Just the Facts | Protecting Irish Seas

In November 2025, the Irish government announced the approval of the preparation of a General Scheme for the Maritime Area Planning (Marine Protected Areas) (Amendment) Bill. This will form the legal basis within Ireland for the expansion, alteration, designation and management of Marine Protected Areas. 

This Just the Facts provides an overview of Marine Protected Areas and how they might be the key to reaching Ireland’s contribution to the 30% by 2030 (30X30) goal. It also looks at MPAs from the perspectives of local communities and how they need to be consulted in the development and implementation of any legislation.

What is a Marine Protected Area?  

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are specially designated parts of the ocean and a range of marine habitats which aim to protect, conserve, and even restore marine wildlife, habitats, or geographical features. They are supported in legislation and enforced by governments, and they play an important role in transforming ocean health, local environments, and biodiversity. They have been compared to having a “national park in the ocean”, in the sense that while MPAs place limits on human activity, many allow some degree of public access as long as it is not damaging to the environment. Threats to Ireland’s marine environments are numerous and vary from overfishing to pollution and industrial dredging, which have the potential to wipe out both marine life and biodiversity. MPAs therefore are essential to protecting and restoring marine ecosystems. Over 5,000 MPAs exist worldwide, covering approximately 8% of the ocean.  

Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is more than seven times the size of our island, over 220 million acres (880,000Km2), and ranges from the East Coast around Dublin Bay and Wexford to the Whittard Canyon to the South and past the continental shelf out the West of Ireland. Our marine territory is extensive and one of the largest in Europe, a fact that is little known to much of Ireland’s population.  

It is part of a wonderful global ecosystem and acts as a crucial home for many incredible creatures, from whales and sharks to seabirds and seals. Many environmental campaigners have sought strengthened and expanded protection of Irish seas and have long advocated for the immediate designation of more MPAs in order to restore the health of Ireland’s marine environment. 

How much of Irish Seas are protected today? 

Only around 9% of Ireland’s marine area is currently designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) or Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and many of these areas lack appropriate management, resourcing, or enforcement, rendering them ineffective. 

Different groups, ranging from campaigners to communities and fishermen, have asked the government to strengthen its existing commitment to reach the goal of protecting 30% of Ireland’s marine area by 2030 while also ensuring that 10% of that area is designated as strictly protected or ‘No-Take’, meaning all human activity would be banned in those locations in order to allow their ecosystems to thrive.  

What obligations does Ireland have to protect our seas?

Ireland is obligated to protect its marine area under three principal frameworks.  Under the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, an ambitious plan to reverse the degradation of ecosystems and a fundamental pillar of the European Green Deal, each member state is responsible for protecting 30% of their land area and 30% of their marine area by 2030. This is the main framework underpinning Ireland’s commitment to protecting its seas, and it is accompanied by the OSPAR Regional Sea Convention for the Protection of the North East Atlantic Environment and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, both of which contain the same goal of increasing MPA coverage across their respective jurisdictions. 

At the EU level, the total area covered by MPAs increased from 4.15% in 2012 to 13.7% in 2023, meaning that a significant expansion of these areas is required if the EU is to reach its 2030 target. While some member states such as Germany, France and Belgium had made a lot of progress by 2023, Ireland was among the countries with some of the least progress, alongside Portugal, Slovenia and Malta.  

Ireland’s marine territory  

The marine wildlife in our seas vary wildly depending on the location. Irish seas are home to a spectacular array of wildlife from famous basking sharks on the Southern and Northern coasts to commercially significant populations of cod, herring, whiting, and Dublin Bay prawns in the East and across our wider marine area. Irish waters are home to some critically endangered species such as flapper skates in Donegal, and to populations like minke and humpback whales, bottlenose and Risso’s dolphins, and migratory seabirds. 

Ireland’s marine territory contains some of the largest and most valuable fisheries resources in Europe and is also an important source of renewable energy. Moreover, the ocean economy makes a significant contribution to the Irish economy, with an annual turnover of €6.5bn. 

How does creating a Marine Protected Area affect local fishing communities?

Evidence shows that sustainable, responsible, and low-impact fishing alongside MPAs give ecosystems within our seas the opportunity to recover, while replenishing stocks, enhancing their quality, and advancing the security of fishing in small communities in the longer term. Depleted stocks of cod, anchovy, or whiting for example make for a smaller and poorer quality catch with less economic value for those who rely upon fishing for their livelihood, and so community-led MPAs can provide for a more reliable local economy as well as helping nature thrive. 

In fact, many MPAs that work in partnership with local communities have proven additional benefits, such as enhanced community spirit, a sense of cohesive citizen-led decision-making, the retention of historic placenames and other forms of heritage, and expanded environmental tourism opportunities for businesses and small local enterprises.  

How do campaigners think we should legislate in order to meet our targets? 

In August 2023, Irish marine protection campaign group, Fair Seas, released a briefing outlining their ten key asks of the government for Marine Protected Area legislation. These included robust management of protected areas with a strategy aimed at not just protection but regrowth within these areas, strict timelines for implementation, enhanced stakeholder engagement, and strengthened language with regard to the role of the relevant minister in the process of developing MPAs. 

Fair Seas make up a coalition of Ireland’s leading environmental NGOs and climate campaigners and have played a key role in progressing the issue of ocean restoration. They argue that meeting the 30% protected by 2030 goal is essential for Ireland, both in terms of protecting our seas and promoting biodiversity, but also in terms of meeting our EU obligations and playing our part in the protection of the climate globally. 

The response of the Irish government

After significant delays, the Irish government has approved the preparation of a “General Scheme” for MPA legislation, which will be prepared by the Department of Climate, Energy & the Environment, and will provide the legal basis for the expansion and designation of these areas. While the government has not included a timeline for the preparation of the General Scheme, this is a crucial step towards the design and approval of legislation of any kind in the Oireachtas. 

The government has restated its commitment to meeting its obligations to protect 30% of Irish Seas by 2030 and has promised “an in-depth public participation process” with Minister of State Timmy Dooley commenting upon the approval of the preparation of a General Scheme, “My primary ambition is to achieve our stated ambition of designating 30% of the maritime area protected by 2030. I consider that our new legislative approach will ensure that we get there as quickly as possible, establishing an ecologically coherent network of MPAs.” 

Once the General Scheme has been prepared, the government will need to give sign-off before the beginning of the legislative process can start and Ireland can begin to enact MPA legislation, in line with its goals to protect 30% of Irish Seas by 2030. 

However, fishing communities are also requesting that they are consulted and involved in the design and implementation of MPA legislation in the country. A recent Joint Oireachtas committee hearing on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs which took place on 9 December 2025, saw the voices of fishing communities brought to the fore in calling for a robust consultation with communities and those who rely on fishing for economic purposes and for whom fishing is a tradition passed down generations. Representatives expressed concern about the potential impacts on the viability of fishing communities in terms of their economies and population sizes and called for adequate socio-economic impact assessments, safeguards and that their traditional knowledge is incorporated into MPA plans. Patrick Murphy of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation commented in the January session that “Nobody knows the marine environment better than those who work on it every day. We want to protect it, but we need fairness and respect.” 

The Joint Committee debate comes as Irish fishermen say they are facing hardening economic conditions following the loss of one third of Ireland’s national fishing quota, which has been reduced due to overfishing. The reduction has affected species which are critical are the economic output of Ireland’s fishing industry such as mackerel, of which the total allowable catch has been cut by 70 percent, potentially costing the sector up to €200 million.