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Chapter 1: What are the current challenges facing humpback whales in Irish waters?
We're all about the oceans on Countrywide this morning, and there should have been lots of humpback whale sightings by this time of year off the Irish coast, but there have only been two in the whole of 2026 so far. Humpbacks come to Ireland for the sprat, the... form 70% of their diet. But there is now no SPRAT quota for small boats in Irish waters. They can be fished without limitation.
When we catch them, we grind them up to feed to farmed salmon. It's another one of the reasons that we need marine protected areas for species to breed without any interference from humans. So, last best hope for a sea in crisis.
But MPAs, Marine Protected Areas, would also be a significant new onus on a fishing fleet, as you've been hearing, already heavily burdened by rule and restriction whenever they put to sea. There were plenty of people in Cork this week from around the world with experience of managing MPAs so that they put plenty more fish in the sea without driving fishing boats off the water.
They were at the Fair Seas Conference for World Oceans Week. I talked to three of them, beginning with Mina Epps from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. That's the global organisation of governments, non-profits and scientists that's best known for drawing up the red list of endangered animal species. I asked her what the oceans are saying to us about their health.
What are our oceans saying to us now about their health?
Yes, they're screaming at us. I think they've been so generous to us, providing all these services. But at the moment, it's almost if you speak to oceanographers and biologists alike, when it comes to the ocean, it's all about adaptation, really.
What kind of an intervention can we make now that will make any sort of a difference?
I mean, nature has an extraordinary ability to kind of recover itself and heal. It's just that the pace and the destruction and the damage that we've done to the ocean has been in such a fast pace that you don't have the time to adapt. As I always say, when we need to recover and restore ocean health, you need to start with removing the threats, build resilience and enhance recovery.
And enhancing recovery is at scale. And we need investment and resources to do that and will continue.
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Chapter 2: How do marine protected areas (MPAs) contribute to ocean health?
But in order to get any kind of agreement or global targets, these are politically negotiated. So the outcome is a negotiated outcome. Like the actual target was 10%. That was not the scientific indication. That was a negotiated outcome.
Marine protection will mean different things in different parts of the world, but what are the baselines here for what a marine protected area should be?
So that's why an international definition is so important. So IUCN already in 1974 put out a definition of what is a marine protected area. And there are different categories going all the way from strict and highly protected all the way to basically allowing even oil and gas exploration. So you have a whole different category.
But in order to be affected, we need highly and fully protected marine protected areas.
Belinda Brownlee, from the Protected Areas Foundation, you have a lot of experience in the United Kingdom now of what does and doesn't work when it comes to providing marine protection. What does work?
I think what I see working in the UK is community-led efforts, particularly from individuals that have an investment in that marine space, be they fishermen, be they recreational fishers, tour operators, local businesses that depend on the ocean.
Because there will always be resistance to top-down imposed solutions?
Perhaps, but our communities are tired, I think, as they are across Europe of inaction by government. So we've designated these areas, but really they're just lines on the map. We haven't put them into operation with resourcing and we never consulted our communities about where those protected areas should be in practice. So, yeah.
When they don't work, when they are just lines on maps, why is that one?
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Chapter 3: What insights does Mina Epps provide about the oceans' health?
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.
I understand from sources in government that we will have a general scheme where it'll go to government for approval anyway before the summer recess. Do you have any concerns that it is not going to be standalone legislation, it's now being tacked on to a planning act?
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.
This is really two different conversations, isn't it, though? Because there's the legislation, which is foundational, is necessary, has to come first. But what you're talking about is enforcement, is management, is education, is the proper resources to make sure that this all works. And that's not going to be in the legislation. That's something entirely separate.
It's a series of political commitments.
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.
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