The campaign group Fair Seas is hosting a free event focusing on marine protected areas (MPAs) in Co Clare next week (August 4th).
The evening of talk and discussions, entitled “Hope for the Greater Skellig Coast and Ireland’s Marine Protected Areas”, will be held in Kilrush, Co Clare, on August 4th.
Fair Seas has been pressing the government to publish the promised legislation on MPAs. The campaign named an expanse of water from Loop Head in Co Clare to Kenmare in Co Kerry as Ireland’s first “hope spot” at the start of this year.
“Although small at only 1.37% of our overall marine area, these waters support huge biodiversity including the highest densities of minke and humpback whales recorded in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone,” Irish Whale and Dolphin Group education and outreach officer Sibeál Regan says.
“Effectively protecting this upwelling area teeming with life is critical to ensuring a healthy sea,” she says, describing Kerry and Clare’s marine life as “truly spectacular”.
Regan will talk at the Kilrush event about whales, dolphins and porpoises off the west coast and about the Fair Seas campaign to protect, conserve and restore Ireland’s unique marine environment.
Fair Seas estimates that €55 million will be needed to adequately fund MPA designation and ongoing management until 2030. It has published a report which estimates that approximately €7 million would be required over the next 12 months to reach the target of fully protecting 10% of Ireland’s ocean and seas.
Fair Seas is also inviting people to complete an online survey, answering questions about the health of Ireland’s marine environment, how they use the seas and what actions they believe the Irish government needs to be taking to manage this environment.
The ocean literacy survey will remain open until the end of the summer, it says, and information collected will “be held securely and treated in the strictest confidence”.
Fair Seas says the survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete, and consent can be withdrawn at any time.
The talk and panel discussion at the Shannon Dolphin Centre, Merchant’s Quay, Kilrush, Co Clare, runs from 6 pm to 8 pm on Friday, August 4th.