1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,760 This is podcasthon episode of the Conservation and Science Podcast. 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:06,800 What is podcasthon you ask? 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:15,600 It's a global initiative where podcasters across the world dedicate one episode of their podcast to the charity of their choice. 4 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:22,360 And all those episodes are being published in one week to create a wave of awareness of various causes. 5 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,800 And I decided to do one better. 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:31,800 And I am featuring not one, but two Irish environmental charities. 7 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:37,800 And they are Irish Whale and Dolphins Group and the Irish Wildlife Trust. 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:42,520 Alphabetical order. So I hope you will enjoy this episode. 9 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:49,080 Links to both charities as well as to their podcast on the website are in the description of this show. 10 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,280 So go in there and donate. 11 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:55,160 Or maybe become a member of one or both of those charities. 12 00:00:55,160 --> 00:01:01,520 And don't forget to check other podcast home episodes that are being published this week. 13 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,400 White IWD, Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. 14 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,960 Patrick Hooley, welcome back to the show. 15 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:25,800 You are our guest in episode 87 and it's a pleasure now to welcome you back to the show for this podcast horn episode. 16 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:27,040 It's it's a pleasure. 17 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:35,960 I got an email yesterday from our CEO, Simon Barrow, and that, who who wasn't at the a miss Ames conference in Galway where I met you last. 18 00:01:35,960 --> 00:01:39,240 And Simon said, you've done stuff with this guy before. 19 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,680 You kind of liked, written show. 20 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:45,280 Excellent. I know it's a pleasure. 21 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:49,560 And there was pleasure to meet you at the conference and have you here again. 22 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:58,240 Listen, this episode, it's a special episode where I'm showcasing Irish environmental charities and the Irish wares. 23 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:04,600 And dolphin Group is one of the biggest and one of my favorite Irish environmental charities. 24 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:10,320 Please tell us everything that we need to know about the Irish wearing dolphin group. 25 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:12,960 Well, firstly, I'd have to clarify. 26 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:17,120 We're certainly not one of the biggest. I would say we're nothing like one of the business. 27 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:26,200 We might be one of the busiest, but but certainly we, we, we kind of always I think, punch a little bit beyond our weight category. 28 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:34,560 And people often assume that the Irish Way and the dolphin group is a very large NGO, with a staff of dozens and, you know, 29 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:42,280 we're just bloody busy, where you could argue and on fact, I do increasingly argue that we're too busy. 30 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:48,880 And that to the point where almost the phone can be going out of it, you know, these these, these these are not high 31 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:50,720 powered, well-paid jobs, Rory. 32 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:57,280 And I'm that, sometimes I think the most important word is there is no, but for me, when I, when I was asked 33 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:05,720 if I, I'd have a chat with you, I just, I couldn't help myself, but, via the Irish whaler dolphin group, I just to go back to the start. 34 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,400 I mean, where, established in 1990. 35 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:16,360 Kind of the king, the linchpin or the king, then the the whole thing was really Simon Barrow. 36 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:22,480 And believe it or not, you know, 35 years later, Simon is is still very much, 37 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:28,720 sort of, a central character in the Irish Whale and Dolphin group, sort of where he gets his energy 38 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:35,440 from, but, you know, listen, we have grown considerably from then, I mean, or up to about, you know, 7 39 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:41,960 or 8 years ago, we didn't have, you know, we we probably didn't have a single paid officer in the group that's kind of changed. 40 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:47,880 Now, you know, we do have roles, that, you know, we, we, we advertise on that. 41 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:53,080 So with that, I'm talking about marine policy officers, science officers and the group. 42 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,680 You know, our remit is is getting wider and this getting bigger. 43 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:02,160 We're more involved now in areas that we historically kind of didn't really get involved in. 44 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:11,040 I'm thinking in particular of, the whole issue of live strandings, is one of my, my role in the group has always been sightings. 45 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,120 So I, I deal with things that are alive and free, swimming in the ocean. 46 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:21,880 And then, you know, that's a subset or a subset of, of all of those living animals is a percentage of the population 47 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:23,760 that are dead and dying. 48 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,520 So we have a stranding officer, Stephanie Levac. 49 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:34,720 And Stephanie handles dead and dying things on beaches, or should I say dead things on beaches, because now we're going into 50 00:04:34,840 --> 00:04:43,240 more the welfare side of things where we're looking at, whales of dolphins and porpoises that are still alive when they strike. 51 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:51,640 And so it's a it's not so much a, a conservation or population level thing that's more a welfare issue for the individual animal. 52 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:58,560 And it's something that, you know, over the years we've we've kind of skirted around a little bit, but it wasn't 53 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:05,760 a core area for the group because we were as a conservation group, once you use the word conservation, 54 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:11,760 you're thinking, you know, health of populations and you're not necessarily looking at the health of individual animals. 