Conserve The Irish Sea

The Irish Sea will face ecological disaster unless the Government takes action, conservationists have warned.

09:53 28 August 2015

Conservationists say that floor habitats are at high risk of deterioration due to unsustainable Dublin Bay prawn trawler fishing that depletes other types of marine life. Stocks of fish have fallen as they are caught in prawn nets.

 

A total of 19 Marine Conservation Zones were proposed for the Irish Sea, but only two, Flyde and Cumbria Coast, have been approved.

 

Dr Emily Baxter, a Cumbria-based marine conservation officer for the North West Wildlife Trusts, said: “We are extremely concerned that mud sites in the Irish Sea are not being considered for protection. These vulnerable habitats are already damaged from activities such as bottom trawling and they are at high risk of further damage and deterioration. The nethrops stocks are being fished beyond sustainable levels and other stocks are in a severe state of depletion. Decision makers need to take action.”

 

Research suggests that deep-sea mud supports a wealth of biological diversity.

Meanwhile, Dick James from the Northern Ireland Fish Producers’ Organisation, said: “We don’t accept that the Irish Sea is being overfished. We are not against Marine Conservation Zones. It’s about where you put them and what measures you put on them. We have offered alternatives.”

 

 A Defra spokeswoman said: “A quarter of English inshore waters are within marine protected areas including the 27 Marine Conservation Zones we designated in 2013, two of which are in the Irish Sea.” Defra is “doing more than ever” to protect the marine environment and was considering further sites, she said.