Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1353. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her Department will be making changes to National Parks and Wildlife Service guidelines for ocean seismic testing in view of new evidence published in 2017 and 2018 on the deadly impacts it can have on krill and zooplankton populations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25696/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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My Department published guidelines in 2014 on the assessment of risk and mitigation measures in regard to high intensity noise in the marine environment and its impact on protected cetacean species. Neither krill nor zooplankton are protected under the Wildlife Acts or EU Nature Directives but are of course an important constituent of the food and food chain of protected cetaceans.

My Department is not the regulatory authority for ocean seismic activity. It takes on board new scientific information on impacts on protected species and can, when the evidence is fully scientifically reviewed, provide advice to the appropriate authorities.