The European Nature Restoration Law (NRL) is the first continent-wide comprehensive law to restore Europe’s degraded ecosystems on land and sea. The climate and biodiversity crisis are two sides of the same coin and we must tackle them simultaneously. Having healthy ecosystems will not only help to mitigate climate change it will also offer natural […]
Birdwatch Ireland in collaboration with the IWT has created a petition calling on the Minister for agriculture, food and the marine, Charlie Mc Conalogue to block a new dangerous proposal which could have devastating effects on fish stocks and incentivise overfishing and underreporting. It has been proposed that the 10% Margin of Tolerance (MoT) should […]
Northern Ireland miles ahead of Republic in protecting inshore waters by Grace Carr March 30th 2023 New fisheries management measures were enacted this year in Northern Ireland which will prohibit bottom trawling in nine inshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). There will also be measures put in place in these MPAs for static gear such as pot fishing. […]
IWT response to MSFD Programme of Measures March 7th 2023 New measures for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive are welcome and needed if we are to achieve Good Environmental Status in all descriptors. It is therefore disappointing to see that some new measures are vague, non-committal and are inadequate for reaching Good Environmental Status. ©Grainne […]
New Irish Fishing Quota for Vulnerable Spurdog 23rd February 2023 A new Irish quota for the IUCN listed vulnerable spurdog (Squalus acanthias) for 1,874 tonnes was announced for 2023. Minister McConalogue stated that “When we reopen the fishery, measures will be put in place to require that larger spurdog are avoided to allow them to […]
EU Nature Restoration Law – What does it mean for marine conservation? What’s happening? In June 2022 the European Commission proposed the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) to bring nature back to Europe. This law has legally binding restoration targets for marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. The goal is to have 20% of land and sea ecosystems […]
