Marine Conservation Ireland – MPAs, Ocean Biodiversity and a Marine Territory Ten Times the Land Area

Marine conservation Ireland has emerged as one of the country’s most urgent environmental priorities. Ireland’s maritime territory covers approximately 880,000 square kilometres of seabed – roughly ten times the land area – making it one of the largest maritime jurisdictions in Europe. Yet for decades, marine conservation has received a fraction of the attention and resources devoted to terrestrial habitats. As of mid-2025, approximately 9.4% of Ireland’s seas had some form of protected designation, far below the EU target of 30% by 2030. This guide covers the state of Ireland’s marine environment, the long-delayed MPA legislation, the designation of Ireland’s first marine national park and the biodiversity that depends on what happens beneath the surface of Irish waters.

What lies beneath Ireland’s seas is extraordinary. Cold-water coral reefs, deep-sea canyons comparable in scale to the Grand Canyon, vast kelp forests, seagrass meadows and some of the most important seabird colonies in Europe are all found within Irish waters. Twenty-four species of whale and dolphin have been recorded, including fin whale, humpback whale, common dolphin and harbour porpoise. Sharks and rays, Atlantic salmon, sea trout, bluefin tuna and hundreds of species of fish, invertebrates and seaweeds make Ireland’s marine environment one of the richest in the northeast Atlantic. Yet the regulatory framework to protect this environment has been woefully inadequate for most of the state’s history.

🌊 Marine Protected Areas – The 30% Target

Ireland’s MPA coverage has been among the lowest in Europe. The government aims to expand from approximately 9.4% to 30% of its maritime area by 2030. Achieving this would mean protecting an area roughly twice the size of Ireland’s entire landmass. The existing designations are primarily Natura 2000 sites – Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under EU law. However, analysis by the Marine Conservation Institute found that most of these sites exist only “on paper,” with no evidence of active management or implementation on the water.

The MPA legislation has been subject to repeated delays. An independent MPA Advisory Group, chaired by Professor Tasman Crowe of UCD, recommended in 2020 that Ireland should designate at least 30% of its seas as MPAs. A standalone MPA Bill was promised for 2023 but was never published due to intergovernmental disagreements over how maritime activities should be managed within protected areas. In August 2025, responsibility for marine environment functions was transferred to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. In November 2025, the government approved a General Scheme for the Maritime Area Planning (Marine Protected Areas) (Amendment) Bill, which takes a different approach – amending the existing Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 rather than creating standalone MPA legislation.

Conservation groups including Fair Seas, whose petition garnered over 72,000 signatures, have criticised this revised approach as a “major downgrade” of the government’s commitment to marine protection. The government maintains that amending the existing Act will allow for the earliest possible designation of new MPAs. The €25 million MPA Life project is running stakeholder engagement to identify features in need of protection and co-design MPA plans with coastal communities.

🏔️ Pairc Naisiunta na Mara – Ireland’s First Marine National Park

In April 2024, Ireland designated its eighth national park – and its first to include a marine component. Pairc Naisiunta na Mara (Kerry Seas National Park) encompasses approximately 28,000 hectares of land and sea in County Kerry. It includes some of Ireland’s most iconic landscapes and seascapes: the Skellig Islands (Sceilig Mhichil is a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Blasket Islands, Inch dunes, Mount Brandon and the Kerry Head Shoal.

The designation marked a significant shift in how Ireland approaches nature conservation, recognising that marine and terrestrial habitats cannot be protected in isolation. The park’s waters support important populations of seabirds, cetaceans and marine species, while its coastal habitats include sand dunes, sea cliffs, machair and intertidal zones. The designation followed extensive community consultation and was welcomed by both conservation groups and local communities who see potential in marine-based eco-tourism.

🐋 Marine Biodiversity

Cetaceans

Ireland’s waters are among the most important in Europe for whales and dolphins. The deep waters off the continental shelf edge to the west and southwest are feeding grounds for fin whales (Europe’s largest resident whale), humpback whales (increasingly recorded off the south coast), sperm whales and beaked whales. Inshore waters support harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphin and common dolphin. The resident bottlenose dolphin population in the Shannon Estuary, numbering around 120-140 individuals, is one of the best-studied in Europe and is protected under a Special Area of Conservation designation. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has been monitoring cetacean populations for decades and has documented 24 species in Irish waters – a remarkable diversity for a country at the edge of the northeast Atlantic.

Seabird Colonies

Ireland’s offshore islands support seabird colonies of global significance. Skellig Michael hosts one of the largest gannet colonies in the world, along with puffins, storm petrels and Manx shearwaters. The Saltee Islands off Wexford, Great Blasket, Bull Rock off Cork and Rathlin Island off Antrim all support nationally and internationally important breeding populations. Many of these species are declining due to changing ocean temperatures affecting food availability, predation by invasive species and disturbance. Effective marine protection is essential for the survival of these colonies.

