KESS - All-Island Marine Water Governance ......

1.30pm: Welcome

1.35pm: Opening Remarks

1.45pm: Streamlining Fisheries Governance: Addressing Legislative Fragmentation in Shared Irish Marine Waters

Ms Claudia Allen and Prof Richard Collins, School of Law, Queens University Belfast, & Dr Heather Ritchie, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast

This presentation shares findings from an academic research project examining post-Brexit fisheries governance – in particular, a review of fisheries law, policy and governance literature – that are relevant to Assembly deliberations regarding the forthcoming Fisheries and Water Environment Bill. The review was part of a wider Marine Institute funded project between University College Cork and Queen’s University Belfast, entitled “Enabling co-existence and co location in shared ocean spaces through better governance” (CoCoMar). It focused on the evolving marine governance frameworks governing transnational working around the island of Ireland: those frameworks provide a key mechanism for Ireland (an EU Member State) and Northern Ireland (a non-EU country) to meet their international, regional (European Union (EU) and OSPAR (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic)) and national law and policy commitments. Outlining key findings of the review, the presentation explains how marine governance is particularly challenging in transboundary contexts: marine spaces do not respect legal or administrative boundaries, yet natural ecosystems still must be managed coherently to achieve international commitments relating to sustainable development, climate change and biodiversity loss; noting that the waters of the Northeast Atlantic, including the seas around the island of Ireland, were no exception. It highlights increasing pressure in those waters from traditional and emerging marine activities, including fisheries, conservation, offshore renewable energy and maritime transport, and shows such activities are largely governed in isolation, limiting capacity for integrated decision-making in shared waters and risking conflict between and within sectors. It further explains that the reviewed literature showed how fisheries often sit at the centre of such governance challenges, as fisheries legislation and policy are extensive, complex and fragmented, making it difficult to align with emerging marine spatial planning processes, wider socio-economic and conservation policy objectives. Moreover, the literature suggested that the noted challenges had been exacerbated by new additional layers of regulatory scrutiny, policy divergence and institutional complexity due to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU. The literature further indicated divergence can generate uncertainty, constrain co-location with other marine uses and increase potential for cross-jurisdictional regulatory disputes. The presentation also focuses on Northern Ireland’s unique transboundary legislative position, to discuss existing jurisdictional ambiguity at the marine border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, to help inform Assembly discussion in this area.

2.05pm: “Beach Clean 2.0: a transdisciplinary, civic approach to tackling marine plastic pollution in Northern Ireland” Dr Susann Power, Ulster University Business School, Ulster University, Prof Justin Magee, Arts and Design, Ulster University, & Dr Bronagh Millar, Engineering and Material Processing, Queen’s University Belfast

This presentation shares key findings of a transdisciplinary academic research project entitled Beach Clean 2.0, which tackles the persistent land-water-edge environmental issue of marine plastic pollution, a complex obstacle to oceanic health and societal well-being. Relevant to Assembly deliberations on the forthcoming Fisheries and Water Environment Bill, the transdisciplinary project combines and builds upon three existing academic research projects that addressed community beach cleaning (2021), waste valorisation through co-design (2024) and polymer processing material science (2024), to provide a conduit for improving the aquatic environment through a circular marine waste ecosystem design and enabling the conversion of 36%-75% of beach plastics from objects of waste to items of use. The presentation explains how materials harvested through Beach Clean 2.0 may be transformed into items of use - for example, 3D print filament and feedstock for the polymer processing supply chain. Moreover, the project’s methodology is scalable to include fishing gear waste and thus provides a significant model for improving land-water-edge environments. It further highlights the trialling and valorisation of this circular plastics method, involving 145 beach clean volunteers and 211.8kg of beach litter, and now the implementation phase using a multiple stakeholder approach, which aims to deliver a blueprint piloted in a Northern Ireland council area, policy recommendations for improvement of the aquatic and coastal environments, an open access methodology, a plastics valorisation readiness and commercialisation plan, as well as environmental education teaching materials in relation to ocean plastics. More specifically, in relation to the forthcoming Bill’s underlying policy objectives, the presentation shows how: Beach Clean 2.0 supports waste management of commercial fishing and recreational angling, for both in-land and sea environments; this green transition methodology activates multi-stakeholder partnerships to improve land-water-edge environments and encourage infrastructure investments; and, its land-water-edge area improvements impact positively on business and tourism in rural/coastal areas that rely on clean environments, helping to address rural community needs. This transdisciplinary research project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Green Transition Ecosystems Programme (funder reference AH/Y003780/1). Its findings were first presented at the 2025 Irish Environmental Research Colloquium (also available through Open Access Research Impact Cards).

2.25pm: Discussion

2.55pm: Closing

3.00pm: Networking & Refreshments

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