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This Thursday 2 March, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) in Waterford is hosting a workshop with a twist — to play a serious game called DiadESland, about managing diadromous fish species.

DiadESland is an interactive role-playing engagement tool developed through the Interreg DiadES project. It gives stakeholders and managers an opportunity to discuss the impact of climate change on migratory fish, rivers and catchments through an imaginary environment.

Participants will team up and play the role of catchment managers, making management decisions to achieve a set of goals for their catchment.

It is an excellent opportunity for networking in an informal setting but with an important objective: to discuss the serious issues facing diadromous fish species in the context of climate change.

This session will also allow IFI to discuss future strategies and management recommendations.

EU Interreg AA funding allows for providing players with a fully catered workshop, and travel costs will be refunded (as required).

There is no requirement for expertise in fish or fish management to play the game and all sectors involved with fish management or commercialisation are warmly invited.

Register your interest on the IFI website HERE.

Published in Angling

Embracing connectivity is the theme of the third Pillar I workshop for the Atlantic Action Plan: ports as gateways and hubs for the blue economy.

Connectivity: Staying Connected for Trade, Tourism and Economic Growth takes place online on Thursday 16 September from 9.30am to 12.15pm IST. See the workshop agenda HERE.

The workshop will be examining the significance of connectivity in promoting trade, tourism and economic growth in the maritime transport sphere.

It will focus on the Atlantic area and highlight post-Brexit issues, digitisation, the growing importance of regional ports and regional development in general.

To take part, complete the registration form by Tuesday 14 September.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Digitisation of port operations is the topic of the first in a new series of three workshops under Pillar I of the Atlantic Action Plan: ports as gateways and hubs for the blue economy.

The Current Status and Future Direction of Digitalisation in Ports in the Atlantic Sea Basin will take place this Wednesday 12 May from 9.30am to 12.45pm GMT. See the workship agenda HERE.

Digitalisation is of key importance for the future growth, sustainability and efficiency of the maritime industry. As part of this workshop, a panel of industry experts will discuss best practices of existing projects, with a focus on the user perspective.

The workshop will also seek to address the potential of future technologies to positively impact connectivity and facilitate trade.

Published in Ports & Shipping

More than 90 shellfish producers and processors, scientists, agencies and stakeholders attended the 11th Shellfish Safety Workshop earlier this month to discuss the latest advances in the field in Ireland.

The workshop, which took place on Tuesday 8 October in the Radisson Blu Hotel Athlone, was hosted by the Marine Institute and co-sponsors Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

The event offered an opportunity to exchange information on the latest research and information on the cause and control of shellfish products harvested and farmed around Ireland's coast.

Speakers included Dr Conor Graham, of GMIT Marine and the Freshwater Research Centre, on the development of the world’s first scientific-based shellfish traceability tool, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Other speakers included Dr Monika Dhanji Rapkova, of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, on the learnings on regulated and emerging biotoxins in British shellfish.

Dr Eileen Bresnan (Marine Scotland Science) presented a talk on the regional distribution of harmful algal events in North Atlantic Area. Dave Clarke of the Marine Institute also talked about the insights and perspectives on monitoring algal and biotoxin events in Irish coastal waters from the past 20 years.

Micheál O'Mahony of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority presented on the recently published European baseline survey of norovirus in oysters, while Dr Sinéad Keaveney (Marine Institute) discussed the survey in the Irish context.

There were also a series of flash presentations from representatives of the Marine Institute, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Dublin City University, Sligo Institute of Technology and Health Services Executive.

The proceedings of the workshop are currently being compiled for publication and in the coming weeks will be available for download from the Marine Institute’s Open Access Repository.

Published in Marine Science

#CoastalNotes - In north Wales, fire crews BBC News reports have been fighting a large blaze at a workshop on Holyhead Marina.

An eyewitness said "30ft high flames" were coming out of the roof of a marine engineering workshop after reports of an "explosion" on social media.

North Wales Fire Service had four crews tackling the fire on Anglesey, which started at about 21:10 BST on Thursday.