Deep-Sea Habitats

Ireland’s deep-sea environment includes some of the most remarkable habitats in European waters. Cold-water coral reefs, built primarily by Lophelia pertusa, grow in deep waters along the continental shelf edge. These reefs support diverse communities of fish and invertebrates and are extremely slow-growing, making them highly vulnerable to physical disturbance from bottom trawling. The Whittard Canyon system, included in the recently designated Southern Canyons SAC, has been described as comparable in scale to the Grand Canyon. These deep-sea habitats are among the least understood ecosystems in Irish waters and among the most vulnerable to human activity.

🎣 Fisheries and Aquaculture

Commercial fishing is one of the most significant human activities in Irish waters and one of the most contentious issues in marine conservation. Ireland operates within the EU Common Fisheries Policy, which sets catch quotas and management rules. However, overfishing, bycatch (the unintentional capture of non-target species) and the physical damage caused by bottom trawling to seabed habitats remain major concerns. The decline in fish stocks in Irish waters mirrors trends across the northeast Atlantic, and the relationship between MPAs and fishing rights is the single most politically sensitive aspect of marine conservation policy.

Aquaculture, particularly salmon farming, generates its own controversies. Concerns include the impact of farmed salmon on wild Atlantic salmon populations through escapees, sea lice transmission, waste discharge and the use of antibiotics and chemicals. A major incident at a salmon farm in Killary Harbour in early 2025, where significant numbers of fish escaped, renewed debate about the sustainability and regulation of the industry. Shellfish farming, including oysters and mussels, is generally less contentious but faces its own challenges from water quality issues and invasive species.

🌡️ Climate, Pollution and Blue Carbon

Climate change is altering Ireland’s marine environment in ways that are only beginning to be understood. Ocean temperatures are rising, affecting the distribution and abundance of marine species. Ocean acidification threatens shell-forming organisms. Changes in ocean currents may affect the productivity of Irish waters and the migration patterns of key species.

Marine pollution – plastic, microplastics, agricultural run-off reaching estuaries and coastal waters, and the risk of oil spills – adds further pressure. The Clean Oceans Initiative and various marine litter programmes work to address the most visible pollution, but diffuse pollution from land-based sources is harder to tackle and directly links marine conservation to water quality management.

⚡ Offshore Renewable Energy

Ireland’s ambitious offshore wind energy targets add another dimension to marine conservation. Large-scale wind farms planned for the Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and Atlantic coast will bring significant changes to the marine environment. Environmental assessment requirements aim to minimise impacts on marine life, including seabirds, cetaceans and benthic habitats, but the interaction between renewable energy development and marine conservation will require careful management as the industry scales up. Construction noise, cable laying and the physical presence of turbine foundations all have potential impacts, though evidence from operational wind farms elsewhere suggests that the structures can also create artificial reef habitat and act as de facto marine reserves where fishing is restricted.

📜 EU Regulatory Framework

Ireland’s marine conservation obligations arise from multiple layers of EU and international law. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires Ireland to achieve Good Environmental Status in its marine waters. The EU Habitats and Birds Directives mandate the designation of SACs and SPAs for listed species and habitats. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets the 30% MPA target that Ireland has committed to meeting. The OSPAR Convention for the protection of the northeast Atlantic provides a further framework for regional marine conservation.

The challenge for Ireland is not a lack of legal frameworks but a lack of implementation. A 2020 review by the European Court of Auditors found that the EU’s existing MPA system was failing to protect marine species and habitats across Europe, and Ireland was identified as a particularly weak performer. The Marine Unit of the NPWS was reported to be staffed by as few as three people in a 2020 review – a capacity wholly inadequate for monitoring over 10,000 square kilometres of designated marine area. The transfer of marine environment functions to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment in August 2025, combined with the new legislative approach, represents an opportunity to rebuild marine conservation capacity, but only if adequately resourced.

🔮 What Comes Next

The next few years will be decisive for marine conservation in Ireland. The legislative framework for MPAs, the management plans for existing protected sites, the designation of new areas and the integration of marine conservation with fisheries, energy and planning policy will all determine whether Ireland can begin to reverse decades of inadequate marine protection. The science is clear that well-managed MPAs deliver rapid recovery of marine ecosystems – and with 880,000 square kilometres of sea to protect, Ireland has both the opportunity and the obligation to act.

The designation of Pairc Naisiunta na Mara, the two new offshore SACs and the €25 million MPA Life stakeholder engagement project all signal a shift in political attention towards the marine environment. But the gap between ambition and delivery remains vast. Moving from 9.4% to 30% MPA coverage by 2030 – while ensuring those designations translate into effective management on the water rather than mere lines on a map – is among the most challenging environmental targets Ireland has set itself. For the species that depend on these waters, see our guide to wildlife in Ireland.