泊的主要用途为扇贝捕捞，采用拖网和笼捕方式，以及鱼类养殖。目前至少有12个租赁的养殖场，其中并非所有在调查时均被养殖场占用。洛赫·凯恩鲍恩周边有两个特别科学兴趣区，一个位于格伦库尔湖头，另一个沿洛赫·a'查恩·贝恩南岸的大部分区域。在洛赫·凯恩鲍恩进行的海洋生物研究非常有限，主要限于一些沿岸记录和海底沉积物的抓取采样。本次调查于1988年10月进行，旨在描述湖泊中现有的海洋栖息地和群落，并评估其生态保护重要性。共访问了40个地点，其中4个为沿岸地区，36个为海底地区。在每个地点，记录了附生植物和动物的数量，并描述了栖息地。没有进行底栖生物采样。识别出32种海底和3种沿岸的栖息地类型，并在本报告中进行了描述。还给出了记录的分类名录。埃德雷奇利斯湾的现有群落属于开阔海岸性质，并向系统更深处过渡至掩护良好的海洋湖泊群落。湖泊中部的狭窄区域是一个例外，由于该区域潮汐流速加快，存在多种高能量栖息地，成为该系统较有趣的特征之一。该区域的科学价值和保护重要性已根据标准准则进行评估。这些准则已应用于识别的每个栖息地或群落类型，这些栖息地或群落类型初步被评为地方、区域、国家或国际重要性。具有特定科学和保护意义的物种初步被评为区域或国家重要性。洛赫·凯恩鲍恩似乎包含了典型的掩护式、峡湾式海洋湖泊的多种栖息地和群落类型，但并无特别独特之处。只有当其他苏格兰湖泊的调查完成时，才能充分评估洛赫·凯恩鲍恩中群落的全部保护意义。目前被认为敏感的记录已从本数据集中移除。