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

Chapter 8: The Marine Environment 5. Conclusions Pressures on the Marine Environment Ensuring that our marine ecosystems are clean, healthy, biologically diverse and productive requires more than the restriction of nutrient pollution and sustainable fishing and aquaculture levels. A myriad of pressures such as climate change, mechanical destruction, physical disturbance, noise, toxic substances and litter will impact and interact to threaten the health of such ecosystems. These pressures need to be considered through an integrated approach to ensure the long-term health of both local and global oceans. An Island Nation Ireland is an island nation with a rich biodiversity, a strong cultural linkage between people and the sea, and proud coastal communities and, as such, we have lots to protect. Initiatives such as the Wild Atlantic Way 48 have served to focus and highlight these attributes. As an island nation with an extensive marine area we need to ensure that the proper legislative framework supported by sufficient knowledge, is in place to protect our marine ecosystems, as well as the goods and services they provide. Ongoing research and monitoring programmes, many under existing EU and international laws, should provide the evidence to support the legislative process and allow the level of protection required for different parts of our maritime area. This will need to consider not only current conditions but also the future implications of climate-driven pressures and alterations to our ecosystems and the communities and species they contain. Water Quality Overall, assessments of ecosystem status show that, in terms of eutrophication, our coastal and marine waters are considered to be healthy. However, additional measures and mitigation are required to protect our valuable ecosystems, habitats and species from anthropogenic pressures. The latest WFD assessment (2013-2018) indicates that only 30 (38%) of the transitional water bodies (estuaries) monitored in Ireland are of good or high ecological status, with 49 (62%) being of moderate, poor or bad ecological status. The specific factors causing the decline in ecological status of estuaries should be addressed through the action programmes developed under the WFD. 48 https://www.wildatlanticway.com/home Environmental Status The MSFD environmental status for Ireland indicates that, although five descriptors are fully compatible with Good Environmental Status, two others are considered to have achieved Good Environmental Status for the primary criteria assessed (marine litter and noise) while three are only partially compatible (biodiversity, commercial fish and shellfish and sea floor integrity). Information on Descriptor 4, food webs, is not sufficient to make an assessment. Overall, the assessment outlines the gaps in knowledge for some descriptors and the improvements required to bring them to Good Environmental Status. Marine Habitats A substantial proportion of the protected marine habitats underpinned by Ireland’s Natura 2000 network has not yet achieved favourable conservation status, as required under the Habitats Directive. This is particularly evident in habitats such as lagoons, large shallow inlets and bays and fixed dunes. The expansion of a network of MPAs underpinned by legislation to protect these areas may act as a key conservation measure to enable the achievement of favourable conservation status, Good Environmental Status and other environmental comitments such as those for the OSPAR’s list of threatened and/or declining species and habitats. Climate Change Climate-induced changes in sea temperature and pH have been recorded in Irish marine waters. Continuous monitoring, assessment and modelling of the impacts of climate change are essential to ensure proper adaptation to future scenarios. Fish Stocks Of the commercial fish and shellfish stocks assessed, 34 are considered to be compatible with Good Environmental Status, while 44 are not. The compatibility of 99 stocks with Good Environmental Status is unknown. Overall, the status of commercial fish and shellfish stocks is not fully compatible with Good Environmental Status. However, of the main stocks assessed in recent years, there has been an 80 per cent improvement in the number harvested sustainably. Ensuring that Ireland implements a transition to sustainable fisheries, and heeds scientific advice and catch limits, is crucial to ensure not only the continued availability of this resource but also the health of the associated food webs. 217