From Ramsar

Schorren van de Beneden Schelde. 04/03/86; Vlaamse Gewest; 420 ha; 51°20'N 004°15'E. Added to the Montreux Record, 4 July 1990. Special Protection Area EC Directive; Nature Reserves, Classified Landscape. Three separate intertidal areas comprising the last remaining area of brackish, intertidal flats and marshes in Belgium. A border is shared with the Netherlands. The intertidal flats support a typical invertebrate fauna. An important area for numerous species of wintering, staging and molting waterbirds. Human activities include recreation, sheep grazing and fishing. Surrounding areas are dominated by large industrial and port complexes and intensive agricultural land. The naturally dynamic character of the area is intensified by extensive dredging to maintain a deep-water shipping channel. Placed on the Montreux Record in 1990 because agricultural intensification led to severe nutrient-enrichment and lowering of the areas' water table. Site of the first Ramsar Advisory Mission in 1988.