55 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:14,040 But there's a bit of a gray line there. 56 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:21,800 You know, if you've got, if you've got a rare species of whale or dolphin and you've got even one of them is alive on the beach, or what? 57 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,360 What happens if you've got 20 or 30 of them alive on a beach? 58 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,520 Well, then that is potentially a conservation issue. 59 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:36,080 So it is important that that, you know, it's just one example of new areas that the Irish whale and dolphin group is getting involved in. 60 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:42,560 So I you should say that we were there were where it was, we were two sides of a coin, the sightings. 61 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:44,760 And then you flip the coin and you get strandings. 62 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,520 And now we're becoming more like a three legged bar stool. 63 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,160 So you've got the sightings, the live strandings and the dead strandings. 64 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:57,120 And that's that in their core. Is, is, is is what the Irish whale and off a group does. 65 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:05,360 What are they community engagement initiatives like I'm sure you're doing like a lot of like an outreach and engagement with community. 66 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:07,800 So I'd like to hear about that. 67 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:13,440 And you know, how people who would like to get involved, how what they can do. What what are they? 68 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:18,000 The easy answer to that question to me is, you know, how can people get involved? 69 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,240 They can always join, you know? 70 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:21,480 Yeah, become a member. 71 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:27,480 Now. You don't have to join to be, you know, you can just subscribe to our ezine and you get a monthly saying, 72 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:32,800 in fact, that the next thing I need to do after talking to you is do a write my piece of the monthly easing. 73 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,360 So there are lots of levels. I mean, you cannot be involved at all. 74 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:44,040 You can just be a subscriber to our or you can put your hands in your pocket and you can give us 20 or €30, whatever it is. 75 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:45,760 And become a member. 76 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:53,640 I, I just got my, my member's magazine, in post in the post this morning. 77 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,000 So I'm actually also a paid member. 78 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,280 Just because you're an officer of the group, I still have to pay my €35 membership. 79 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,120 So that's the sort of thing we do for members. 80 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:09,240 You know, we we, we send out or we try to send out to, full color, flush magazines to our members. 81 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:10,600 You know, 82 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:18,000 we also offer, I've just put live this morning on Eventbrite to, workshops that we have this summer 83 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:25,680 and see and left and these are sizing workshops where we introduce people to the concept of whale watching, 84 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,560 where we talked about biology and ecology of whales and dolphins, how to watch them. 85 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,120 We bring them up to the headlands and we do some launches. 86 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:38,880 We take them out in boats and they get to listen to my my dulcet tones for 2 or 3 days. 87 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:43,040 But we also have, stranding workshops like live Stranding workshops. 88 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,840 So my colleague Gemma, she wants the what she needs. 89 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:53,400 So wave a little bit later in the year, because of weather and swell and tides, but she will be delivering 90 00:07:53,400 --> 00:08:04,080 live stranding workshops with inflatable rescue pontoons and inflatable whales, demonstrating to people the the the craft of how to, safely, 91 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:12,360 put in that, an animal back into the water so that everybody isn't pulling, pulling it by the tail and dislocating their vertebrae. 92 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:19,080 In March we have Whale Tales, which is an event that we host every year or two. 93 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,520 But this year it's in the Carlingford Loch, up in County Down. 94 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:24,680 So this this is a year 95 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:30,680 we've decided that it's been quite a while since we've done anything in Northern Ireland, because we are an old Ireland NGO. 96 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:37,320 So this will be, an opportunity for people to if you're in the Dublin area, it's only an hour north of you. 97 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,000 If you're in the Belfast area, it's only 45, 50 minutes south of you. 98 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:46,880 So only people who join us at Whale Tails, which is, in. 99 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,040 Let me just get the dates. It's, March the 7th to the line. 100 00:08:52,040 --> 00:09:00,120 So it's a weekend event, and we have our keynote speaker, Andrew Stevenson, describing it all the way from Bermuda, to give a talk. 101 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,720 Now, we he did have business in London anyway. 102 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:09,080 So he's taking you on a trip just in case you're worried about our air miles an hour, our contribution to climate change. 103 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:11,480 But, yeah. So that's going to be a really good event. 104 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,880 So we're hoping, you know, if people in particular in the north of Ireland 105 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:21,520 or the northeast would like to, you know, learn more about the group and become involved so they can sign up for a whale trail. 106 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:28,680 So there's an opportunity for people who are like minded to get together and, shoot the breeze over a very casual. 107 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,400 We like to keep these things quite informal. 108 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:36,280 On the top of your invited tune. So if you want to come up, come and join us. 109 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:40,760 Thank you so much. I definitely take you up on that porridge. 