Ynys Mon MP Albert Owen tweeted there were "no reported injuries" and the area around the Holyhead RNLI station was evacuated as a precaution.

"Emergency services have the matter under control," he added.

Holyhead Port, one of the UK's busiest ports with daily ferries to the Republic of Ireland, said the fire was not affecting its operations.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said it had been made aware of the fire but paramedics were not required.

The fire service confirmed the blaze had been brought under control by 23:30.

For more on the incident, the BBC has more by clicking here.

Published in Coastal Notes

#MarineScience - The research vessel operations team at the Marine Institute are hosting a workshop for research vessel users at the institute's Oranmore headquarters on Thursday 28 April.

The aim of the workshop is to give marine scientists across a range of disciplines the opportunity to discuss their research, and their experience on both the RV Celtic Explorer and RV Celtic Voyager, as well as using the ROV Holland 1.

It will also allow the research vessel operations team to highlight the capabilities of both research vessels post 2015 refits, and to gather feedback about how the service could be improved.

The meeting will commence at 9am and it is planned to finish at 6pm. There will be an opportunity to have a Q&A session around the talks and gather feedback from both the user and the service provider. Contact [email protected] with any queries.

The research vessel users workshop will be followed by a SMARTSkills day workshop also in Oranmore on Friday 29 April with training sessions on the following:

  • MaxSea plotting software.
  • Shipboard Computer System (SCS) training.
  • IxBlue Echoes Sub Bottom Profiler training: practice and processing.
  • CTD training.
  • ADCP training.
  • Kongsberg Multibeam operating system (SIS).

All of the above equipment will be available for hands-on training and there will also be a wide selection of other scientific equipment on display on the day. See the SMARTSkills website for further information. A draft agenda for the SMARTSkills training can be found HERE.

Published in Marine Science

#MarineScience - The SMARTSkills 2013 Postgraduate Workshop on Research Funding Opportunities and Marine Data Access will be held on the 24 and 25 October 2013 hosted by the Marine Institute in Oranmore, Galway.

The two-day workshop is organised by the Strategic Marine Alliance for Research and Training (SMART) and is sponsored by Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), and aims to support postgraduate researchers by providing practical, concise information on accessing research funding and marine data sets, two topics identified as essential for emerging marine researchers.

Day one of the workshop will focus on funding mechanisms, researcher mobility, careers and access to infrastructure and training.

Speakers are drawn from a wide range of scholarship and research organisations including the Higher Education Authority, Erasmus Mundus, AquaTT, Science Foundation Ireland, Irish University Association, Enterprise Ireland, Marie Curie, Euraxess, European Research Council and UCD Innovation Academy, along with a number of research funding programmes including Horizon 2020 and Interreg V.

The second day will address how to access and mine the huge variety of marine biological, oceanographic, environmental and ocean energy-related datasets and model outputs available.

National and International marine data experts will present on online data portals and datasets including SeaDataNet, My Ocean, PlanktonNet, EMODNet, INFOMAR, MIDA, ICAN and ICES. The topic of data management will also be examined with a focus on formatting, metadata and archiving data.

SMARTSkills will also serve as a networking and social opportunity and facilitate marine researchers in communicating their research with potential future collaborations. All attendees are therefore also requested to give a two-minute flash presentation on their research.

The workshop is open to all postgraduate students of marine science, technology and engineering from across the island of Ireland.

The SMART postgraduate workshop is free to students from all member institutes. A registration fee of €75 is payable by students from institutes not involved with the SMART consortium, although some scholarships are available.

SMART partners include: Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT); Galway Mayo Institute of technology (GMIT); Marine Institute (MI); NUI Galway (NUIG); University College Cork (UCC) and University of Ulster (UU).

All prospective attendees register online before tomorrow Friday 18 October. Registration and further information is available HERE. For any further queries contact the SMART team at [email protected].

Published in Marine Science

#MarineScience - The 10th Shellfish Safety Science workshop will take place at the Marine Institute in Galway on Thursday 18 April 2013.

