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Displaying items by tag: Niall O’Toole

St. Michael’s Rowing Club, Dún Laoghaire are organising a free live training session for anyone who has access to a rowing machine. The session is provided by Niall O’Toole, rowing Olympian and World Champion. The session will be streamed live on Facebook on Thursday, the 9th of April, at 8.00 pm.

The last few weeks have brought about many cancellations in rowing events, and more are bound to happen. With good reason too, as the safety of rowers and their families is most important, given the current circumstances. Naturally, this has an effect on the rowing community, not only in terms of the sporting calendar but also of the wellbeing of their members.

As many rowers would say, rowing plays an important part in the lives of amateur club members, especially in the spring and summer months. It is an opportunity to work out, stay fit but also to socialise. It is an exercise of being in the present, in tune with crew members, of syncing your movements, your breath and the focus of your attention. Most importantly, it is the practice of generously giving your energy, drive and passion to a crew. That often means getting past the pain barrier and becoming mentally strong to follow your aim. Sometimes the results are there with your crew, sometimes they go to different crews and different clubs, but the benefits are there for all. With this in mind, a group of rowers from the St. Michael’s Rowing Club, Dún Laoghaire, have come up with an initiative of providing a live training session for those who have access to a rowing machine.

The format of the session is: 1 hour long, with 4 areas to cover, relevant for everyone.

  • First 15 min: Technique/ Warm Up/ Intro Drills
  • Second 15 min: Endurance Rowing Tips and demo
  • Third 15 min: 15 Mins Power Pull
  • Fourth 15 min: Speed Hit

The session is given by Nial O’Toole of CrewClass. Crew Class was founded by Niall O’Toole, Ireland’s first-ever rowing World Champion, three-time Olympian 1992, 1996 and 2004 Olympics, and former World Record holder.

A multi-medallist, his pioneering international rowing career spanned two decades, including 15 World Championships. Niall will explain all the different aspects of using the erg, and also demonstrate.

The message from the St. Michaels’ rowers is that ‘anyone with an erg can join in - the session is free. We cannot change the present circumstances, but we want to give something back to the rowing community. We hope to be able to provide more free sessions in the upcoming weeks. So wherever you are, whatever level of experience you have, feel free to tune in this Thursday, the 9th of April, starting at 8.00 pm.’

The session will also be uploaded on Youtube within a few days of the live streaming.

Published in Coastal Rowing

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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