Displaying items by tag: Option: Protection

14th December 2020

Northern Ireland Assembley Can Request UK Royal Navy to Protect Fishing Waters

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that four Royal Navy 'gunboats' have been placed on stand-by to guard British waters from EU trawlers if there is no agreement. Above AFLOAT adds a trio of the 'River' class fishery patrol vessels.

The UK's Royal Navy will only deploy vessels to protect fishing waters surrounding Northern Ireland if requested to do so by the Stormont Executive, the British Government has said.

It was revealed the UK had "run live exercises" that involve scrambling "naval vessels to respond to threats of illegal fishing in our soon-to-be sovereign waters" as part of efforts to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that four Royal Navy gunboats have been placed on stand-by to guard British waters from EU trawlers if there is no agreement as Afloat reported yesterday.

Reports also suggest that UK Government ministers are considering beefing up Navy powers in legislation to authorise them to board and arrest fishermen found to be contravening post-Brexit rules.

However, the MoD told the Belfast Telegraph that gunships will only be deployed around Northern Ireland if requested to do so.

More details from the newspaper here.

Published in Fishing

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About World Ocean Day

World Ocean Day is celebrated annually on June 8th to highlight the important role the ocean has for our life and the planet. The focus each year is on the 30x30 campaign: to create a healthy ocean with abundant wildlife and to stabilise the climate, it is critical that 30% of our planet’s lands, waters, and oceans are protected by 2030.

One of the issues affecting our ocean is marine litter which has become a global problem for both humans and marine life. However, communities around Ireland have demonstrated their desire to be part of the solution by taking part in several beach cleaning and clean-up calls to action.

Statistics show that the number one cause of marine litter is litter dropped in towns and cities.

In 2021, the initiative changed its name from “World Oceans Day” to “World Ocean Day”. By dropping the “s”, its organisers wanted to highlight the fact that we are all connected by a large ocean. This shared ocean supports all life on the planet, by producing most of the oxygen we breathe and regulating climate. No matter where we live, we all depend on the ocean to survive.

This means that each piece of marine litter removed from a beach, river, lake, park or street in Ireland, will have a positive impact on a global scale.