A public consultation process is being launched in Ireland on the preparation of a Marine Research and Seafood Sector Low Carbon Roadmap to boost Ireland’s marine economy.
The sectoral roadmap is being prepared as part of Ireland’s Climate Change Action and Low Carbon Bill.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Simon Coveney, said: “It is long recognised that marine science is a critical part of our understanding of climate change. The Gulf Stream and other Atlantic currents have a direct impact on the weather we experience both on land and at sea.”
“Ireland’s sustainable seafood credentials are increasingly important to the consumer and to the long-term development of the sector. The resources of our marine environment, which our fishermen and seafood producers rely on for their livelihoods, are particularly vulnerable to the changes in our climate and sea-level rise. For these reasons it is important to give stakeholders an opportunity to participate in the development of their sectoral roadmap,” he added.
Stakeholders are invited to contribute to the formulation of the roadmap, which in turn will contribute to a national low carbon roadmap.
Ireland’s seafood sector is critically important to the country’s economy, currently employing 11,000 people with annual sales of €700m. Under Food Harvest 2020, it is planned to increase revenue to €1bn and employment to 14,000 by 2020.
The preliminary stakeholder consultation runs until Friday 27 December 2013.
