Eleven member Marinas met in Howth Yacht Club to discuss a number of issues including current business conditions, Blue Flag Marina Scheme, development plans in County Kerry, the rigid interpretation of Habitat 2000 regualations.

The Government initiative, Our Ocean Wealth, towards an Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland was discussed in regard to a submission by the Irish Marine Federation.

Failte Ireland’s Ethna Murphy, Manager, Destination Development, gave a presentation on the development of a marine leisure tourism policy and the research that is on going. Ethna shared some of the tourism statistics around Adventure Tourism and how the marine leisure product is very much part of this growing tourism sector.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD will officially open the new Cork Harbour Marina, Monkstown, Co. Cork on Saturday April 7th. at 2.30pm.

The board and the members of the Irish Marine Federation and the Irish Marina Operators Association wish Cork Harbour Marina every success in the future.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD, launches Consultation Process

Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, today launched a public consultation process on how to harness the potential of Ireland’s vast marine resource to tap into a Trillion Euro global market for marine products & services (including seafood, tourism, shipping, oil and gas, renewable ocean energy and new applications for health, medicine and technology).

Launching the public consultation ‘Our Ocean Wealth’, Minister Coveney said, “We need to change the way we in Ireland think about the sea and look for new opportunities to harness the potential of our 220 million acre marine resource. This government is determined to generate the momentum to drive forward a new era of sustainable economic development across the maritime sectors – we must avail of these opportunities to assist in our recovery. We want your help to shape our plan, to shape our future and to assist in our drive towards our nation’s economic recovery”.

This public consultation represents a significant step in a process to develop an Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland and move from generating only 1.2% of GDP from this vast and diverse marine resource, which covers an area 10 times the size of Ireland’s land mass.

Minister Coveney added “We need an Integrated Marine Plan to harness our ocean wealth, get the environment right for investment and use the potential of our marine economy to create jobs in a sustainable manner”.

Get informed about the issues and join the debate at ouroceanwealth.ie.

The consultation phase will be open until 31st March 2012 and it is envisaged that an Integrated Marine Plan will be published during summer 2012.

The web site for the Interreg Progamme has gone live. This will be an important resource for all marine leisure companies operating in the counties Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Kerry.

The site will also contain tourism related information of where to go and who to go to. The existing database will need to be enhanced and brought up to date.

If you are a company engaged in the marine leisure business within the Interreg area please ensure that we have you up to date details by contacting: steve@irish-sea.org.