The Irish Conservation Box (ICB) or Biologically Sensitive Area (BSA) is a

Marine Protected Area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

stretching along the southwest coast of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The ICB was defined based on advice from marine biologists, and following review by European Union fisheries ministers of the

Common Fisheries Policy The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fishery, fisheries policy of the European Union (EU). It sets quotas for which Member state of the European Union, member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishin ...

, as a means to safeguard the "

biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

sensitivity and

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

importance" of the waters around Ireland. IrishConservationBoxOverviewMap

Location

Extended from Irish

territorial waters Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...

, and comprising an area of more than , the ICB stretches from

Waterford Harbour Waterford Harbour () is a natural harbour at the mouth of the The Three Sisters (Ireland), Three Sisters; the River Nore, the River Suir and the River Barrow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is navigable for shipping to both Waterford and N ...

to Slyne Head, and follows the bathymetric

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, isoquant or isarithm) of a Function of several real variables, function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a ...

along its western side.

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

by certain vessels and vessel types is restricted in this area, and vessels over long are required to report their catch and movements to the Irish Fisheries' patrol. The Irish Naval Service is tasked with enforcing the special protection measures.

Background

The Irish Conservation Box replaces a previous protection zone - known as "the Irish Box" - which was a larger rectangular 50-mile zone around the whole

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

of the island of Ireland and included waters reaching to the western coasts of Scotland, England and Wales. Under the (original) Irish box mandate, important

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

and nursery areas for many stocks were protected by - for example - limiting fishing in the zone to no more than 40 foreign vessels at any one time. Because of common and "free-movement" policies of the EU, certain countries expected access to the zone in the long-term. As a result, there was ongoing

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

by Spanish and Portuguese politicians of the

Committee on Fisheries The Committee on Fisheries (PECH) is a committee of the European Parliament. Chris Davies was the chairman (2019 – 2020) - until the United Kingdom left the European Union. Committee mandate PECH is the European Parliament committee responsi ...

to remove the limits, and it was effectively abolished in late 2002. As part of a 2003 review of the Common Fisheries Policy, and after intense negotiations on a proposal by the then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Fisheries Council accepted the position that protection of biologically sensitive areas was critical to a conservation policy. The renewed Irish Conservation Box regulations came into force in 2004.

References

{{reflist, 2 Environmental treaties Fishing in Ireland Celtic Sea Environment of Ireland 2004 in Ireland

Location

Background

See also

References