110 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:47,280 What changes do you see over the years, like the, the, the group is, you know, many, many years 111 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:54,680 in, you working for many years, like, what are the biggest changes you're, you can see are they related to climate change? 112 00:09:54,680 --> 00:10:02,680 Are they related to, attitudes towards, whales and dolphins in terms of, you know, area that you're working on? 113 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:08,320 Well, there's no doubt that the, the level of awareness has been, you know, has been enormous. 114 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:16,560 I mean, like, you know, we we still here today, people, you know, no matter how many times does a whale story or no matter how many times 115 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:24,000 you know, or the news or social media, have a whale story, you know, you still hear it all the time. 116 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,360 Just like I saw that piece of, news last night. I had no idea there were whales in Ireland. 117 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:35,080 And you're going, wow, 35 years later, you know, sort of, you know, it is amazing. 118 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,560 But we do hear that less and less. 119 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:42,440 So I do think the message is getting home that Ireland, you know, we are very fortunate. 120 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:48,840 Irish inshore coastal waters are certainly one of the best places in the northeast Atlantic to observe whales. 121 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:51,200 You know, just even sitting out on the headland. 122 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:56,800 I was talking to a girl yesterday, I bumped into in Killarney and she was going back to Waterford. 123 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:03,160 And en route she stopped off at Bailey Cotton and she was watching fin whales and humpback whales blowing off paddy cotton. 124 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:08,320 So, I mean, this is actually a great time of year, especially along the south coast, to see whales. 125 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:09,960 Which surprises people. 126 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:15,320 But, you know, there has been a big increase in awareness, obviously, in the dark years. 127 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:16,480 Like if you were asking me 128 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:23,600 now, I would say about big whales like fin and humpback whales, you know, 20 years ago I'd be telling you very different things. 129 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:29,600 So what I'd be telling you now in terms of what times of the year do we see them, how long are they staying? 130 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:32,320 Where are they occurring? 131 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,720 All of that has utterly changed. 132 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:41,720 And I think, you know, I can't say exactly how much of that is related to climate change. 133 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,280 You know, everything getting warmer in the ocean. 134 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:50,400 I can't say how much of that is due to the fact that we're we're hammering. 135 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:51,480 We continue. 136 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:58,400 And the Irish government continues to allow big, wealthy fishermen with big, powerful boats. 137 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,400 These are the biggest fishermen in Ireland. 138 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:09,160 Hammer stocks of forage fish that are so critical for the entire ecosystem of our coastal waters. So? 139 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:15,360 So we're doing a really good job down here in West Cork, completely destroying that stock. 140 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:17,800 And, you know, 141 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,160 we're seeing a response from the whales to the whales. 142 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:25,440 You know, about ten, 15 years ago, they started moving from West Cork. 143 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,240 They started moving to Carey. 144 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:32,120 And now the very same whales, I mean, know by the photo identification work we're doing, 145 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:38,120 those very same whales are now moving up to places like the male coast and the Donegal coast. 146 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:44,000 Ultimately, if they keep tracking north, they'll just leave Ireland altogether and we'll go back to the way 147 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:50,400 we were in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s, when nobody ever saw whales in Ireland. 148 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,280 So you know what? It's the goose that lays the golden egg. 149 00:12:54,280 --> 00:13:00,480 And if we decide, just for short term greed, that we don't really give a damn about marine, 150 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:05,320 the marine environment, well, then we just need to keep doing exactly what we're doing now. 151 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:08,240 The government authorities, 152 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:14,640 just needs to continue doing exactly what they're doing now, which to me, looks like very, very little. 153 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,760 You know, they're great at putting out big consultations. 154 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,600 The great are getting thousands and thousands of people 155 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:28,240 to write into those public consultations, where 99% of people replying to them are saying the exact, exact same thing. 156 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,360 This madness has got to stop. 157 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:38,040 And yes, once again, the fishing industry was the big lobby lobbyists for the fishing industry. 158 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:47,160 They've got very, very deep pockets and they can pay for senior counsel to find the tiniest little, you know, weakness in us. 159 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:49,000 And they'll exploit that weakness. 160 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,720 And then it goes to, a higher court. 161 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:55,440 And it's thrown out because of some absolute nonsense. 