Marine Work Group Ireland

Marine Work Group Ireland is an ad hoc group and policy forum established in 2002 by Friends of the Irish Environment. Our aim is to encourage the development and implementation of policies at national and EU level concerning the protection, conservation, restoration and sustainability of Ireland's ocean and coastal environments, ecological systems and biological diversity.

At national level, we collaborate with other Irish environmental non-governmental organisations (ngo) concerning marine issues.

However, much of our work is undertaken at EU level, for example, by contributing to European Commission consultations on fisheries and maritime policy. We work with European colleagues and authorities to put pressure on the Irish government to close loopholes and implement EU legislation effectively. We have worked closely with WWF on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and as part of the Seas At Risk federation of European marine environmental ngos.

Through Friends of the Irish Environment, we champion the social and ecological perspective concerning Ireland's maritime sustainability in an effort to counterbalance the domineering economic and political forces, such as the multinational aquaculture and oil industries, which drive undesirable environmental change and social transformation at local, regional, national and global levels.

As the powers-that-be push headlong towards unsustainable globalisation, natural resource depletion and life-threatening climate change, we question whether "development" can be "sustainable" given the current mindset. Is it possible to dig our way out of the hole?

• Is turning our coastal waters into a massive fish farm an appropriate response to overfishing our seas?
  
  
• Should the pursuit of Ireland's offshore oil reserves continue to be subsidised with taxpayers' money instead of offshore renewables?
  
  
• Should coastal development be left to a patchwork of local interests instead of being managed centrally in the national interest?
  
  
• How can Ireland call for developing country debt-reduction whilst simultaneously allowing Co Donegal based supertrawlers to grab the vital fishery resources of some of Africa's poorest and most undernourished people?

Marine Work Group Ireland is concerned with benign, socially responsible, publicly desirable, and genuinely sustainable alternatives.

Vision

From the highest mountains, via bog and river, through coastal areas to the deepest Atlantic waters west of Ireland — We envision wild, healthy and resilient marine ecosystems thriving with diverse and abundant wildlife, free of pollution, protected through enlightened management, sustaining coastal communities and a healthy society.

We see a growing crisis: hazardous chemicals, overfishing, habitat damage, coastal development, accelerated sea level rise due to climate change, and other threats to species and ecosystems are pushing Ireland's seas, coasts and vulnerable human communities towards collapse.

In our vision we want:

• The intrinsic, intangible and social values of the oceans, seas, islands and coastal areas recognised and given some weight.
  
  
• Stewardship of the marine environment to be guided by principles.
  
  
• Clean water so we can eat safely from the sea and clean water to bathe in.
  
  
• Clean beaches to walk, play and relax on.
  
  
• Access to the seas and coasts to meet a wide range of social and recreational needs.
  
  
• Healthy and productive marine ecosystems, with biodiversity protected from human threats and pressures.
  
  
• The ability to enjoy the economic benefits without compromising the health and well-being of the marine environment.
  
  
• To have enlightened management that does not compromise future interests and needs, and ensures that healthy seas and coasts are part of the heritage of Ireland's children in perpetuity.
  
  
• The management of human interactions with the marine environment to reflect Irish perspectives.
  
  
• Certainty and clarity of the rights and responsibilities associated with use and enjoyment of the marine environment.
  
  
• Conditions that foster a collective sense of responsibility for the well-being of the marine environment.

Such a vision requires a marine environment where:

• Natural habitats and wild fauna and flora of the seas and coasts are protected, conserved and, if degraded, restored where practicable to their former condition.
  
  
• Living and non-living marine resources are used sensitively as well as sustainably.
  
  
• Conflicting uses of the same resources and areas are dealt with resolutely and equitably.
  
  
• All human activities that affect the marine environment are planned and managed through an integrated ecosystem-based approach, including proper strategic and project level environmental impact assessment.
  
  
• Pollution from all land-based and at-sea sources are eliminated.
  
  
• Maritime transport is safe as well as clean.

Coastal communities must be empowered to protect and manage marine and coastal resources on behalf of society, and local as well as national management capacity must be increased. There must also be — at all levels of government — a real commitment toward responsibility, good governance, the provision of information and guidance, and the promotion of education and public awareness, participation and dialogue.

Mission

Our mission is to help foster and facilitate the conditions necessary for sustaining the structure (diversity) and functioning (processes) of stable ocean and coastal social-ecological systems; the protection and conservation of ocean and coastal wildlife and habitats; the restoration of impaired ocean and coastal ecosystems; and the sustainable, equitable and ethical use of renewable natural marine resources.

Aims

Through science-based advocacy, policy formulation and public awareness campaigns we aim to inform, inspire and help people from all walks of life to be advocates for the oceans.

Our principal aim is to encourage a national dialogue on the policies needed to restore and sustain the health of Ireland's marine environment and biodiversity.

Marine Work Group Ireland makes formal recommendations on a variety of marine environmental issues in reports to the Government of Ireland and other bodies including the European Commission, European Parliament, OSPAR Commission and United Nations Environment Programme.

Friends of the Irish Environment

Friends of the Irish Environment is an environmental non-governmental organisation comprising a network created by conservationists in Ireland in order to monitor the full implementation of European environmental law, to work for changes in the Irish planning laws, and to pursue concerns and cases in both the built and the natural environment based on the principles of sustainable development.

Friends of the Irish Environment produces The Papers Today, which provides online daily coverage of environmental news stories of relevance to Ireland.