#MARINE WILDLIFE - The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is urging its supporters in Northern Ireland to vote 'yes' for the creation of a Marine Bill for the North.
It follows a meeting last month of the Northern Ireland Marine Task Force (NIMTF) which brough together interests from across the spectrm to discuss the bill and ensure it will "deliver for all sea users", as previously reported on Afloat.ie.
The RSPB commented: "NIMTF are campaigning to have pilot projects for Marine Protected Areas and marine spatial planning put in place in parallel with the development of the Northern Ireland Marine Bill as Northern Ireland is currently three years behind the UK mainland.
"There is much work to do to inform the development of the Marine Bill in Northern Ireland and these pilots are needed for this process."
The RSPB noted that Scotland currently has four marine spatial planning pilots to inform the Scottish Marine Bill process, as well as four regional projects to set up a network of Marine Conservation Zones in England and Wales.
For more details on the Northern Ireland Marine Bill campaign visit the NIMTF webiste HERE.