Dr. Eamonn Kelly:

Not necessarily before they made the designations but they collected a certain amount of data as part of their designation process and then started adding value to it to ensure that it could also be utilised for spatial management purposes. That is the reality of the situation.

We have managed over the past few years to collect a massive amount of information, all of which is necessary. That will be a national asset in so far as it can be utilised beyond the fisheries and aquaculture sectors and should allow a much more efficient and proactive administrative process in terms of coastal developments. It is important to understand that there are different types of data and we did not have the type of data required. The data we collected in order to facilitate the designation process was not entirely fit for purpose in terms of facilitating spatial management. A much more robust level of data is required for that.