Mr. Stephen Kavanagh:

In our case study in County Wicklow, there is the example of an oyster fishery in 1860 that yielded 60,000 barrels of oysters a year. In today's money at the restaurant table, that would be worth somewhere around €90 million. It was resourced and managed by local fishermen and protected for more than 100 years, but in the end, bad management and legislation from the government at the time led to the destruction of the entire fishery.

We are trying to bring local people back into touch with what is happening offshore. What is under the water is usually out of mind and that is a big problem. We want to restore kelp forests. In County Wicklow, there are Avondale and Kilmacurragh, famous forests that everybody knows, and we should have the same in the ocean. We should have forests with names that people can identify with and cameras that can show them the beauty and diversity that is down there under the water. Ordinary people cannot connect with it, whereas in the 1860s, the fishing communities on the east coast could do so because they were so tied to it and it was so vital for their survival. It no longer is and this is a different time. Helping people reconnect with the marine and coastal environment is vital.

I do not necessarily believe the Government will do that, given that governments change regularly, but rather local communities. Governments can certainly help with legislation and the laws regarding trawling and so on, which could destroy those local habitats, but ultimately the local communities, when they have pride in and knowledge of what is out there, will protect it and it will self-sustain from there.