2008 CCW / ASML Carmarthen Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Cockle Bed Survey dataset https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=007_NRW_DS113460 The Habitats Directive requires that the management of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) should aim to achieve the favourable conservation status of habitat and species features listed within its Annex I and Annex II. For SACs in Wales, the former Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) was therefore required to report on a regular basis on whether features are in favourable conservation status. To do this the former CCW developed a programme of feature condition monitoring. Aquatic Survey and Monitoring Ltd. (ASML) have been contracted by CCW to develop and manage the monitoring programme for the intertidal features in marine SACs for the period 2006 to 2011; working as a team with CCW HQ and CCW Regional staff. In Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries SAC the relevant Annex I intertidal habitat features are Large shallow inlets and bays, estuaries and Mudflats and sandflats not covered by sea water at low tide. Specific areas of interest include the extensive sediment flats of the 3 rivers (Taf, Tywi and Gwendraeth), Loughor estuary (Burry inlet), open coast sands and notable rocky habitats, particularly in west Carmarthen Bay. This report and dataset contains the results of the surveys carried out in those areas in June 2007. The forms part of the monitoring that CCW also developed on intertidal monitoring across Wales during 2004 and 2005. These surveys were managed and implemented for CCW by the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies (IECS, University of Hull). These projects focused on a wide range of sensitive habitats such as Zostera, muddy gravels, caves, rockpools, algal-dominated rocky shores, Sabellaria reefs, under-boulders, and various rare habitats and species. In Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries SAC, IECS surveyed Ruppia maritima (Boyes 2008a), Zostera noltii beds (Mazik & Boyes 2009), the biotope SLR.FserX.T (Boyes 2008b), the polychaete Ophelia bicornis (Mazik 2008), hydroid dominated rockpools (Boyes et al. 2004), saltmarsh boundary (Boyes & Brazier 2008) and the sediment flats across the SAC (Allen et al. 2008). 20110531