The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
The seas around Ireland are among the most productive and biologically sensitive areas in EU waters. As an island nation, fishing has always been economically and socially important to Ireland. The natural, clean water around Ireland’s 7,500 Km of coastline has provided exceptionally good seafood for thousands of years and it is important to protect this resource for future generations.
Within the European Union, fisheries are managed through the framework of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Ireland’s goals for sustainable fisheries are supported through the CFP. The CFP provides the framework for the long-term conservation and sustainability of fish stocks around our shores and is designed to ensure the long term sustainability of fishing in the waters around Ireland and throughout EU waters.
The CFP specifically provides that fishing and aquaculture activities contribute to long-term environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Furthermore, the CFP should contribute to increased productivity, to a fair standard of living for the fisheries sector including small-scale fisheries, and it should ensure the availability of food supplies. The CFP should contribute to the protection of the marine environment, to the sustainable management of all commercially exploited species, and in particular to the achievement of good environmental status.
The CFP includes a range of measures which are employed to ensure the conservation and sustainability of fish stocks in EU waters. These include the setting of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas to deliver fishing at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY - which is the largest average catch or yield that can continuously be taken from a stock under existing environmental conditions). This intersects with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.4 of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to “implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics”. The discards ban or Landing Obligation is another key element of the CFP, which was phased in over a number of years and has been fully implemented since 2019.
Technical measures are also used to support sustainable fishing. Technical measures are rules on how, where and when fishers may fish and include measures to improve the selectivity of fishing gear in order to reduce the bycatch of juvenile fish and vulnerable species like elasmobranchs. These measures will contribute to healthy fish stocks, higher quotas for both Irish and EU fishers and to more sustainable fishing patterns. In 2021, 47% of the stocks of interest to Ireland were fished at or below MSY - this increased from 34% in 2013. In 2009, at EU level only 5 stocks were fished at MSY. This shows that the many years of intensive, industry-led conservation measures are paying off.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) works closely with Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) to bring forward proposals at EU level for technical measures for the fisheries in which we operate that result in increased selectivity and provide increased protection to overfished and sensitive stocks. BIM works closely with the fishing industry to develop modifications to fishing gears to increase selectivity and to further avoid catches of juvenile fish or vulnerable species.
The European Commission will report to the European Parliament and the Council on the functioning of the CFP by the end of 2022. Earlier this year, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., established a national CFP Review Group to examine the issues that arise for Ireland in the context of the CFP Review. The Group, which involved key stakeholders including fishing industry representative groups and representatives of environmental eNGOs, has submitted its final report to the Minister. The report demonstrates that there is need for legislative changes in the current policy to address the disproportionate impacts of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement on the Irish fishing sector and in the context of the new environmental challenges we are all facing. Minister McConalogue has forwarded a copy of the report to the Fisheries Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius, to consider how the report’s findings and recommendations can be taken forward to support a fair and balanced CFP.
Fishing opportunities (TACs) for most of the commercial fish stocks of interest to Ireland are agreed on annual basis in the EU Fisheries Council of Ministers on the basis of a proposal produced by the European Commission. In order to examine the implications for Ireland, a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) of the proposal is conducted and brought before the Dáil before fisheries negotiations commence. The Minister presents the SIA and directly hears the views and advice of members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Agriculture, Food and Marine to inform position in EU/UK consultations, coastal states consultations and at EU Fisheries Council.
The SIA is an important step in Ireland’s preparation for the TAC setting process. The SIA draws conclusions from a consultation process with all major stakeholders and expert contributions from the Marine Institute (MI) and Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM). The objective of the SIA is to look at the overall impacts the proposal could have on the sustainability of the fishing sector from a biological, economic and social perspective.
In Ireland, quota is a public resource and is managed to ensure that property rights are not granted to individual operators. This is seen as a critical policy in order to ensure that quotas are not concentrated into the hands of large fishing companies whose owners have the financial resources to buy up such rights. In Ireland, any movement towards privatisation and concentration of rights into the hands of large companies would seriously risk fishing vessels losing an economic link with Ireland’s coastal communities and undermining the socio-economic importance of the fishing industry in the coastal communities dependant on fishing. The result of this long standing policy is that the Irish fishing fleet involves a balanced spread of sizes and types of fishing vessels who have retained a strong economic link with our coastal communities and have delivered economic activity including vital employment in these communities, where there are very limited alternative economic activities.
