BirdWatch Ireland is calling on the Government to urgently designate Special Protection Areas for seabirds around the Irish coast.
It comes after the recent announcement of infringement proceedings by the European Commission over Ireland’s failure to designate marine SPAs for critically endangered seabirds in our waters.
“The Irish Government has been required to designate marine sites for seabirds since 2012,” says Oonagh Duggan, head of policy and advocacy at BirdWatch Ireland. “With its Letter of Formal Notice, the European Commission has stepped in to enforce implementation of the Birds Directive because the government has not done so.
“In the last 10 years there has been significant investment in seabird survey and monitoring, and the designation process has begun for some marine areas which we welcome, but the process has been slow and we have concerns relating to it.”
Last year, the conservation charity published its research on 75 important bird and biodiversity areas (IBAs) for seabirds in Ireland — two-thirds of which are land-based breeding sites.
Seabirds nest on cliffs and islands and most of these areas are already afforded legal protection in Ireland, though nine IBAs remain to be designated.
There are also sites at sea that are critical in the seabird lifecycle and which are not yet protected. These are areas where seabirds forage for food for themselves and their chicks, pathways through which they migrate and places where they overwinter.
It is a basic requirement of EU law to protect these sites and the Irish Government has been required to do so since 2012.
The European Court of Justice has issued rulings outlining how Member States must designate all suitable sites for birds and based solely on ornithological criteria and without considering economic interests.
The Government has rejected claims that it is failing to protect marine life, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.
“Ireland is important globally for seabirds,” adds marine advocacy and campaigns officer Sarah Hegarty. “Twenty-three of Ireland’s 24 breeding seabird species are Red or Amber-listed Birds of Conservation Concern. Included are species like the puffin and the kittiwake which are Red listed and globally vulnerable.
“We also call on Government to publish the Marine Protected Area legislation as soon as possible, which would identify and protect areas at sea for other marine biodiversity and so Ireland can meet its 30% Marine Protected Areas by 2030 target. Government has been putting protection for marine life on the long finger for too long.”