162 00:13:55,440 --> 00:14:07,400 And yet 99% of people, you know, agree that, you know, this ban on big pot boats feeding in our bays and our estuaries, needs to come in. 163 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,280 I actually doubt if it comes in in the morning in West Cork. 164 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,880 It's quite possible it's already too late for us. 165 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:15,440 Because there are some people 166 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:21,440 who would say that those populations are fish a little bit like our herring, like our surprise that they're endemic to an area. 167 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:27,840 And once they're gone, they're gone because, you know, it's not like they could just repopulate if they're endemic to an area. 168 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:28,560 They can't. 169 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:35,360 And if we take the likes of, the herring here in the 1960s and 1970s that were hammered to the point 170 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:41,600 where, you know, the last shoal was fished out in 30 years, they've never returned. 171 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:49,080 And they're still, you know, a ban on fishing for herring and what used to be an industry that employed hundreds of fishing boats. 172 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:50,080 So, you know what? 173 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:55,960 You go for short term greed, and then, you stop thinking about the next generation that are coming true. 174 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:03,480 And, you know, we would love to see a thriving fishing industry, but a couple of boats, a couple of big boats that are doing this, 175 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:11,160 they're they're just going to keep hammering us and then keep doing it probably until the very last splash and the very last herring is gone. 176 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:17,000 And that is where the very last whale will be gone. And the very last seabird and the very last seal. 177 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,280 And, you know, and all of the fish species that we eat. 178 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:25,960 So really, it's, it's we really do need to look really seriously. 179 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:33,800 Not just us, but at the whole concept of forage fish, because these are at the very bottom of the food chain. 180 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:39,920 And if you've got if things have got so bad now that the big Irish pelagic pair of trawlers are fishing, what's up? 181 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:45,480 The very bottom of the food chain. Well, then you have to ask the question. You know, what? Will they be fishing in ten years? Gone. 182 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:49,640 What will we be fishing for? Plankton. Because that's that's actually the way we're going. 183 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:54,600 We'll be like the Chinese down in Antarctica. We'll be fishing for cradle and fishing for plankton. 184 00:15:54,600 --> 00:16:00,040 And then what we will no idea what they'll be fishing for after that, because there ain't nothing left. 185 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:04,520 There's no nets small enough, to catch anything smaller. And krill are plankton. 186 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:06,280 But, you know, that's where we're going, you know? 187 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:13,480 So really, I think, the new government ministers that we saw rolling up, and I'm thinking of the in particular the, 188 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,960 the Minister for the environment and the new junior minister for the environment. 189 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:23,600 And he's a good friend of ours, Chris O'Sullivan, West Courtney's, and he's really keen on this whole issue. 190 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:29,600 So I, I'm hoping that this new cohort of politicians coming in, will take heed to the likes of these issues, 191 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,640 Tommy, that you do such a good job of showcasing. 192 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:33,520 Thank you so much. 193 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,680 And like we said many times on the podcast, the the issue of big boats, 194 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:45,360 which are not only like an environmental issue, but like you said, the local fishing communities are also, heavily impacted by that. 195 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:54,800 But just to wrap this up, how would success look like for Irish whaler dolphin Group in 2025, 2026? 196 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,280 And going forward? 197 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:04,400 I listen, there's a really easy answer to that one is to finally bring in this ban on big pelagic patrollers. 198 00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:12,160 And you know, what I would say is that, which 99% of coastal Ireland, what if that ban was to come in, 199 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:18,360 you know what there'd be there'd be almost no need for feces and no need for marine protected areas, 200 00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:25,720 because that Brown was what would encapsulate everything that is wrong with Irish coastal waters at the moment. 201 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:31,800 But obviously you've got our offshore water, so we want to see these MPAs and the government really running out of time here. 202 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:38,160 They were supposed to declare, you know, 30% of Irish, territorial waters 203 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:44,640 as marine protected areas, and we haven't even seen the primary legislation that will enable that to happen. 204 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,520 So I'm thinking, my God, when when I heard about this 205 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:53,640 three years ago, I thought, My God, you know, the wheels of government in Ireland move really slowly. 206 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,160 And it is absolutely 207 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:02,160 inconceivable at this stage that three years after the whole or two years after the old Ferris's concept, 208 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:08,800 kicked off of which the Irish Rail on Dolphin Group is only one of about seven or 6 or 7 partners. 209 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:13,200 But, you know, we really do need to see that legislation introduced. 210 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:19,520 So that the likes of the National Parks and Wildlife Service can, can start dedicating, you know, resources 211 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:27,400 to managing and monitoring these, and making sure that they're not just paper parks, but to make sure that they are protected areas 212 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:33,720 that that have a certain amount of clout, you know, so marine protected areas, getting these big, 213 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:40,880 people often think that this damage, the fishing damage has been done by big nasty overseas trawlers. 214 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:42,800 It's not we're doing all this ourselves. 215 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:44,320 These are Irish owned boats. 