This one-day event is an opportunity for anyone working in the area of shellfish safety, including regulators, scientists as well as industry, to meet and exchange information on the latest advances in the field.

Irish regulatory agencies will provide updates on recent shellfish biotoxin, toxin-producing algae, harmful algal blooms and shellfish microbiology.

There will be presentations from research projects that are nearing completion on the toxicology and causative organism responsible for Azaspiracid shellfish poisoning which caused extensive economic hardship in 2012 and 2013.

A new EU project using advanced satellite imagery, mathematical modelling and real-time monitoring to provide short-term predictions will be demonstrated, showing how this multidisciplinary approach may provide useful information on biotoxin outbreaks for shellfish producers.  

On the microbiological side, presentations on shellfish contamination from Norovirus and how the Shellfish Waters Directive aims to monitor and improve environmental conditions for shellfish cultivation will be given.   

Further information on these and other aspects of the workshop are available on the Marine Institute website at www.marine.ie. Attendance is free but registration is required by emailing [email protected].

Published in Marine Science

#MARINE WILDLIFE - A meeting of the Northern Ireland Marine Task Force (NIMTF) last week brought together interests from across the spectrum to discuss the new Marine Bill and ensure it will "deliver for all sea users".

The workshop at Castle Espie on Strangford Lough last Thursday 22 March saw politicians sit down with environmentalists, fishermen and wind farm developers, and engage with those responsible for drafting the proposed legislation.

According to a statement from the Ulster Wildlife Trust, which is a member of the NIMTF, the bill "provides for the creation of a network of marine protected areas to protect marine wildlife" as well as a roadmap for a more joined-up approach to the North's marine resources.

NIMTF spokesperson Ricky Devlin said: "We now need to ensure that [the bill] addresses the full range of environmental, recreational and commercial interests such as fishing, diving, electricity generation and aquaculture."

A full report of the meeting will be available shortly from www.nimtf.org

Published in Marine Wildlife
The Marine Institute will be hosting an ARCOPOL oil spill modelling workshop in Galway on Tuesday 13 September.
This one-day workshop is an opportunity to discuss the development of common procedures, techniques and decision tools for the management of response to oil spills and other hazardous and noxious substances.
The event is being held at the Marine Institute, Rinville, Oranmore, Co Galway under the auspices of the EU Interreg Atlantic Area Project ARCOPOL, in which the Marine Institute is a participant.
For detailed information see the agenda which is available to download HERE.
All relevant professionals are invited; attendance is free but limited on a first-come-first served basis. Registration is mandatory by e-mail to [email protected].

The Marine Institute will be hosting an ARCOPOL oil spill modelling workshop in Galway on Tuesday 13 September.

This one-day workshop is an opportunity to discuss the development of common procedures, techniques and decision tools for the management of response to oil spills and other hazardous and noxious substances. 

The event is being held at the Marine Institute, Rinville, Oranmore, Co Galway under the auspices of the EU Interreg Atlantic Area Project ARCOPOL, in which the Marine Institute is a participant.  

For detailed information see the agenda which is available to download HERE.

All relevant professionals are invited; attendance is free but limited on a first-come-first served basis. Registration is mandatory by e-mail to [email protected].

Published in Marine Science
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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - FAQS

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are geographically defined maritime areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources. In addition to conserving marine species and habitats, MPAs can support maritime economic activity and reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

MPAs can be found across a range of marine habitats, from the open ocean to coastal areas, intertidal zones, bays and estuaries. Marine protected areas are defined areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources.

The world's first MPA is said to have been the Fort Jefferson National Monument in Florida, North America, which covered 18,850 hectares of sea and 35 hectares of coastal land. This location was designated in 1935, but the main drive for MPAs came much later. The current global movement can be traced to the first World Congress on National Parks in 1962, and initiation in 1976 of a process to deliver exclusive rights to sovereign states over waters up to 200 nautical miles out then began to provide new focus

The Rio ‘Earth Summit’ on climate change in 1992 saw a global MPA area target of 10% by the 2010 deadline. When this was not met, an “Aichi target 11” was set requiring 10% coverage by 2020. There has been repeated efforts since then to tighten up MPA requirements.

