Ireland is 'guardian of ocean giants', Cork conference told
The Fair Seas inaugural conference at Cork City Hall will hear how three quarters of Irish people believe the Government should prioritise fully protecting valuable marine ecosystems. On the Celtic Mist are Rohan Fleury, Alissa Fleury and Eamon Whitty speaking with Sibéal Regan, education and outreach officer with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. Picture: Clare Keogh
Ireland is the "guardian of ocean giants" and should be viewed as a "large ocean state", various experts have told the inaugural Fair Seas World Ocean Day conference in Cork.
National Geographic’s explorer in residence Sylvia Earle, who was the first ever female chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US, as well as being a member of the worldwide Ocean Elders conservation group, told the conference in Cork City Hall it is a "crucial time for Ireland" as it prepares legislation to safeguard marine protected areas (MPAs).
The Mission Blue founder said stakeholder engagement was fundamental to decide how the new protected areas would be managed.
Everyone has a stake in the outcomes, including the fish, the whales, and the birds. You must speak for them and for the children of the future who cannot be here to make the decisions that are now up to you.
"Your beautiful Emerald Isle sits like a jewel in the North Atlantic Ocean, and your enormous maritime area makes you the guardian of ocean giants, rare coral reefs of the deep, and steep staging posts of global important soaring seabird colonies," Dr Earle said.
The marine bill currently going through the Oireachtas aims to cement the country's ambition to protect 30% of its maritime area by the end of the decade. The EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive legally compels member states to establish MPAs.
Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan told the conference the legislation is due to be brought to Cabinet before the Oireachtas summer recess in July.
The originally proposed bill was criticised by environmental groups earlier this year as "falling very short", with "weak and ambiguous language overall", as they addressed the Oireachtas climate committee.
The Oireachtas climate committee has published recommendations that Fair Seas said should be reflected in the bill when published.
Fair Seas last year released an influential report that found a mere 2% of Ireland's coast which is designated as marine protected area must increase 18-fold in order to restore and enhance endangered species such as sharks, puffins, and even blue whales.
The Fair Seas report said it was possible to increase the level to 36%, and that doing so would not only help restore biodiversity, but also act as vast carbon stores in the climate change crisis.
Campaign manager for Fair Seas Aoife O’Mahony said the new legislation will allow Ireland to meet its national and international target of protecting at least 30% of our waters by 2030.
"This legislation must not only detail how we effectively manage any new MPAs in the future, but how we better implement protected sites that currently exist. It’s only by having effective MPAs and using all our sea and ocean areas sustainably, that we can address the biodiversity and climate emergency."
Keynote speaker, ocean economist Professor Rashid Sumaila from the University of British Columbia, told the conference the oceans of the world are in danger of having more plastic than fish, as overfishing and other damaging activities continue.
Ocean biodiversity loss has human consequences, he warned, such as forced migration from communities dependent on marine life.
Ireland should consider itself a "large ocean state" considering the vast seas surrounding its land mass, he said.
Communities around the world worried about the short-term economic losses from curtailing some activities such as fishing should be the beneficiaries of universal basic incomes to mitigate, he added.
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