216 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:49,800 So if you're listening out there, guys, and there's only a handful of you, but you do have very big, powerful boats. 217 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,040 We do need to bring in that legislation. 218 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:58,560 That that to me, is what success would look like in the next year or two. 219 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:04,080 Ladies and gentlemen, Irish workers in dolphin Group. Thank you very much, Patrick. Thanks, Tommy. 220 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:10,360 All right, folks, and, another Irish charity and the one that is very close to my heart, Irish Wildlife Trust. 221 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:15,120 Kieran, welcome to the show. Thanks. Very happy to be here. Excellent. Isn't. 222 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:18,560 Tell us everything that we need to know about the Irish Wildlife Trust. 223 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,800 What is the history of what you do at the moment? 224 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:25,800 And the, you know, like, everything that people need to know about Asia left? 225 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:26,760 Sure. Yeah. 226 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:28,440 Well, we do have a bit of history. 227 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:34,320 We're one of the, probably one of the longest established, nature charities in Ireland. 228 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:39,520 So I'll start with that. That, Yeah, we're non-government organization and charity. 229 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:44,200 We're all about protecting nature, protecting and restoring nature in Ireland. 230 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,040 But, yeah, we've been around a while. We were founded in 1979. 231 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,200 So we've been active for over 40 years. 232 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:59,400 And even though, yeah, we're not the biggest charity going, but we've, we've certainly been around for a while. 233 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,360 I'm working hard for nature that time. 234 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:04,320 So yeah, we got started back in 79 and, 235 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:10,880 a few sort of early things where we would have got David Attenborough over to sort of do a talk in Ireland. 236 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:16,880 And then we were all about back then we were very focused on, you know, engaging people with 237 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:24,120 sort of the more scientific side of nature and like promoting sort of recording nature and sort of natural history, science side. 238 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:32,360 But then we do get more into what we're probably more known for now, which is the, you know, being a voice for nature and, and lobbying and 239 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:33,560 running campaigns. 240 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:34,920 Like in 241 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:41,760 1981, we would have run a campaign to try and get arm to join the International Whaling Commission, 242 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:49,600 because we weren't actually we were, for whatever reason, the the then leader, it was not, charity. 243 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,960 I was not really, signing yet. 244 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:58,320 So we just we ran a campaign where we sort of put a bit of pressure on to, to join the International Whaling Commission and, sort of, 245 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:04,680 I think our four founding sort of members like, brought a big float of a whale down 246 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,680 O'Connell Street and, and brought a lot of attention to it and did a great job. 247 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:13,920 And so we did, you know, Ireland did sign up to the, to ban whaling in our waters and signed up permission. 248 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:18,560 So that's quite like an early story of, first taste of campaigning. 249 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:22,000 And we've kept going from there, 250 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:29,240 just with the mixture of, of campaigning for nature, but also raising awareness about about Irish species and habitats. 251 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,360 So nowadays, like our vision is in Ireland, where wild nature 252 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:40,680 thrives and society enjoys the benefits of coexisting with like, diverse, functioning ecosystems. 253 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,880 So that's that's it in a nutshell. That's what we're looking to get towards. 254 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:50,480 And we do that through a few different ways, like mostly through 255 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:56,480 education around nature, sort of connecting people with nature, getting people out into nature, learning about us. 256 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,520 And then through the advocacy side, which will be the same sort of things 257 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:06,640 I mentioned, like lobbying politicians, running campaigns that are submitting to public consultations. 258 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,520 We're sort of trying to drive the agenda to restore and protect nature that way. 259 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:16,520 And then our sort of we have a few sites, nature reserves, which is probably something we're going to 260 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:24,120 build more over the next few years of actually doing a bit of that kind of rewilding work ourselves in the hope that it will, 261 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:26,920 you know, inspire other, other organizations, other people. 262 00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:30,160 So that's us at the moment. 263 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:34,320 Shift overall, like how would you describe nature in Ireland? 264 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:39,320 Like in what shape is, is the nature in Ireland and what are the biggest challenges? 265 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:46,920 What are the biggest, you know, challenges that you try to address or maybe that the nature is facing in Ireland? 266 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:52,800 Well, I suppose nature in Ireland, is not in great nick. It would be, I suppose, the quickest way to say it. 267 00:22:52,800 --> 00:23:01,360 But it's not too late, you know, there is still plenty of beautiful species and habitats out there in Ireland, but it's been depleted a lot. 268 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:07,840 And so this is something that maybe the a lot of people are aware of, because Ireland's got a reputation for being green, 269 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:12,560 you know, and, it is it is very beautiful and does have some lovely wild spaces. 