From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage invites observations, views and comments on the review and development of Ireland’s Marine Strategy Part 1: Assessment (Article 8), Determination of Good Environmental Status (Article 9) and Environmental Targets (Article 10) under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC)
Ireland’s MSFD Marine Strategy Part 1 contains the most comprehensive and up to date assessment of the status of Ireland’s marine environment, the characteristics of what Good Environmental Status (GES) should look like, and a revised set of environmental targets for each of the 11 qualitative descriptors of the Directive. It also contains a socio-economic analysis of the use of Ireland’s marine waters and of the cost of degradation of the marine environment.
Ireland is an island nation with a rich maritime culture and heritage, with one of the largest maritime territories in Europe. Our waters are extremely productive and host unique ecosystems which provide us with many benefits and services, including supporting fisheries, regulating our climate, and providing cultural, social and ecosystem services. The effective management of human activities in our ocean and our coastal waters is essential to ensure that the environment is used sustainability and guarantee that the seas and marine species are diverse and abundant, and continue to provide benefits for present and future generations.
The implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive MSFD, 2008/56/EC provides a toolbox for setting policy on the marine environment and taking action to tackle the challenges faced in achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) and hence a clean, healthy, biologically diverse and sustainably used marine environment that is resilient to climate change. The six year cycle 3 of the MSFD begins in 2024 with a revision of Irelands Marine Strategy Part 1. This includes a draft assessment of GES (Art. 8), a renewed definition of what GES looks like for each descriptor (Art. 9) and updated environmental targets (Art. 10)
Nationally, facilitating all interested parties (the public, stakeholders, maritime sectors and others) to play an active role in the decision-making process ensures that the needs of all stakeholders are considered, while concurrently strengthening societal support for action.
This consultation forms part of that participation and focuses specifically on the updates to implementation of Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the Directive to give interested parties the chance to provide their views on the updated Marine Strategy Part 1.
The last assessment of Irelands Marine Environment was published in 2020 Marine Strategy Part 1 : Article 8, 9 and 10 Assessment. At that time five of the 11 descriptors had achieved or maintained GES (non-indigenous species, eutrophication, hydrographical conditions, contaminants and contaminants in seafood), GES was also achieved for certain features assessed under two descriptors: marine litter (beach litter) and noise (impulsive noise), while three descriptors partially achieved GES: biodiversity, commercial fish and shellfish, and sea-floor integrity.
The 2024 assessment represents the most detailed understanding of Ireland’s marine environment to date including the health of Ireland’s marine species and habitats, and the main pressures affecting them. This was possible through the combination of data from over 20 monitoring programmes and 22 scientific assessments detailed in Ireland’s Marine Strategy Part 2 : Monitoring Programmes. This assessment helps evaluate how well current measures are working and identifies areas needing improvement. It also uncovers gaps in our knowledge which will guide future assessment requirements.
For the first time Ireland has included an assessment of the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on the marine environment in its Article 8 assessment. This is a first step in identifying additional measures to improve resilience, protect sensitive ecosystems and augment ecosystem services such as blue carbon storage.
Every six years the characteristics for achieving GES are revised. These characteristics define the environmental quality to be achieved for the 11 descriptors. These characteristics can be supported by a threshold value, or range of values, that allows for a measureable assessment of the quality level. Ireland’s existing GES definitions, as defined in cycle 2 (2020), were considered and where relevant revised. This revision provides a more focused determination against which to consider the pressure and state assessments, includes threshold values developed through regional and EU cooperation, and reflects any advances in scientific knowledge and understanding of GES since 2020. A list of the GES determinations can be found in Annex I of the main report.
Environmental targets guide progress towards achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) in the marine environment and bridge the gap between the current environmental status (Article 8) and the desired GES (Article 9).
Environmental targets can identify, in a quantitative or qualitative manner, the acceptable levels of, or necessary changes to, environmental pressures on the marine environment. They may also reflect GES itself or the actual changes necessary to the current state in order to achieve or maintain GES.
Targets are closely linked to the specific actions under Ireland’s Marine Strategy Part 3 : Programme of Measures (PoMs). The assessment of a target is assessed by how much the pressure or impact has been reduced or by how much the status has been improved. Restoration targets include goals to maintain or improve the status of marine habitats to ensure they provide vital ecosystem services such as the regulation of climate, the sustainable use of the marine environment and protection of endangered habitats and species.
Through this public consultation we would like to hear your views on Ireland’s Draft Marine Strategy Part 1. Specifically, we would like your views on the Article 8 Assessments of Good Environmental Status, the Article 9 GES Determination and the Article 10 Environmental Targets as defined for each of the 11 Descriptors of the MSFD.
We are inviting any interested parties (e.g. individual persons or groups) to provide comments and make submissions on the updated Marine Strategy Part 1. To get involved, please consider the three documents provided below. You can send in your views and observations using the contact details below:
All submissions must be entered by 5pm on Wednesday 25th September 2024.
Irelands Marine Strategy Part 1: Article 8, 9 and 10 report (including Annex I & II)
All comments submitted to the Department are subject to release under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014 and the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007-2014. Comments are also subject to Data Protection legislation. Please see privacy statement under the documents section for more details