Marae Moana is a multiple-use marine protected area created on July 13th 2017 by the government of the Cook islands in the south Pacific, north- east of New Zealand. The area extends across over 1.9 million square kilometres. However, In September 2019, Jacqueline Evans, a prominent marine biologist and Goldman environmental award winner who was openly critical of the government's plans for seabed mining, was replaced as director of the park by the Cook Islands prime minister’s office. The move attracted local media criticism, as Evans was responsible for developing the Marae Moana policy and the Marae Moana Act, She had worked on raising funding for the park, expanding policy and regulations and developing a plan that designates permitted areas for industrial activities.

Criteria for identifying and selecting MPAs depends on the overall objective or direction of the programme identified by the coastal state. For example, if the objective is to safeguard ecological habitats, the criteria will emphasise habitat diversity and the unique nature of the particular area.

Permanence of MPAs can vary internationally. Some are established under legislative action or under a different regulatory mechanism to exist permanently into the future. Others are intended to last only a few months or years.

Yes, Ireland has MPA cover in about 2.13 per cent of our waters. Although much of Ireland’s marine environment is regarded as in “generally good condition”, according to an expert group report for Government published in January 2021, it says that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are of “wide concern due to increasing pressures such as overexploitation, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change”.

The Government has set a target of 30 per cent MPA coverage by 2030, and moves are already being made in that direction. However, environmentalists are dubious, pointing out that a previous target of ten per cent by 2020 was not met.

Conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment has been mandated by a number of international agreements and legal obligations, as an expert group report to government has pointed out. There are specific requirements for area-based protection in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the OSPAR Convention, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Yes, the Marine Strategy Framework directive (2008/56/EC) required member states to put measures in place to achieve or maintain good environmental status in their waters by 2020. Under the directive a coherent and representative network of MPAs had to be created by 2016.

Ireland was about halfway up the EU table in designating protected areas under existing habitats and bird directives in a comparison published by the European Commission in 2009. However, the Fair Seas campaign, an environmental coalition formed in 2022, points out that Ireland is “lagging behind “ even our closest neighbours, such as Scotland which has 37 per cent. The Fair Seas campaign wants at least 10 per cent of Irish waters to be designated as “fully protected” by 2025, and “at least” 30 per cent by 2030.

Nearly a quarter of Britain’s territorial waters are covered by MPAs, set up to protect vital ecosystems and species. However, a conservation NGO, Oceana, said that analysis of fishing vessel tracking data published in The Guardian in October 2020 found that more than 97% of British MPAs created to safeguard ocean habitats, are being dredged and bottom trawled. 

There’s the rub. Currently, there is no definition of an MPA in Irish law, and environment protections under the Wildlife Acts only apply to the foreshore.

Current protection in marine areas beyond 12 nautical miles is limited to measures taken under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives or the OSPAR Convention. This means that habitats and species that are not listed in the EU Directives, but which may be locally, nationally or internationally important, cannot currently be afforded the necessary protection

Yes. In late March 2022, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said that the Government had begun developing “stand-alone legislation” to enable identification, designation and management of MPAs to meet Ireland’s national and international commitments.

Yes. Environmental groups are not happy, as they have pointed out that legislation on marine planning took precedence over legislation on MPAs, due to the push to develop offshore renewable energy.

No, but some activities may be banned or restricted. Extraction is the main activity affected as in oil and gas activities; mining; dumping; and bottom trawling

The Government’s expert group report noted that MPA designations are likely to have the greatest influence on the “capture fisheries, marine tourism and aquaculture sectors”. It said research suggests that the net impacts on fisheries could ultimately be either positive or negative and will depend on the type of fishery involved and a wide array of other factors.

The same report noted that marine tourism and recreation sector can substantially benefit from MPA designation. However, it said that the “magnitude of the benefits” will depend to a large extent on the location of the MPA sites within the network and the management measures put in place.

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