270 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:20,320 But, essentially nature in Ireland is in a, in a state of being really quite depleted, over the years 271 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:25,120 probably, you know, going back quite a long way to when we were initially started farming here 272 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:31,520 thousands of years ago, and then other stuff like the extractive, practices of the British Empire. 273 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,760 And then right up to today, when we the way we farm, the way we do our forestry, the way we do 274 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,840 our fishing is still actually putting a huge amount of pressure on, on nature in Ireland. 275 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:45,160 So unfortunately, the nation of Ireland is not in Great Neck and under a lot of pressure. 276 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:49,920 But, it's still there. You know, it's not too late to try and restore it and protect it. 277 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:53,000 You asked about the main pressures. 278 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,920 Like there's lots of pressures. 279 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:00,760 I suppose, at sea and we do campaign, and work with some marine issues. 280 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,040 I see the. 281 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:10,120 So overfishing, so very, very like, industrial levels of fishing will be a big one, that you could point out pretty, pretty quickly. 282 00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:15,960 But there are lots of other pressures as well in the ocean, you know, so like the development of, 283 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:20,600 you know, infrastructure for transport, ports and things and, and also then coming down the line 284 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:26,600 potentially, wind power as well will be all these things to be putting different pressures on the ocean. 285 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:32,160 And then on land, I suppose one of the bigger the big two that you look at quite 286 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:38,160 quickly would be the way we do forestry and the way we do agriculture with both, you know, not particularly nature friendly. 287 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:42,600 Overall there are there are great examples of nature friendly farming in Ireland. 288 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,600 Some examples, not many of nature friendly forestry. 289 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:52,800 So yeah, there'd be some pressures on, land. Yeah. So a lot to, 290 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:59,880 a lot going on and, but the solutions to all of this, you know, there's, there's ways of making farming more nature friendly. 291 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:01,880 There's ways of making forestry more nature friendly. 292 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:06,840 And there's ways of making them managing our sea, better. 293 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:14,080 So we at the Irish Wildlife Trust, we feel our role is, is to just bring awareness to these solutions and then, you know, 294 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,480 sort of shout for them really. 295 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:24,760 And obviously anyone who's listening to this and these the state of nature and future of nature in Ireland is dear to their heart. 296 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,880 They can join Irish Wildlife Trust. 297 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:35,680 Please tell us, you know, what are the best way how to join the Irish Wildlife Trust and then what you folks offer for, members. 298 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,560 I know that you're issuing a magazine and there are many webinars and other things. 299 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:41,880 So if you could just get, 300 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:50,160 you know, laid out to our listeners and viewers what they can expect if they join, like, how are they going to contribute to Irish nature? 301 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,680 Yeah. So I kind of we went in heavy there on the old, the threats to nature, the pressures. 302 00:25:54,680 --> 00:26:00,680 But it's good to certainly, to speak of, speak to that straight away because that's, that's very, very important. 303 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,240 Our membership would, you know, it involves some more fun stuff. 304 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,240 So yeah, anyone can join. 305 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:14,080 We're pretty much like a standard charity in the sense that you can pop on to our website, IWK. 306 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:16,400 And become a member. 307 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,600 And it's, you know, there's various rates as concession, family and, and standards. 308 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,920 We also have a junior membership for it for kids. 309 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:28,440 So, and all members will get our magazine, which we produce quarterly. 310 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:37,280 So for the, for the kids, we have a nice of junior supplement, which is colorful for those kind of simple little supplement 311 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:43,280 that the junior members get quarterly, which teaches kids about nature, different habitats to species. 312 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,800 And then for everybody else, you'll get the main magazine, which is, 313 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:53,280 yeah, it's a full color, a beautiful magazine where we talk about what's going on with nature in Ireland. 314 00:26:53,280 --> 00:27:00,640 We, we it pretty much covers those two themes that I might have mentioned at the start, which is firstly connecting people to nature. 315 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:08,280 So information about nature, sort of looking at different species or different places where nature can be found and different habitats, 316 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,880 plus that side of like promoting people to take action. 317 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,040 So we want to sort of inspire hope through action. 318 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:21,720 So the magazine also features, you know, some different projects that are happening not just by us, but by other groups as well. 319 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,240 So you can find out about things happening in Ireland to protect nature. 320 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:26,520 So yeah. 321 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:33,280 So when you become a member, it's easy enough on the, on the old, website, become a member and you'll get that beautiful quarterly magazine. 322 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,280 And then you'll be invited to our events now, 323 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:44,960 thanks to the work of our local volunteer branches, we have events, certainly not in every county, but a nice spread, 324 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:47,400 of events around Ireland. 