Marine Blog

Keep up to date with BirdWatch Ireland's marine advocacy

Check out our marine blogs to find out more about our work to make Ireland a leader in marine conservation and sustainable fisheries management.

Fishing Opportunities As An Agent Of Change In EU Fisheries

The EU must reallocate fishing opportunities in order to incentivise a more environmnetally, socially & economically sustainable fishing industry.

Howth Harbour Fishing Boats

Stay refused banning large trawlers in Irelands inshore

BirdWatch Ireland react to the decision of the Court of Appeal to allow large trawlers to resume trawling in Ireland’s inshore.

McConalogue Must Take Control of Illegal Fishing Activities

By taking a progressive position in favour of a strong control regulation could see Ireland go from laggard to a leader in ending illegal fishing activities.

Kilmore Quay Harbour
shoal of fish swimming

52 NGOs URGE EU TO COMBAT ILLEGAL FISHING PRACTICES WITH CCTV

BirdWatch Ireland along with eight other Irish NGO’s have asked Minister McConalogue to reject proposals, which would significantly weaken the EUs ability to police illegal and unregaulted fishing activities.

Brexit battle lines look set to drive overfishing

The UK’s watered-down sustainability objectives could result in a race to the bottom in fisheries negotiations.

Box of Gurnard (Jakub Kapusnak)
Atlantic Puffin with Sand Eels

Lessons Learned From Over A Decade Of EU Fisheries Reform

A new report by The PEW Charitable Trusts highlights decisive action needed to reform EU fisheires policy

The herring are not in the tides as they were of old

Three out of the five herring fisheries that Irish fishers are active in have collapsed. It’s time to learn from past mistakes and rebuild fish population for the benefit of people and planet.

Fish-Herring and sea life off Rockabill-Jacek Matysiak
fisherman-surrounded-by-seagulls

A Sea Change in Fisheries Control Needed

A new report by BirdWatch Ireland highlights serious issues with Irish fisheries control

Ireland can become a world leader in sustainable fisheries management

Birdwatch Ireland has make recommendations to place Ireland on a trajectory to become a world leader in sustainable fisheries management

fish-shoal-kelp
gannet-holds-fishing-net-in-its-beak

Common Fisheries Policy 2020 – A Discarded Opportunity

A new report by BirdWatch Ireland concludes that the EU and Ireland have failed to end overfishing

EU and UK must do more to protect deep sea fish

BirdWatch Ireland joined several European environmental NGOs to call for improved efforts to protect vulnerable deep sea fish in advance of fisheries negotiations.

Fishing Boat (Philipp Hullmann)

Unprecedented Collaboration between Fishing and Environmental Groups

Fishing and Environmental Groups Call on Minister McConalogue to Reinstate Inshore Fishing Ban.

Minister Must Reinstate Ban on Trawlers in Coastal Waters

Birdwatch Ireland and the Our Fish campaign have called on Minister McConalogue to immediately take the necessary steps to reinstate the ban, in order to protect Ireland’s coastal biodiversity and communities.

300 Scientists Urge EU To Protect Ocean Health As Climate Action

300 scientists from across Europe and Ireland have called on decision makers to set fishing limits within scientific advice, and recognise that ecosystem-based fisheries management is critical to the health of the ocean and its capacity to respond to climate change.

Scientists Urge EU To Protect Ocean Health As Climate Action

BirdWatch Ireland are participating in an international campaign coordinated by the eNGO OurFish, calling on Irish and EU decision makers to prioritise ending overfishing as a key action to address the global climate and biodiversity crises

Bottlenose Dolphin (Ceyhan Bekiroglu)
Fish Shoal (Lance Anderson)

Its time to bring EU fisheries negotiations into the light

Improving transparency and accountability in EU fisheries negotiations is critical to the future of fisheries management and marine conservtion.

The EU has failed abysmally to end overfishing

The EU have failed to meet our own legal deadline to end overfishing by 2020.

atlantic wolffish
cod-swimming

The Sad Story Of European Cod

One of our most famous fish is in crisis. The scientific assessment of cod stocks across Europe shows that almost all of them are in a critical state

Overfishing threatens to close Irish fisheries

The Irish Governments persistent efforts to keep fishing quotas above scientific advice has driven the collapse of many stocks, threatening many fisheries with imminent closure.

moray-eel-head
bergen-fish-market

Mind the ‘policy’ gap

Without transparency, there is no accountability.

Time to break the cycle of overfishing

EU fisheries policy remains blinkered by the exploitation of commercially important stocks rather than on the sustainable management of ecosystems.

shoal of fish swimming
gannet-flying-wings-outstretched

Overfishing to continue in 2019

Minister Creed misses out on making history by continuing to allow overfishing December 2018

Deep-Sea Campaign

Over the course of 2019 BirdWatch Ireland ran a campaign to urge EU decision makers to end overfishing in the deep-sea.

deep-sea-campaign-outside-european-council-building
green-fishing-net

The Landing Obligation

Time is running out for wasteful fishing practices in Europe

North Sea Cod

The sustainable certification of North Sea cod must be seen as an endorsement of the Common Fisheries Policy, not an excuse to ignore the real state of Europe’s marine environment.

fisherman-surrounded-by-seagulls