Ireland designates Northwest Irish Sea as country’s largest-ever special protection area

Ireland has officially designated an area in the Northwest Irish Sea as a special protection area (SPA) covering over 230,000 hectares, designed to serve as a sanctuary for birds.

The area adjoins 12 existing SPAs and is the largest designation for birds in Ireland’s history, Ireland Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan told Afloat. The site adjoins SPAs at Lambay Island; Skerries Island; Ireland’s Eye; Howth Head; Rockabill; South Dublin Bay and River Tolka Estuary; Boyne Estuary; River Nanny Estuary and Shore; Rogerstown Estuary; Malahide Estuary; Baldoyle Bay; and North Bull Island.

An SPA is one of two types of marine protected area (MPA) that Ireland can currently designate, the other being a special area of conservation. Designated under European Union nature laws, an SPA is meant to specifically protect species of birds.

Environmental organizations have criticized Ireland’s actions on protecting portions of the coastline via MPAs. Fair Seas, a coalition of environmental NGOs in Ireland, has called on the government to establish a legal definition of an MPA into Irish law, alleging there are currently no legal mechanisms to formally designate MPAs.  

Fair Seas claims previous MPA designations by the Irish government have been relatively ineffective, they do little to prevent commercial activity. The SPA designation does set standards on wind farms and other offshore development, but fishing and other restrictions on types of activity differ depending on the measures in place at each individual location - and enforcement and Fair Seas claims management and enforcement has been lax. 

“Without proper management, monitoring, and enforcement, we can’t rely on these areas to truly protect nature, but with proper implementation of MPAs, we can really give nature at sea the opportunity to survive and thrive,” Fair Seas Marine Policy Officer Donal Griffin said in a release.

The Irish government has said it is working to create the legal designations necessary to establish fully protected MPAs, potentially banning some or all fishing activity. But that legislation, according to Fair Seas, is still a ways off.

“The MPA legislation is critical for protecting nationally ecologically important, rare, vulnerable and threatened marine species and habitats. Unfortunately, there is still no sign of the new legislation being brought before the Dáil before the summer recess,” Griffin said.

In the meantime, Irish fishermen are still able to fish in all of Ireland's marine protected areas, but they have been limited by a European Commission decision to close 1.8 percent of Irish waters to bottom-fishing.

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