325 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:51,880 So places like Dublin, Waterford, Kerry, Limerick, 326 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:57,880 are modern, you know, they're all fairly active at the moment in terms of our local volunteers who run events. 327 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,400 And the events are, are generally fun and kind of getting people out into nature, 328 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:08,840 learning about nature, learning maybe sometimes about particular citizen science things or 329 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:16,360 like how to identify dragonflies or or wildflowers or sometimes it's sort of just a nice walk in the woods or a bat walk. 330 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:20,920 So the events are there as well for members to come to and throughout the year. 331 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,480 So they'd be the two main things is magazine and events. 332 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:29,640 And then the knowledge that you're, you know, supporting our, our work down because you work on the engagement work. 333 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,280 Tell us a little bit more about those local chapters of Irish Wildlife Trust. 334 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:34,800 Sure. 335 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:43,200 Yeah, we've had branches for quite a while, and they are well, first of all, they're voluntary run, which is fantastic. 336 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,760 People are giving quite large amounts of their time to run these locally, these local branches. 337 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:55,400 It's not like the British Wildlife Trust swear they're independent, somewhat independent kind of agencies of their own or, 338 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,560 you know, their own organizations in a federation. 339 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:04,920 They are there is Irish Wildlife Trust is a national organization, and the branches are members of the trust. 340 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:09,960 And they're they're sort of running activities in, in their own area. 341 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:11,240 And doing a great job of it. 342 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:14,280 And, you know, they have a good bit of autonomy to decide what, 343 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:19,080 what's their projects to work on and obviously decide what they want to do in terms of events and things. 344 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:24,160 So, yeah, completely voluntary run. And the organization, it's central organization. 345 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:31,120 So, you know, we'd support them with communications, you know, and obviously the things you need to run an event insurance and all that. 346 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:33,960 So it works quite well. 347 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:34,800 Which is good. 348 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:42,600 So for example, our we have a branch in Limerick that does they're, they're doing a lot of dragonflies and damselflies at the moment 349 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,800 because there's really some passionate people there who know those creatures and they're, you know, 350 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:53,480 they've formed a small group that they're surveying and monitoring dragonflies, damselflies and other insects. 351 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,240 And they do run those big open events a couple of times 352 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:03,240 a year for people to come to, you know, with the, with the family and, and just learn about nature. 353 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:08,720 Our Dublin branch run an event every single month, and they're always free and family friendly. 354 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:15,360 So sometimes they'll go to to the coast to look at birds or the time to sail, go on a river walk. 355 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:21,640 During the summer, we always do an event with them where we teach people about bumblebees and pollinators. 356 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:30,760 So yeah, so the local branches are just great people who volunteer their time to run events and, local projects as well. 357 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:31,560 Yeah. 358 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:32,440 And I presume that 359 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:39,000 that those local boroughs, even if anyone wants to join as a volunteer to the local branch, they they also able to do so. Yes. 360 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:45,840 So when you join as a member, we we ask you where if you're interested in any of the local branches and this is like a tick box thing, 361 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:49,320 but then also their email addresses are on our website as well. 362 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,600 So you don't have to, join first. 363 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,440 You can actually just contact them through the emails on the website. 364 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:56,760 Oh, excellent. Excellent. 365 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:01,640 And not long ago I was talking on the podcast about the importance of citizen science. 366 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,720 So I guess people who are just just itching to do something 367 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:11,160 and come by their passions into some, citizen science, they can they can join the Irish Wildlife Trust at one of the local branches. 368 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:15,960 And I'm sure there's going to be plenty of work for them. And and they're going to be welcome. 369 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:17,480 Yeah. Citizen science is brilliant. 370 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:22,880 Yeah. Yeah. The organization as a whole, like, likes to promote citizen science. 371 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:28,880 We, we, we would always promote people, you know, engaging with existing citizen science surveys run 372 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:33,240 by the likes of the National Biodiversity Data Center, for example. 373 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:38,760 And so it's brilliant because it gets citizen science is kind of the two things together. 374 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:40,560 You're connected with nature. 375 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:47,840 You know, you have to spend time to do the citizen science outside like looking in that the bees or like looking at the, the plants. 376 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:55,320 So you're spending time connecting with nature, but you're producing the information data that can help the conservation effort as well. 377 00:31:55,560 --> 00:32:00,600 So for me, I've always that's how that's how I got started with the wildlife Trust was running citizen science projects. 