December 13th, 2017 The European Council has set 2018 quotas for the main commercial fish stocks in the Atlantic and the North Sea following protracted negotiations into the early hours of this morning. After a record-breaking forty-seven hours of debate, the Council announced that 53 fish stocks will be set Read more…
November 20th, 2017 Environmental groups have called for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to ban the “destructive” practice of pair-trawling in Irish coastal waters. The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) last week warned that it has received reports that “destructive pair trawling is underway in shallow bays and Read more…
October 10th, 2017 The EU Commission has announced €550m in funding for initiatives to tackle global oceans challenges at the EU-hosted Our Ocean Conference 2017 in Malta last week. Thirty-six commitments were made, which the Commission said will intensify EU efforts towards reducing marine pollution, enlarging protected areas, reinforcing the Read more…
September 28th, 2017 Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D, has introduced a new Fisheries Natura Declaration to regulate fishing activities affecting Natura 2000 sites. Effective 30th November 2017, the use of dredge and trawling gear for scallop fishing will be restricted at Special Areas of Conservation Read more…
September 18th, 2017 Last week, one of Ireland’s prominent oil and gas exploration companies, Providence Resources, revealed that their latest oil-drilling exploit in Irish waters hit a snag, or water in fact. In July, Providence began drilling in Porcupine Basin, 220km off the southwest coast, in search of an estimated Read more…
September 11th, 2017 Leading marine NGO Coastwatch are looking for volunteers to get involved in its annual international citizen science campaign, the Coastwatch shore survey. Currently celebrating its 30th year, the survey was first designed and run in Ireland in 1987. It now runs across 23 European countries. Designed to Read more…
August 31, 2017 Anglers and waterway-enthusiasts have been raising the alarm for decades. Whether we really listened while they talked is a moot point. Either way, it is now official – the quality of Ireland’s rivers has witnessed a “continued and unwelcome decline” since the late 1980s. This is the finding Read more…
June 7th, 2017 A number of events will be held across the world over the coming days to celebrate World Oceans Day 2017, including community clean ups and projects to eliminate or lower usage of single use plastic bags and bottles. The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Our Ocean, Our Read more…
1 June, 2017 New research published in the journal PeerJ, reports that strict conservation and protection measures has failed to halt the destruction of coral reefs in the Hawaiin Islands, with 90% of Hawaiian coral reefs suffering bleaching in 2014 and 2015. Widespread bleaching of coral reefs, whereby corals expel Read more…
26th April 2017 A local campaign group is calling on the Minister for Planning, Simon Coveney, to reverse a decision to grant a mechanical harvesting licence for 1,860 acres of seaweed in Bantry Bay. Over 3,500 people have signed an online petition calling on Minister Coveney to halt any mechanical Read more…
