BIGGER AND BETTER MARINE PROTECTED AREAS

Ireland’s marine territory is a whopping then times the size of our land mass. It contains amazing biodiversity, from deep water coral reefs to inshore seaweed forests. Whales, sharks and great shoals of fish inhabit this blue space. With such a vast marine wealth also comes the great responsibility to safeguard and indeed restore precious habitats and species. One proven way of doing that is by establishing well designed and managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

What is an MPA?

Any area of intertidal or sub-tidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by law or other effectives means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment, (Kelleher, 1999).

Our Project

Coastwatch and Irish Wildlife Trust are the Irish partners in an international MPA project coordinated by Seas at Risk and supported by the environmental law firm Client Earth. Our Irish short term goals are:

1. Establishing 10% of our seas as MPAs as promised and achieved by other EU member states. Local knowledge is needed to identify missing links in the network of inshore sites.
2. Transforming the approach to MPAs from paper parks to well managed protected sites where nature flourishes and can adapt to climate change.
3. Running a public awareness campaign so people appreciate the valueo of our seas, realise that marine biodiversity loss is a huge problem and are empowered to contribute to the creation of more sites, site restoration, protection and management.

Well chosen and managed MPAs have a wealth of seaweed, fish and shellfish which can sustain tourism, contribute towards sustainable fishing and alleviating climate change.

Current coverage of MPAs in Ireland

Ireland, along with many other countries, has committed to designate 10% of its seas as MPAs by 2020 and 30% by 2030. Yet so far, we have protected only 2%!

The following interactive map shows the coverage of the Marine Protected Areas designated in Ireland as of January 2020 (Natura 2000 sites which are partially or wholly marine and the Dublin Biosphere).

The following static maps are also available for download: