The Dogger Bank – with 18,000 km² of sand the biggest sandbank in the North Sea – might look relatively featureless, but in fact it is home to an abundant diversity of life forms. From rich plankton in the open water to barely millimetre-sized animals occupying cavities in the sandy bottom, severely endangered snail species, echinoderms and crustaceans to the many fish and threatened marine mammal species: At Dogger Bank, the interplay of fauna within the marine food web is on full display.
The German part of this unique sandbank covers 1,624
km² and comprises the receding flanks from depths of 29 m to
about 40 m. The entire site is nominated as a Special Area of Conservation
(SAC) under the Habitats Directive due to the sandbank habitat listed
in Annex I of the Directive. It is a characteristic sandbank with
mostly fine sands containing many shell fragments and is representative
of the open offshore sublittoral zone.
Located in the central North Sea at a meeting point of different water
masses, Dogger Bank is a biogeographical divide with cold-adapted
benthic species to the north and life forms preferring more temperate
waters to the south. Sandy areas of the site are colonised by a special
offshore form of a community of fine sand and sea floor species, the
Bathyporeia-Fabulina (amphipod-tellin) community. Some 38 species
on the German Red Lists have so far been recorded in the area of Dogger
Bank.
Special circulatory patterns such as vortices and the relatively shallow depth of Dogger Bank result in high biological production levels nearly down to the sea floor. This provides good growth conditions for fish populations and a food source for foragers such as sea birds and marine mammals.
Harbour porpoises and common seals have been sighted at Dogger Bank, although because of lacking data the latter can currently only be considered a visiting species. The harbour porpoises sighted in airborne censuses – some of them even with calves – may be part of the British subpopulation.
| Name | Habitats Directive habitat type | Habitats Directory species | Population |
| Dogger Bank | Sandbanks, 1,624 km² | Harbour porpoise | 501 – 1,000 * |
| Common seal | Foraging visitor, no current population statistics |
NATURA 2000 STANDARD DATA FORM
For sites eligible for identification as Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) and for Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).
1003-301_Doggerbank_2011_08_30.pdf
Conservation objectives
General conservation objectives have been set as follows for the sandbank habitat type by which the site is defined, and for harbour porpoise and common seal as species requiring special protection:
- Maintenance and restoration of the site’s specific ecological functions, biological diversity and natural hydrodynamics and morphodynamics;
- Maintenance and restoration at favourable conservation status of habitat type 1110 (sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time) together with its characteristic and endangered ecological communities and species;
- Maintenance and restoration at favourable conservation status of the following Habitats Directive species and their natural habitats: Harbour porpoise and common seal.
See also:
Conservation objectives for the Dogger Bank SAC (DE 1003-301) in the German North Sea EEZ
Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, January 2008
Erhaltungsziele_Doggerbank_2011-04-28.pdf
Interstitial fauna of marine sands Snail between sand grains.
Close-up of a shrimp:
Amphipods and shrimps are a basic food source.
Red whelk (Neptunea antiqua) on Dogger Bank
Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)