Public consultation on Marine Protected Areas for Ireland
A public consultation has begun to assess expanding Ireland’s Marine Protected Areas network from a current level of 2.13% to 30% by 2030. MPAs are geographically defined marine areas with certain protections for conservation purposes.
Creating an MPA regime will constitute a ‘major change in marine environmental protection’ as no definition of an MPA is currently defined under Irish law.
Environmental protections under the Wildlife Acts only apply to the foreshore; protection in marine areas beyond 12 nautical miles is limited in terms of space and species, according to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
Citizens, stakeholders and industries are invited to submit their views on the final report of the MPA Advisory Group chaired by Professor Tasman Crowe of UCD’s Earth Institute.
The report quotes data on Ireland’s ocean economy which has a turnover of over €6bn and provides ‘stable, sustainable work for 34,132 full-time equivalent employees’.
Twin crises
Launching the consultation, Minister O’Brien said Ireland along with the rest of the world faces the twin crises of climate change and accelerating biodiversity loss on land and at sea:
“The government has a vision of clean, healthy, diverse and productive oceans and seas around Ireland. This report is a solid basis for a national dialogue on how we progress that vision.”
Malcolm Noonan, Minister for Heritage and Electoral Reform added that expanding Ireland’s MPA network would give vital protection to vulnerable marine species and habitats.
An expanded network would “also support the functioning of these ecosystems to provide us with a whole host of benefits including climate change mitigation and enhanced resilience for fisheries into the future”.
By realising this vision “Ireland will play an exemplary role in global efforts to protect marine ecosystems, the extraordinary species and habitats they hold and the benefits they provide to people,” he added.
Marine Spatial Plan
Government is also expected to soon publish Ireland’s first Marine Spatial Plan – the National Marine Planning Framework – and the Marine Planning and Development Management Bill 2021 (MPDMB).
The NMPF is the national plan for Ireland’s maritime area that sets out how to use and protect the oceans. It will outline the national approach to managing activities ‘to ensure sustainable use of marine resources to 2040’.
The Bill will serve as the ‘cornerstone of the marine planning system in Ireland’ and brings together and creates the ‘legal foundation for forward planning and streamlined development management and enforcement’.
The ‘forward planning model’ and MPA regime ‘will secure the objectives of the NMPF’, says DHLGH.
The public consultation runs to July 30, 2021. Submission can be made online, by email to [email protected] or by post to MPA Public Consultation 2021, c/o Marine Environment, Dept of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Newtown, Wexford Y35 AP90.
