EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 8: The Marine Environment The Marine Environment 1. Introduction Ireland’s coastal and marine areas 1 provide us with vital environmental, recreational, cultural and economic goods and services. Approximately 40 per cent of the Irish population lives within 5 kilometres of the coast 2 and our actions, both positive and negative, can impact on the wellbeing of these important ecosystems. Our marine ecosystems can be damaged by human-induced pressures and pollution, which can be of both global (e.g. climate change, marine litter, fisheries) and local (e.g. industry, agriculture, domestic wastewater) origin. Although Ireland’s offshore waters can be considered relatively clean and healthy, our nearshore coastal systems 3 are less so. The European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD; 2008/56/EC) 4 aims to protect the marine environment beyond the areas considered under the Water Framework Directive (WFD; 2000/60/EC). 5 It requires the application of an ecosystem- based approach to the management of human activities, enabling sustainable use of marine resources, goods and services. The aim of the Directive is to achieve Good Environmental Status for our marine waters by 2020. This means that our marine waters should be clean, healthy, biologically diverse and productive. In Ireland, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is the lead body for the implementation of the MSFD and is supported by several other government departments and state agencies, in particular, the Marine Institute. The Marine Institute is the state agency responsible for marine research, technology development and innovation in Ireland. The Institute provides scientific and technical advice to the government to inform policy and support the sustainable development of Ireland’s marine resources. In this chapter we present information on the current status of Ireland’s marine environment and discuss the main human activities that may damage the environmental status of these waters. The main legislative responses to these challenges are also discussed. 1 Ireland’s maritime territory covers 880,000 km 2 and is one of the largest in Europe 2 https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp2tc/cp2pdm/pd/ 3 For the purpose of this report Ireland’s near shore coastal waters are defined as those within one nautical mile of the coast, while our offshore waters are beyond these limits. 4 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/56/oj 5 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ TXT/?qid=1571840481303&uri=CELEX:32000L0060 2. Current Health of Irish Marine Waters Ireland’s marine territory is one of the largest in Europe and, while it remains relatively unpolluted, our waters are vulnerable to damage. The recent Marine Strategy Framework assessment of environmental status showed that our nearshore coastal and offshore marine waters are predominantly clean, healthy and biologically diverse; however, additional measures are required to protect our valuable ecosystems and species. Ireland’s MSFD assessment area is 488,762 km 2 . It incorporates the exclusive economic zone and area of continental shelf that extends beyond 200 nautical miles into a region abutting the Porcupine Abyssal Plain. The overall health of Irish offshore marine waters is determined through the assessments undertaken under the auspices of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) and the MSFD, while the ecological health of nearshore coastal waters is assessed under the WFD. There is an overlap in the coverage between both Directives for 1 nautical mile from high water and certain pressures are only assessed under the MSFD. 6 In addition, the conservation status of protected habitats and species (except birds) is assessed under the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), 7 while the status and population trends for relevant bird species are assessed under the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC). 8 6 MSFD Annex I – particularly marine litter and anthropogenic noise 7 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ TXT/?uri=CELEX:31992L0043 8 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32009L0147 193