Conference hears of untapped economic potential in Irish coastal waters

MORE is known about the surface of the moon than about life at the bottom of the world’s seas, a conference in Dublin heard yesterday.

Delegates were told Ireland’s seabed has untapped economic potential, yet relatively little is known about the vast array of marine life off our shores.

One of the conference’s organisers, Dr John Joyce, of the Marine Institute said relatively little was known previously about the 220 million acres of seabed that forms part of Irish territory. It equates to an area approximately ten times the size of the land area.

He said information about Irish underwater habitats was patchy, inconsistent and poorly collated.

“It is an enormous resource and it has immense potential for wealth creation and jobs,” said Dr Joyce, who outlined details of an ongoing project to map Ireland’s underwater habitats.

The Mapping European Seabed Habitats (MESH) project is a three-year programme to produce a range of ground-making maps using the latest cutting-edge underwater survey techniques on the seabed in Irish, British, Dutch, Belgian and French waters.

Marine scientists from all over the world gathered for a two-day conference which began yesterday in Dublin Castle to agree on a common framework for mapping underwater habitats anywhere in the world.

Dr Joyce said the availability of accurate marine habitat maps was vital for the Marine Institute’s programme of research and development. They will be used for the development of marine technologies and resources. However, Dr Joyce warned of the growing demands being placed on the marine environment due to intensification of fishing, oil and gas exploration, off-shore wind farms and leisure activities.

The Marine Institute also highlighted the need for a shift away from the traditional view of the sector as one associated with fishing to a wide variety of market-led opportunities in the areas of sustainable energy, transport, technology and environmental well-being.

“Mapping of our marine resources is an integral key to this,” said Dr Joyce.

The conference also heard that the multiple uses of international waters and seabeds has resulted in the decline of many marine species as a consequence of activities such as bottom trawling and dredging.

Dr Joyce said MESH had already revealed how colonies of worms were living in a part of the seabed between the North and Scotland that was gouged out during the last ice age around 20,000 years ago.

Other data had provided invaluable information on fish spawning ground which would enable marine authorities to designate certain parts of the seabed as special areas of conservation.