Best Practice Guidelines

The National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has drafted guidance to manage the risk to marine mammals from man-made sound sources in Irish Waters.

This draft guidance has been prepared as part of Ireland's requirement under Article 12 of the 1992 EC Habitats Directive (92/43/EC) to establish a strict protection regime for all cetaceans in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service invites submissions from interested members of the public, industry and organisations concerning the contents of this document. Copies of the draft may be downloaded.

Draft Guidance to Manage the Risk to Marine Mammals from Man-made Sound Sources

Submissions should be sent by email if possible to gearoid.o’connor@ahg.gov.ie or by post to:

The deadline for submissions is Friday 27th April 2012.

Codes of Practice

Click on the links below for further information:

Acoustic Seafloor Surveys Code of Practice  for the Protection of Marine Mammals in Irish Waters. [175KB]

Marine Scientific Research Code of Practice  at Irish Coral Reef Special Areas of Conservation. [107KB]

Other Codes of Practice

MMO Forms

Mammal Observer Forms must be fill out where activities likely to cause disturbance or possible impacts to cetaceans are being carried out. There are two categories of forms, those for seafloor acoustic surveys and those for other types of works e.g. dredging, termed Coastal Works, which require a Marine Mammal Observer. The forms are available as both Microsoft Word documents and in Microsoft Excel format.

Click on the links below to download the following forms:

MMO Form Location & Effort (Acoustic Survey)  [51KB]

MMO Form Operations (Acoustic Survey)  [58KB]

MMO Form Record of Sightings (Acoustic Survey)  [39KB]

MMO Forms (Acoustic Survey)  [34KB]

MMO Form Location & Effort (Coastal Works)  [48KB]

MMO Form Record of Sightings (Coastal Works)  [34KB]

MMO Forms (Coastal Works)  [35KB]