Another red list brings warnings for Ireland's marine life

The warnings that one species or another has reached a critically low population no longer provoke a commensurate response.

We have become almost blasé about the by-now routine announcements that one group of animals or plants, birds or fish faces an uncertain future unless we intervene in a far more energetic and positive way to protect them.

The latest list, from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) details the precarious position of animals that have survived for something around 420 million years but are now, on our watch, in jeopardy.