The fish quota management system is designed to ensure, having regard to fishing patterns and market conditions, the best possible spread both between fishing vessel operators and in terms of take up of quota during the year. The arrangements have been set and developed over many years since the commencement of the CFP and the introduction of quotas. Any amendments or changes to the over-arching policy on management arrangements are determined by the Minister following detailed analysis and full consultation with stakeholders, in particular the fishing industry.
Whitefish and deep sea stocks are generally managed on a monthly basis. Consultation is carried out each month at the Quota Management Advisory Committee meeting involving representatives of the industry, the Department and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority. As Ireland’s whitefish fisheries are mixed, a key objective of whitefish quota management is the avoidance of very early closure of fisheries through rapid exhaustion of quota. The whitefish quotas are generally managed on the basis of catch limits set for each month. The catch limit set generally involves a quantity for smaller vessels and double that quantity for larger vessels.
Pelagic stocks such as mackerel and herring are managed on an annual or seasonal basis in accordance with national policy framework. There are 8 principal managed pelagic stocks (Mackerel, Celtic Sea Herring, North West Herring, Atlanto-Scandian Herring, Horse Mackerel, Blue Whiting, Boarfish and Albacore Tuna) and the particular management of each is further subdivided between various sectors of the fleet.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on fisheries subsidies were launched in 2001. The initial mandate to "clarify and improve" existing WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies was subsequently expanded to include prohibiting certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing and eliminating subsidies that contribute to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. This is in line with SDG 14.6 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which aims to “prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to IUU fishing, and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation”.
At the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022, a partial agreement was reached which included prohibiting subsidies that contribute to IUU fishing, in relation to stocks that are overfished and in relation to fishing on the high seas outside of regulated areas. The EU is fully committed to completing the agreement with the elements not yet agreed as soon as possible.
The DAFM is responsible for ensuring sea-fishing activities are conducted in a manner that avoids the deterioration of designated features of Natura 2000 conservation sites and the significant disturbance of protected species within those sites. Mitigation measures have been introduced for many dredge fisheries (e.g. mussel seed, scallop, clams) to manage risks posed to Natura 2000 sites.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) engages regularly with the National Inshore Fisheries Forum (NIFF), the consultative body established to foster industry-led development of proposals for the management of non-quota stocks within six nautical miles of the Irish shore. The NIFF is supported by a network of six Regional Inshore Fisheries Forums (RIFFs) that cover the Irish coast. Since their inception, the Forums have developed initiatives to protect the future of the inshore fisheries sector. This maps on to SDG 14.b of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to “provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets.”
In January 2019, the DAFM launched the Clean Oceans Initiative, a collaborative effort at sea and on land to reduce marine waste to protect Ireland’s marine environment. This Initiative was preceded by the Fishing for Litter campaign, which was launched in Ireland in 2015, to engage fishers to retrieve marine litter while at sea. To date, 244 Irish registered fishing trawlers have been affiliated to the Fishing for Litter scheme as part of the Clean Oceans Initiative. Through collaborative efforts, in excess of 824 tonnes of passively fished waste has been collected at sea since 2015. The Clean Oceans Initiative is led by BIM and is funded through the Sustainable Fisheries Scheme which is established under Union Priority 1 of Ireland’s European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Operational Programme. This initiative corresponds to SDG 14.1 of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development “By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.”
Aquaculture licence applications are considered by the Aquaculture and Foreshore Management Division of DAFM in accordance with the provisions of the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act, the 1933 Foreshore Act and applicable EU legislation. The legislation provides for a period of statutory and general public consultation in respect of every application. Decisions on applications are made following the fullest consideration of all environmental, technical, legislative and public interest aspects of each application.
The National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development 2030 has been drafted as the successor plan to that developed in 2015 and is currently out for public consultation. The plan aims to help the delivery of (i) nutritious and healthy seafood with a limited environmental footprint; (ii) economic development and job opportunities for coastal and rural communities; (iii) reducing pollution; (iv) preserving ecosystems and biodiversity; and (v) contributing to the fight against climate change. It is anticipated the plan will be finalised before the end of 2022 following the end of the consultation period.
