Revitalising Ireland's Seas

Fair Seas is an Irish coalition campaign that seeks to build a movement of ocean stewardship across the island of Ireland. Our aim is for Ireland to become a world leader in marine protection, giving our species, habitats and coastal communities the opportunity to thrive. Key to this is ensuring Ireland secures an ecologically coherent network of well-managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Irish waters.

Ireland has committed to designating 30% of its waters as MPAs by 2030. However, the current figure of MPA coverage in Ireland stands at just 2.1%. Ireland therefore has a significant task ahead in scaling up marine protection to achieve spatial conservation targets as well as requirements under EU nature laws to bring its marine waters to a Good Environmental Status and ensure recovery of depleted fish populations.

The report ‘Revitalising Our Seas. Identifying areas of interest for Marine Protected Area Designation in Irish waters’ aims to kick-start the conversation of where additional MPAs may be designated, using analysis of species hotspots in Irish waters. The full report can be downloaded at www.fairseas.ie.

The Fair Seas members are Birdwatch Ireland, Coastwatch, Coomhola Salmon Trust, Friends of the Irish Environment, Irish Environmental Network, Irish Wildlife Trust, Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and Sustainable Water Network.

Fair Seas is funded by Oceans 5, the Becht Family Charitable Trust, Blue Nature Alliance and Wyss Foundation.