{"id":1578,"date":"2021-05-13T14:19:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T13:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/legislation-introduced-make-basking-sharks-a-protected-species\/"},"modified":"2021-05-13T14:19:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T13:19:56","slug":"legislation-introduced-make-basking-sharks-a-protected-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/legislation-introduced-make-basking-sharks-a-protected-species\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislation introduced make basking sharks a protected species"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Basking\u00a0sharks are one of our most treasured species, but unfortunately Irish governments have never protected them<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Social Democrats TD, and Spokesperson for the Environment, Jennifer Whitmore has today introduced a Bill to the D\u00e1il to make basking sharks a protected species.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Whitmore said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBasking\u00a0sharks\u00a0are the world\u2019s second largest fish\u00a0and they are regular visitors to our shores. Around this time every year, we can catch glimpses of these majestic creatures as they slowly meander up our western coast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, recent studies have indicated that Ireland could be home to between 10-20pc of the world\u2019s basking shark population at any one time. Of the eight known coastal surface hotspots for basking sharks in the Northeast Atlantic, five are located on the Irish west coast \u2013 in Cork, Kerry, Clare, Mayo and Donegal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIrish people may love\u00a0basking\u00a0sharks, and delight when they see their tall fins breaking the surface of the water, but unfortunately Irish governments have never protected them. This is especially difficult to understand given\u00a0basking\u00a0sharks\u00a0are now an endangered species.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBasking\u00a0sharks\u00a0have been protected in UK waters since 1998, but in Irish waters a person\u00a0can disturb, approach, harm or harass a\u00a0basking\u00a0shark\u00a0without consequence. This is not good enough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, I have brought forward a Bill to add\u00a0basking\u00a0sharks\u00a0to the list of protected species in the Wildlife Act. This will help give them the protection they deserve \u2013 and need. Given National Biodiversity week begins on Saturday, May 15<sup>th<\/sup>, it is an apt time to move forward with this legislation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to treasure our natural heritage, our biodiversity and our own iconic species and afford basking sharks the same protections that other countries afford them, as we do with whales and dolphins.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope animal lovers all over the country, who enjoy seeing\u00a0An\u00a0Liabh\u00e1n Chor Gr\u00e9ine \u2013 the great fish of the sun &#8211; every year, will support me and join the campaign the protect basking sharks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there were cross-part political support for this Bill it could be speedily enacted so that this beautiful creature can continue be enjoyed every year by future generations of Irish people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>13 May, 2021<\/p>\n<p>Ends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Basking\u00a0sharks are one of our most treasured species, but unfortunately Irish governments have never protected them Social Democrats TD, and Spokesperson for the Environment, Jennifer Whitmore has today introduced a Bill to the D\u00e1il to make basking sharks a protected species. Deputy Whitmore said: \u201cBasking\u00a0sharks\u00a0are the world\u2019s second largest fish\u00a0and they are regular visitors to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Legislation introduced make basking sharks a protected species - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/legislation-introduced-make-basking-sharks-a-protected-species\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legislation introduced make basking sharks a protected species - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Basking\u00a0sharks are one of our most treasured species, but unfortunately Irish governments have never protected them Social Democrats TD, and Spokesperson for the Environment, Jennifer Whitmore has today introduced a Bill to the D\u00e1il to make basking sharks a protected species. 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