In autumn 2019, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage initiated a process aimed at expanding Ireland’s network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the coming years. In general terms, MPAs can be considered to be geographically defined maritime areas that provide levels of protection to achieve conservation objectives.
MPAs can support economic activity associated with the sea; for example, by conserving areas of particular importance to marine ecosystems and ensuring that human activity is kept at a level that will sustain biological diversity, natural productivity, human health and well-being. MPAs can also help reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification by ensuring that marine ecosystems are healthy and resilient, and that the marine environment can act as a natural carbon storage system.
The first step in the current process was to convene an advisory group to provide independent expert advice and recommendations on the processes required and the challenges to be addressed in expanding Ireland’s MPA network. This group, chaired by Professor Tasman Crowe, Director of UCD’s Earth Institute, had its first meeting on 18 December 2019. It subsequently met on a monthly basis, including remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The final report of the MPA Advisory Group was published in Irish and English language versions on 26 January 2021 and is available via Expanding Ireland’s Marine Protected Area Network.
In tandem with the Ministers’ and Department’s detailed consideration of the expert group’s findings, a public consultation phase centred around the report and the wider MPA process began in mid-February 2021 and extended over more than five months to the end of July 2021. The feedback received through the public consultation was then the subject of an Independent Analysis and Report on Marine Protected Area (MPA) Public Consultation Submissions received.
Informed by all of these important steps and the resulting information, the Department is now in the process of developing stand-alone legislation to enable the identification, designation and management of MPAs in accordance with Ireland’s national and international commitments.
On 27 July 2022 the Government approved the development of a General Scheme of a Bill to provide for marine protected areas. The Department is working to prepare the heads of that Bill and will continue to develop the General Scheme for the rest of 2022. Work on drafting and enacting the primary MPA legislation is expected to follow thereafter.
The proposed legislation is intended to work in parallel with the Maritime Area Planning Act (2021) and the suite of existing legal biodiversity protection measures, such as provisions under the Wildlife Acts, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the EU Birds and Habitats Directives, and the EU Common Fisheries Policy for example. This is in order to effectively balance all conservation requirements and the long-term, sustainable use of Ireland’s valuable and diverse marine environment.
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is the mechanism by which EU member states set policy on the marine environment in order to achieve or maintain a clean, healthy, biologically diverse and sustainably used marine environment. This obligatory goal is also known as good environmental status (GES). The Directive requires that member states take action to tackle human-made challenges to, and negative impacts on, the environment. These include pollution (including marine litter), over-exploitation of living resources, incidental by-catch, introductions of non-indigenous species, underwater noise and damage to the seabed and other habitats.
Ireland’s Marine Strategy Part 1 under the MSFD (June 2020) includes a set of 25 environmental targets that have been established to describe what a healthy sea should look like under the MSFD’s 11 qualitative descriptors for GES and Ireland’s Marine Strategy Part 2 Monitoring Programmes was revised in 2021.
In 2022 and every six years thereafter Ireland will publish a set of actions known as the Programme of Measures (Irelands Marine Strategy Part 3). These measures are developed through an ecosystem-based approach which ensures that Ireland’s marine environment reaches or maintains the established environmental targets, and hence good environmental status.
At a regional level the OSPAR Convention is an international treaty and legal instrument through which Ireland and 15 other contracting parties including the European Union work to protect and improve the environmental health of the North-East Atlantic Ocean.
In October 2021 the OSPAR Commission of all contracting parties agreed a new North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy (NEAES 2030) to deliver on its vision of a clean, healthy and biologically diverse North-East Atlantic Ocean – one which is productive, used sustainably and resilient to climate change and ocean acidification. This strategy, which is operable until 2030, includes 12 strategic objectives that are operationalised by 54 objectives and a comprehensive implementation plan that sets out the specific tasks needed to achieve the strategy. The objectives are grouped under four themes:
The actions and legally binding decisions, recommendations and agreements that are developed through the process of achieving these strategic objectives will complement the OSPAR Acquis already in existence and will form the basis for how Ireland and other countries of the North-East Atlantic and the European Union ensure that the objectives of the NEAES 2030 are met.
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