Capturing Ireland’s seascapes for future marine planning

To widen our understanding of Ireland’s seascapes, the Marine Institute is inviting the public participation in an online survey to identify, classify and describe seascapes around the coast, to feed into Ireland’s National Marine Planning Framework.

Seascapes include coastal and marine history, folklore, art, nature, recreational and commercial activities that occur on and close to the sea. They also include views from land to sea, from sea to land and along the coastline.

‘When we describe seascape character, we are essentially talking about a sense of place – what makes one part of our sea and coast distinctive and different from another,’ explains the Marine Institute.

Natural influences include rock type, depth of sea and coastline, the force of the sea and how humans have settled and interacted in and along seascapes.

The final report and maps, comprising seascape character assessment along with future and complementary technical analysis for proposed marine developments, will support implementation of Ireland’s NMPF.

The study will be carried out by Minogue and Associates and is financed under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 2014-2020, Blue Growth & Marine Spatial Planning Scheme Minogue and Associates to carry out the study.