Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

220 Chapter 9: The Marine Environment Figure 9.4  Ecological status of transitional and coastal water bodies during 2016-2021 Source: EPA, 2022 Assessments under the MSFD are updated every 6 years. The latest draft assessment was published for public consultation in 2024 (DHLGH, 2024b). The draft assessment provides information on Ireland’s assessment methodology for the required 11 environmental descriptors, their environmental targets and current status (Table 9.2). The previous assessment, published in 2020, showed that Ireland’s marine waters had achieved GES for five descriptors. Some but not all of the criteria for five further descriptors were of GES. There was not enough information to provide a complete assessment for descriptor 11 (EPA, 2020). The results of the 2024 draft assessment are largely the same. They suggest that five descriptors have met GES, three have achieved GES for some elements but some information is still lacking and one descriptor (food webs) has insufficient information to assess its environmental status. There is now a better understanding of the status for descriptors 8 and 10 (contaminants and marine litter) due to the availability of more data and newly agreed assessment targets. (Table 9.2).