The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority has called on the public to get involved in work to increase the scientific and biological knowledge on Ireland's marine life.
The SFPA hopes the more information people have, the more efforts will be made to conserve wildlife.
Declan Quigley, biologist and Senior Port Officer with the SFPA in Howth and the author of over 450 fisheries related papers, highlights that although 577 species have been recorded to date in Irish seas, more information is sought as part of conservation monitoring efforts.
Further to that, a recent UN Food and Agricultural (FAO) report highlighted that nearly a quarter of species monitored across the globe are at risk of overexploitation or on the verge of depletion.
Ireland is not alone in facing challenges in this area as once commonly sighted species such as Skates and Rays are now facing difficulties owing, in the main, to the impact of climate change.
Mr. Quigley said:
“Of the 33 recorded species of Skates and Rays in Irish waters, nine are currently regarded as threatened and a further six as near threatened. Tracking this decline is a challenge and one of the main difficulties in assessing the on-going conservation status, specifically of threatened Skates and Rays, is the previous lack of reliable species-specific data. Commercial fishers, recreational anglers, citizen scientists, and public aquaria have a very important role to play in contributing to the conservation of these threatened species in Irish waters.”
