Aquaculture Licensing

Aquaculture licencing is regulated by the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine (DAFM). The Marine Institute provides scientific and technical advice to DAFM as part of the aquaculture licensing process.

The Birds & Habitats Regulations established a network of Natura 2000 protected areas across the European Union, designated to conserve the most valuable and threatened species and habitats in Europe. While Natura 2000 sites do not have strict bans on human activities, they do require that any development or activity be carefully managed to avoid harming the conservation value of the sites. Activities must not significantly disturb the habitats or species for which the site is designated. An Appropriate Assessment is the process to consider if the impacts from an activity will affect the integrity of the Natura 2000 sites, with respect to the sites Qualifying Interests and Conservation Objectives and is considered on a cumulative basis with other activities and other potentially disturbing activities.

The Marine Institute actively participates in the Appropriate Assessment process regarding the impacts of aquaculture activities on sites by evaluating applications and providing supporting reports.

The Marine Institute conducts targeted monitoring and research to support the provision of advice. This includes bird monitoring in areas where aquaculture is present. Available data and reports can be found here.

The Marine Institute also collected data to inform the establishment of these protected sites – benthic data sets are available here on the EARDAP data server.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (Directive 2011/92/EU, amended by Directive 2014/52/EU) requires the environmental impacts of certain projects to be assessed before they are approved and implemented. The main purpose of the EIA Directive is to ensure that the potential environmental consequences of projects are considered and mitigated in advance, promoting sustainable development. The Marine Institute inputs to the determination regarding the requirements for such an assessment, and in the evaluation of the assessments provided with applications, providing advice to the relevant regulatory Department.