Marine Protected Areas legislation delay "a great shame" says UCD VP for Sustainability on RTE Prime Time

"We're really facing a very urgent challenge in lots of ways. It's a great shame that the legislation has been delayed for so for so long. People are looking for legislation that has real teeth - but there's a high level of stakeholder engagement - and transparency as well."

So said University College Dublin's Vice-President for Sustainability, Professor Tasman Crowe, on RTE Prime Time last night. He was speaking about Ireland’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) Bill, which has not yet been enacted, despite government approval of its General Scheme in December 2022. Meanwhile Ireland has a target to protect 30% of waters by 2030, with progress so far reaching about 10%.

Journalist Barry Cummins also interviewed ecologist Padraig Fogarty and Green Party senator Malcolm Noonan, among others, and Timmy Dooley and Jennifer Whitmore TD were in the studio with host Miriam O'Callaghan. Watch here (Tas is at 2:37 at 9:55):https://www.rte.ie/player/series/prime-time/SI0000000825?epguid=IH10008770-25-0067

Last year the government, along with universities, launched MPA LIFE, a research and development project to help map, plan and design measures for MPAs, focusing on ecology, socio-economics and stakeholder participation. This project is helping build the evidence base.

Separately, there has been inconsistency in decision-making around trawling inshore. In 2020 larger vessels (over 18 metres) were banned from trawling inside Ireland’s six nautical mobile inshore zone by a Policy Directive, but this ban was overturned by the courts. Recently the government has proposed reintroducing a phased ban on such trawling (including limits and permits first, then full exclusion from 2026) to protect sprat stocks and marine biodiversity.

In more decisive news, last week the Irish government approved ratification of the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement or ‘High Seas Treaty’), the first dedicated global treaty to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity in the High Seas and deep seabed.