It gives me great pleasure to join you to launch the report of a biodiversity survey of Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford, which is a candidate SAC, SPA and RAMSAR site. The survey sought out selected plant species, and focused on an alga, the Japanese Seaweed, a non-native plant, and on species of Glasswort, which are important native saltmarsh species which grows on mudflats, forming a habitat in respect of which Bannow Bay has been designated.
The project was organised by Coastwatch in partnership with St Kearns Rowing Club, local landowners and visitors around Bannow Bay on the SE coast of Ireland from April to July 2006. I want to complement all of those involved in organising, carrying out and writing up this work.
The Japanese Seaweed is an example of an invasive non-native species. With increased ease and volume of human movement around the world, species from distant parts of the world can get transported, deliberately or more often accidentally, to new locations. In some cases, they find the new conditions ideal. Their natural predators and diseases, which control them in their native habitats, are often absent and they can reproduce and spread rapidly. It is intriguing to note that 837 years after the Normans landed here in Bannow Bay, there are still new invaders arriving from the sea!
Another invasive species in Bannow Bay is the Cord Grass, Spartina. This can spread rapidly across mud flats and in Bannow Bay poses a threat to the Glasswort flats.
Other non-native species of flora that have proven invasive in Ireland are Rhododendron, some pondweed species, Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed. There are also animal invaders. Notable among these are the Grey Squirrel (which is ousting our native Red Squirrel), the Feral Mink and the Zebra Mussel.
This can pose serious problems, both ecological and economic. They may smother out native species, which are sometimes unable to compete with vigorous new arrivals. They may carry pests and diseases to which they are resistant, but which are seriously harmful to native species. In some cases, they can damage economic interests, such as tourism, fishing, agriculture and water quality.
Climatic change is now generally accepted as having a significant ecological impact. Warmer conditions often favour the spread of species for which Irish conditions would not have been favourable in the past. At the same time, native species may find the same climatic change to be unfavourable.
What can we do to address the challenge presented by invasive species? Last year, the report of a joint North/South government funded study of this problem was published. It came up with ten key action points that it recommended. The authorities North and South have now put in place a programme to take these recommendations forward. The Japanese Seaweed will be one of the species to be addressed in developing strategies to tackle problem species.
A key element in addressing the challenge is the monitoring of particular species that are of concern. This is an important area where properly briefed volunteers can offer a great service and help increase our knowledge of these species. Without such knowledge (for example, where a species has become established), it is not possible to consider what action would be appropriate to address the problem.
It is important also to be aware that there will be cases in which there is little that can be done once a species gets established in a location. However there may be ways to slow its further spread or to mitigate its worst ecological and economic effects.
Under the Wildlife Acts it is an offence to introduce non-native species into the wild. However, such introductions are probably in most cases unintentional and accidental. But given the increased understanding of how such species are dispersed by human activity, we will all need to exercise an increased level of civic responsibility in this regard. Throwing garden weedings on the roadside, emptying a fishbowl or the excess waterweed from a garden pond into a lake or river, releasing imported live bait into the wild are among the ways in which serious invasive species problems are known to have occurred. Another example is the Zebra Mussel. This can grow on the hull of a boat, and survive out of water for weeks. So moving a boat from an infected waterway to an uninfected one may be just the help the zebra mussel needs to conquer new territory. The mussels on the hull produce millions of young, which then rapidly colonise the new territory. Similarly, boats can be a vector for the spread of Japanese Seaweed to new areas. I am happy to learn that boat-owners using Bannow Bay, especially the Rowing Club members, can identify this species and take steps to prevent its spread.
The grey squirrel is an American species. Someone had the idea of giving a few of these cute looking little animals to friends as a wedding present. The happy couple released the squirrels into their woods, and soon there were ever-increasing numbers of happy grey squirrel couples too. These cute-looking creatures turned out to be invasive and destructive, driving our native red squirrel out as they spread, and becoming a serious pest to forestry.
The lesson is that awareness and vigilance are vital weapons in the fight against these alien invaders of the animal and plant worlds. I want to complement Coastwatch for this important project, which has increased our knowledge of the Japanese Seaweed and has also increased the awareness of the participants and their appreciation of our coastal environment, as well as increasing our knowledge of the native plant species that grow there, most notably the very rare Perennial Glasswort.
ENDS