Anja Murray: Marine Protected Areas Bill has been bogged down — but is due any day now

At present, marine and coastal nature protected areas (in the form of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas) encompass a mere 9% of Irish waters — expanding the MPA network is a biodiversity action that will also contribute to climate change adaptation

The Marine Protected Areas Bill was due to be published before the Oireachtas went on its Easter recess. That deadline has passed but it is understood that the legislation drafting is at an advanced stage now. Pictured: Sand covering the steps to the beach at Claycastle, Youghal, County Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Ireland's marine territory is more than 10 times our land mass, including 220 million acres of continental shelf. Yet to most of us, these oceanic ecosystems are strange and unknown, submerged and beyond our reach. There are kelp beds that provide habitat for a wealth of fish — especially valuable for the many species using kelp ‘forests’ as nurseries for their young. Tiny spiralled limpets whose shells are streaked in fluorescent blue mingle with crabs and shoals of juvenile fish, many of which are commercially important species. Cold water coral reefs are another special habitat found in Irish territorial waters, containing a wealth of wondrous organisms and contributing to the overall ecological health of ocean life.

All along the continental shelf, thousands of different types of organisms occupy specific habitat niches, each adapted to the particular physical conditions of where they live. Each is dependent upon a myriad of interactions with other species sharing their ecosystem — abiotic and biotic relationships honed by millions of years of evolution.