Anja Murray: Marine Protected Areas Bill has been bogged down — but is due any day now
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Ireland's marine territory is more than 10 times our land mass, including 220 million acres of continental shelf. Yet to most of us, these oceanic ecosystems are strange and unknown, submerged and beyond our reach. There are kelp beds that provide habitat for a wealth of fish — especially valuable for the many species using kelp ‘forests’ as nurseries for their young. Tiny spiralled limpets whose shells are streaked in fluorescent blue mingle with crabs and shoals of juvenile fish, many of which are commercially important species. Cold water coral reefs are another special habitat found in Irish territorial waters, containing a wealth of wondrous organisms and contributing to the overall ecological health of ocean life.
All along the continental shelf, thousands of different types of organisms occupy specific habitat niches, each adapted to the particular physical conditions of where they live. Each is dependent upon a myriad of interactions with other species sharing their ecosystem — abiotic and biotic relationships honed by millions of years of evolution.
Fantastic news. The legally-binding UN #HighSeasTreaty supports the aim of placing 30% of international waters into protected areas by 2030. Find out what this historic pact means for marine life: https://t.co/JtstnAXa0P @UNOceanDecade #BBNJ #UN #UnitedNations #OceanTreaty
— Plymouth Marine Lab (@PlymouthMarine) March 6, 2023
However, conditions in the marine environment have been changing rapidly in recent times. On the one hand, decades of overfishing, heavily subsidised and technologically advanced, have removed vast quantities of fish from these habitats, at rates far exceeding what these wild populations can naturally replenish. Despite the quota system, many fish stocks are still being overfished, with profound implications for marine ecosystems as well as for the fishing communities who rely on these stocks.
Practices such as bottom trawling are especially damaging, often destroying large areas of seabed, including corals, sponges, seafans, and spawning habitats for many fish species. Just over half of the locations so far assessed have been severely damaged by physical disturbance from bottom contact fishing gear. As a consequence of bottom trawling and overfishing, many fish stocks have been collapsing, both in Irish and European waters. Global scientific assessments have found that the amount of wildlife in our oceans has fallen by half since 1970. In Irish waters, dozens of species have suffered severe declines, including basking sharks (second largest fish in the sea), angel and porbeagle sharks, several species of ray, along with crawfish, halibut, turbot, purple sea urchins, and native oysters.
But recovery is possible, and experts say there is still time to reverse the deterioration in ocean ecosystems if the right steps are taken without delay. The creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as sanctuaries where marine life is given a chance to rebound are core to such efforts. MPAs can help restore marine ecosystems and also offer hope to the fishing industry if stocks are allowed to recover. In order to be effective, most Marine Protected Areas will need to be closed to fishing altogether, though in some cases careful management can be tailored to safeguard certain habitats and species at certain times of year. When future bounty returns within these protected areas, fish stocks in adjacent waters also increase manifold, in this way enabling a future for sustainable fisheries.
Yet we know that overfishing, while still the primary driver of declines in ocean life, is not the only issue. Climate change is exacerbating existing ongoing damage, causing unprecedented changes in the acidity and temperature of seawater in addition to shifting currents. In the last 25 years, the North Sea has warmed 1.25°C. Of 36 fish species surveyed in the North Sea, 15 have moved northwards by an average of 300 kilometres. The marine heat wave that occurred off the west and north coasts of Ireland in July 2023 saw sea surface temperatures jump by an astonishing 4°Celsius — an unprecedented level of warming in terms of both intensity and duration.
These changes spell further chaos for the future of marine ecosystems.
Ireland, along with other European countries, is in the process of expanding the area of MPAs in Irish waters, with a target to protect at least 30% of Maritime Area by 2030. At present, marine and coastal nature protected areas (in the form of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas) encompass a mere 9% of Irish waters.
A new Marine Protected Areas Bill is due any day now: that will define how the new, expanded MPA network will be selected and safeguarded in line with international agreements. The selection of new sites must be transparent and informed by best available scientific knowledge. And a new report released last month makes a strong case for including climate-related pressures in the selection criteria.
In 2022 the Fair Seas coalition published a list of areas proposed for the siting of new MPAs in Ireland in the ‘Revitalising Our Seas’. Now, researchers from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) have augmented these proposals with an assessment of resilience to climate impacts in particular locations. By modelling the shifting environmental conditions likely to result from climate change alongside ecosystem variables, the potential for climate-resilient ‘refugia’ or ‘bright spots’ as part of the protected area network have been identified.
These sites are being proposed for inclusion in the swathe of new MPAs that Ireland is in the process of selecting, offering some hope for safeguarding marine life as the oceans heat up.
We know that global heating is affecting every region on Earth, and that the rate of change is accelerating. Emissions reductions are more urgent than ever, and actions such as removing fossil fuel subsidies will go a long way toward this. Simultaneously, adaptation to the far-reaching impacts is required too. Expanding the MPA network is a biodiversity action that will also contribute to climate change adaptation and so it is with bated breath that the draft bill is awaited. Its progress through the Dáil will be closely watched.
The offerings in this recent report are a significant step in incorporating future climate scenarios with the protection of marine ecosystems, a very welcome prompt toward retaining marine biodiversity in a very uncertain future.
CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB