Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 2 February 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Patrick Lyne:

All of them. It depends on what we are chasing. We certainly want some static acoustic monitoring at fixed stations. There are also towed arrays and floating arrays. Each tool has its own specific purpose. It would be all of them, basically. Principally for MPAs, static acoustic monitoring would probably be the first port of call and it would be constant 24-7. The US has satellite connections to acoustic buoys so that if they get an acoustic event of particular interest, it is sent by satellite, but it becomes more expensive.