Grace Carr

So we are currently waiting for new national marine protected area legislation.

It was first promised in the 2020 programme for government.

Three years ago, we had a general scheme for the legislation and it went through pre-legislative scrutiny and we were hoping that that was going to move ahead.

But unfortunately, due to, you know, different reasons that got scrapped and now it's going down a different route.

So instead of a standalone bill, it is now going to be an amendment to the Marine Area Planning Act.

So we're still actually waiting on the general scheme for that.

So we're actually kind of further behind than we were three years ago because we had a general scheme then and now we don't.

So we're waiting for that to be released.

Yes, I mean, there could have been some concerns with that, that, you know, maybe the ambition wouldn't be as high because it's not its own legislation.

But again, if this amendment is done right and, you know, it contains all of sort of Fersi's key asks and that we want

the ambitious targets included for 30% coverage, including at least 10% strictly protected, that there are effective management plans that are released alongside any new designations, and also that there's the early and ongoing stakeholder engagement throughout the entire process.

So if all that's included, then the amendment could absolutely be as strong as a standalone bill.

We just need to make sure that we get it right.

Yes, well, the legislation could absolutely have the legal underpinning for a lot of these things and make sure that there is the cross departmental coordination when it comes to the enforcement, because, you know, the marine space is kind of split between different departments, you know, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Department of Climate.

And, you know, they all need to work together and the same with the different government bodies as well, like NPWS and the Sea Fisheries Protection Agency.

So everyone needs to know what their role will be when it comes to this enforcement and management of it as well.

And we've heard as well with the early and ongoing stakeholder engagement with everybody involved.

So the fishing community, civil society, whenever they're brought in from the very beginning and they know what's happening, that, you know, that it's not a surprise.

It's not just thrown on them.

They know what the process is.