Ireland’s sea needs you.
Only 2% of Irish seas are nominally protected right now, even though the government had committed to protecting 10% of the Irish marine region by 2020.
The Irish Government has now committed to expanding its network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to cover at least 30% of its marine region by 2030, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
To do this, MPAs need to be established and designated and in order to inform this whole process, the Irish government has opened a public consultation on a report that outlines how to expand Ireland’s network of MPAs.
Until recently we adopted an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude to our oceans. But increasingly, with documentaries like Seaspiracy and the Blue Planet series, more and more people are becoming aware of how important marine ecosystems are and the need to protect them.
Sealife faces so many threats and not just from plastics. Intensive aquaculture, overfishing, fishing gear entanglement, pollution, and climate change are just some of these threats.
We need the Irish government to achieve their target of protecting at least 30% of Irish seas by 2030 in a network of highly protected areas that are coherent, representative, connected and resilient.
HOW TO HAVE YOUR SAY!
1: Send an email to marine.env@housing.gov.ie
OR complete an anonymous survey here.
2. Tell your friends and family and share the petition on your social media!
3. For more information, check out the Irish Wildlife Trust and their work on this consultation here.
Example submission (feel free to copy and paste - this is from the Irish Wildlife Trust)
I am writing to you regarding the public consultation on ‘Expanding Ireland’s Network of Marine Protected Areas'. Below is my submission.
Ireland’s marine environment has changed dramatically over the past century. Our inshore areas are under immense pressure from industrial fishing, aquaculture and pollution. One-third of shark, ray and skate species are threatened with extinction (and another third is near-threatened), many seabird populations are declining, estuaries are becoming more polluted and habitat loss is widespread. In addition, offshore areas are increasingly unsafe for cetaceans: Since 2011 the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has recorded a steady increase in whale and dolphin strandings around the Irish coastline, with 2021 on track to be the worst year on record. Entanglement in fishing gear and acoustic trauma are the two causes of death of most concern.
Globally, one of the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss is damage or destruction of habitat. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one tool to help reverse this loss and we need them now. The report on expanding Ireland’s network of MPAs comes at a crucial time and I fully support the main recommendations.
I particularly like the following recommendations:
The ‘Systematic Conservation Planning’ approach;
the establishment of a national coordinating body to coordinate the planning and implementation of MPAs;
the emphasis on the importance of early and sustained stakeholder engagement throughout the MPA designation and management processes;
and the recommendation that higher protection should be given to sharks, skates and rays and carbon rich habitats.
What’s missing?
The report fails to make a clear recommendation that industrial and harmful human activities must be restricted in all MPAs, regardless of designation type (note the IUCN definition of industrial fishing encompasses all “commercial trawlers, purse seine vessels and large longliners”, as well as any “large profit-oriented vessels over 12 metres long and 6 metres wide.”). In addition to restricting industrial fishing, at least 1/3 of MPAs should be no-take zones to allow the most diverse ecosystems to recover (e.g. bivalve reefs, eelgrass and maërl beds, kelp forests) and benefit ocean productivity.
The report should have highlighted the urgency with which the government must now act. The report does not include a timeline with indications of how long some processes may take, but the formation of new primary MPA legislation and negotiations over fishing access to Irish MPAs with other EU member states may take many years. If the government wants to increase MPA coverage more than 10-fold in this decade, time is of the essence!
