Marine and Coastal Environment

The sea lochs found in Argyll add a distinct ecosystem to Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. The Park boundary extends to the low water mark on these salt-water lochs, leaving the marine element below low water outside the National Park. The Park therefore includes a total of 39 miles of coastline around three sea lochs, Loch Long, Loch Goil and the Holy Loch.

Natural Heritage Value

The intertidal zone (also known as the foreshore) is the area that is exposed to the air at low tide and submerged at high tide. This area within the Park consists of many different habitats including a range of rocky and soft shores and small areas of mud flat and salt marsh at the heads of the sea lochs.

The intertidal zone hosts several plant communities including a range of lichens and algae (seaweeds) not found elsewhere in the Park and is home to a range of marine invertebrates. If you are a keen bird spotter, a wide variety can be seen here including common waders such as oyster catchers and redshank as well as eiders and other marine ducks, gulls, crows, herons and rock pipits.

If you look just offshore, you might see foraging gannets from the internationally important seabird colony at Ailsa Craig plunge-diving for fish. Seals can often be seen lying out on beaches or swimming just offshore. Porpoises are hard to spot but they are regular inhabitants of the sea lochs and dolphins sometimes visit these waters too.
Below the intertidal zone, and hence just outwith the Park, the loch beds are generally quite silty. Much of the marine life in this habitat has a burrowing life style and is therefore not easily spotted. Crabs, Norway lobsters (or scampi), vast beds of brittle stars, predatory starfish and bottom-feeding flat fish can all be hidden in the silt.

In a few places along the National Park coastline, quite dramatic vertical submerged cliffs can be found. These are relics from the glacial action that carved out the deep trenches of the sea lochs. These underwater cliffs are home to some remarkable and large invertebrates such as peacock fan worms that grow up to 10cm across and plumose anemones measuring up to 20cm high. Spider crabs and other animals can be found amongst them. Several species of inshore fish, such as wrasses, leopard-spot gobies, juvenile cod and poor-cod, shelter in crevices in these cliffs, particularly during the winter months. Large conger eels can also be found in crevices, either in natural rock or hiding under submerged structures such as pipelines, moorings and wreckage.

People and the Coastal Environment

People have used these sea lochs as a means of settlement, exploration, raiding and a source of food for thousands of years. They continue today to be used for recreation, transport, military activity, industry and fishing.

However, with human settlement also comes pollution; both from the activities of local communities and from those far away. Due to the very nature of tidal waters, pollutants, including litter, may affect an area of coastline far from the actual point source. Litter that may have originally been dumped miles away often ends up on the shores of Loch Long, Loch Goil or the Holy Loch. Pollutants of all types may harm marine life, introduce non-native species and detract from the experience of visitors and residents.

The marine and coastal environment of the National Park offers visitors a beautiful location for activities such as walking, bird watching, scuba diving, picnicking and boating. It is of huge importance that this area is respected and conserved for generations to come.