Monitoring Survey of Coastal Habitats in the East and South of Ireland

Description

The conservation status of habitats listed under Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive is reported every six years by member states. Information regarding the current range of the habitats, their area, condition and their likely status in the future is required to support reporting. Additional monitoring requirements apply for intertidal saltmarsh communities as their condition is also reported under the Water Framework Directive. Assessing these parameters at a representative sample of sites offers a financially efficient way to inform the conservation assessments at a national scale. The next Article 17 reporting phase will be in 2025. In preparation for this assessment, field and desk surveys are required for the following coastal habitats listed on Annex I of the Habitats Directive: • 1220 Perennial vegetation of stony banks • 1210 Annual vegetation of drift lines • 1310 Salicornia and other annuals colonising mud and sand • 1330 Atlantic salt meadows (Glauco-Puccinellietalia maritimae) • 1410 Mediterranean salt meadows (Juncetalia maritimi) • 1420 Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilous scrubs (Sarcocornetea fruticosi) • 2110 Embryonic shifting dunes • 2120 Shifting dunes along the shoreline with Ammophila arenaria (white dunes) • *2130 Fixed coastal dunes with herbaceous vegetation (grey dunes) • *2140 Empetrum nigrum dunes • *2150 Atlantic decalcified fixed dunes (Calluno-Ulicetea) • 2170 Dunes with Salix repens ssp. argentea (Salicion arenariae) • 2190 Humid dune slacks • *21A0 Machairs. This project will take place over the course of 4 years (2021 – 2024) and will provide monitoring information on target Annex I habitats from Louth to Cork. The project will commence in 2021, the monitoring survey will have been completed by October 2023 and all reports and data will have been submitted by August 2024. See RfT document