Ms Karin Dubsky:

I totally agree with the questioning. We have to empower farmers. I come from farming stock and know how my father reasoned what to do next. I am holding a picture of a farmer in Bannow Bay. We do the Coastwatch survey in Clonakilty Bay and Bannow Bay. For the first time, Bannow Bay has improved. It is not just about testing nitrate levels in the small streams, although I was just doing that and have some tests for everyone. It is also about seeing what happens below. In Clonakilty Bay, the amount of sea grass, which is the most important thing as regards biodiversity and carbon, has decreased to virtually nothing because the opportunistic green algae, which are like nettles on land, have taken over. In Bannow Bay, we had exactly the same problem but last summer and autumn, for the first time, real improvement could be seen. What is fascinating about it is that it is my home ground. I speak to other farmers and we identify small streams where nitrate levels are really high. When the Coastwatch results came out, we asked what happened to cause our sea grass to suddenly boom. There is now a sea grass bed in front of the land owned by the farmer whose picture I have shown for the first time in about 30 years. This has brought about pure happiness.

We do not know exactly what happened but we are going to have a meeting on 22 March. The Macra na Feirme women are coming in as well. They want to know what we did right over the last two or three years to get this improvement in nature. Many of the farmers in the area have done basic kick sampling and have a basic knowledge of good and bad signs. Some of them are videoing the life in their streams. That is not part of an EIP or anything. It is just empowering the farmer, working together, noting these really good signs of improvement and asking what exactly we did right. A few have told us that fertiliser prices went up so they spread less. That is one thing. I do not know how much of an impact that had but it is at least a little bit of information. It is very important to empower farmers and to give some good news. Farmers are not only the problem but also part of the solution.