Why are our marine 'protected' areas still nothing more than lines on maps?

Blanket bans on certain activities, such as towing trawls and dredges across the seafloor, or fixing nets for long periods, or even prohibiting all kinds of fishing or extractive activities from some areas, are urgently needed says ecologist Pádraic Fogarty

Lobster. The limitations of Natura 2000 have been apparent for some time: the lists are too short; whole groups of endangered species, such as sharks and rays, or rare shellfish, are ignored. Fish species are completely absent. Picture: Pádraic Fogarty

In 2008 the Irish government, in adopting the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive, signed up to “establishing and maintaining ecologically representative systems of marine protected areas [MPAs] by 2012”.

However, unlike most European countries, Ireland still lacks the basic legislation for the creation of MPAs in Irish waters.