Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

171 Chapter 7: Nature Nevertheless, Ireland still has one of the highest proportions of Europe’s remaining intact peatlands and bogs, including a variety of raised and blanket bogs, fens and wet heath. These peatland habitats need to be protected (and where necessary restored) and have potentially immense value for protecting native Irish biodiversity and providing a range of other ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and flood mitigation (DAHG, 2015). Figure 7.13  Exploited peatland Over-exploitation of marine fish stocks remains a driver of biodiversity loss in Ireland (Vaughan et al. , 2023). Coupled with the effects of climate change, many commercial fish stocks will continue to come under pressure in the future. For example, both herring and cod (Figure 7.14), which are cold-water species and are at the southern limit of their range in Ireland, have seen declines in their spawning stock biomass in recent years, which is directly attributable to over- exploitation in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (Vaughan et al. , 2023). Over-exploitation can have long-term knock- on effects on both our economy and our livelihoods. Extinction threatens 48 species living in the Irish marine environment, including fish, crustaceans, shellfish and other invertebrates, with over-fishing, alongside accidental by-catch and near-shore pollution, driving many population declines (Fogarty, 2017). Figure 7.14  The relationship between spawning stock biomass (top) and fishing pressure (bottom) on cod, Gadus morhua , in the Irish Sea, 1968-2022. Fishing pressure based on the Vessel Monitoring System 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 08 06 04 02 00 98 96 94 92 90 88 86 84 82 80 78 76 74 72 70 68 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.65 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 08 06 04 02 00 98 96 94 92 90 88 86 84 82 80 78 76 74 72 70 68 Fishing Pressure Spawning Stock Biomass (tonnes) Year Year Source: Vaughan et al. , 2023