Save Our Seabirds campaign launched at Electric Picnic festival
A big thank you to all Electric Picnic-goers who helped us to launch to our new Save Our Seabirds campaign, which highlights the threats faced by Ireland's marine birds. We collected over 2,000 signatures for our petition during the festival, which was held on 4th, 5th and 6th September in Stradbally, Co. Laois, and these will prove invaluable for targeting three government departments with responsibilities for the marine environment.
The EP experience
This three day event was new venture for BirdWatch Ireland, and it proved to be an extremely successful one despite the rain and mud (oh, the mud!) We were based in the Global Green Village, and as our marquee was immediately adjacent to the Slow Food Company our pitch proved to be a popular spot both with environmentally conscious festival-goers and those seeking some respite from the sights, sounds (and smells) of this annual music event. Our audience posed challenging questions about our Save Our Seabirds (SOS) theme, our conservation work and our position on different environmental issues, with climate change and wildlife protection topics being the most popular. The stand was manned by 4 BirdWatch Ireland staff and 5 volunteers charged with collecting signatures and spreading the word about our work to a new audience: most importantly the response both to our presence at the Electric Picnic and to the SOS campaign was overwhelmingly positive.
The SOS Campaign – next steps
We will be building on the petition signatures collected to date and using these to show the high level of support for our activities, which will include presenting the petition to Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley, T.D., Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan, T.D., and Minister of State for Fisheries Tony Killeen, T.D.
Most importantly, we are pressing for a meeting to discuss solutions to the issues the petition has flagged with relevant departmental officials. The petition calls for:
- Marine Protected Areas in Irish waters
- New legislation to promote sustainable fisheries
- Better management of our coasts for wildlife and people
Our new e-Wings e-zine and our website will keep you up to date with our progress, and further information about our seabirds is available here, as are our top-line policy messages for the marine environment.