378 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:06,800 We did, we did a nude survey and a lizard survey, which they're not active right now anymore. 379 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,560 But, that was how I got started. And so we're a big fan of, of that. 380 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:16,920 So while we're not running like a big nationwide survey of any particular species right now, we're always sort of, 381 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:22,000 you know, trying to help people do citizen science, maybe teaching them some skills and just sort of promoting 382 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,560 getting involved with the Biodiversity Data Center. 383 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:27,480 So yeah, it's you're right. It's citizen science is a great one. 384 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:32,040 Yeah, absolutely. And this is a great way for people to engage with the listen here. 385 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:36,600 Are you running any any projects at the moment the the big initiatives that are underway. 386 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:44,520 We are launching our 2030 strategy, which is, you know, pretty much just reaffirming that we're committing 387 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:50,920 to keeping doing what we said we've always done, which is building those kind of communities of people engage with nature. 388 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:56,920 So our our subscribed members, but also like our newsletter followers and generally people who 389 00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:03,000 who follow us, so we're continuing the building, the communities, we're continuing advocacy for nature. 390 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:08,120 And we're going to put a bit more resources into that rewilding side of things. 391 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:14,120 So projects at the moment, like with the advocacy, we spend a lot of time 392 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:19,960 the last few years trying to get the nature restoration law over the line, which it's now is. So 393 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:26,400 what we'll be doing there now is trying to engage with the government, because they're now creating the nature restoration plan. 394 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:33,960 And for the for folks who maybe haven't been following this, it's it's a new piece of European law that basically requires member states to 395 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:40,400 to try and reach certain targets to restore really important habitats in their country where things like, 396 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,080 you know, natural woodlands, native woodlands, 397 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,960 pollinators as well get their own kind of targets, and marine habitats. 398 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:53,400 So it's a pretty and we think it's a pretty, good idea, this law. 399 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:59,400 And now because it just passed with a lot of kind of efforts and support from environmental NGOs, 400 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,400 all the governments now need to produce a nature restoration plan. 401 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:08,000 So that's going to happen in the next two years. So we're very much mobilized and trying to make sure that that's a good plan. 402 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,920 You know, that that it's ambitious, it's realistic and has a lot of public engagement in it as well. 403 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:18,680 So with the advocacy, that's something we're really, on at the moment. 404 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:21,400 So if you're on our mailing lists or whatever, you're probably be getting updates 405 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:26,040 and maybe we'll let you know any opportunities to engage with that process. 406 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:30,000 Other things we're really like shouting for is marine protected areas. 407 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:37,800 We've been private members of a campaign called Fair Seas for the last, three and a half, maybe four years. 408 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:44,040 And Paris's is really just like it's a coalition of other environmental of environmental NGOs. 409 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:45,960 So Irish water trusts, Irish. 410 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,720 We're on dolphin group, bird watch Island, 411 00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:57,120 stream scapes though loads of different groups and, it's supported by the Irish Rainbow Network, and Swan Island. 412 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:01,040 So we're all just kind of shouting together for marine protected areas. 413 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,440 We're not, we're not going to stop that anytime soon. So. 414 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:10,560 Yeah, that that's another one that we're really working on at the moment, is trying to get the government to take action 415 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:14,320 to produce, like to designate more marine protected areas. 416 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:23,560 And one way we're we're calling on that is new legislation to be to be published and, and brought into force that allows for designating 417 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:30,560 more marine protected areas, but in a really good way, with a lot like, a lot more public consultation than what had happened before. 418 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:36,120 Like a really good sort of ecologically coherent network of MPAs is what we're looking for. 419 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:45,080 So that's exciting because we know how marine protected areas work and they can help marine ecosystems, fish communities, etc. 420 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,680 like bounce back when they're done. Right. So Ireland is an island nation. 421 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:53,520 You know, we've got this beautiful sea surrounding us, the Atlantic Ocean and everything. 422 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:57,680 So yeah, we're happy to be PM working on that right now. 423 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:03,680 So that's probably some of the campaigns you'll see, us shown about over the next few months and years. 424 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:05,840 Very well. Yeah. 425 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:09,200 And then the, the new project of, of trying to do a bit more rewilding. 426 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,720 So we own a few small nature reserves. 427 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:20,760 And we'd like to, to acquire maybe 1 or 2 pieces of land where we can do some rewilding and, you know, showcase it 428 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:26,760 like that, that, the public know about what's happening there and, and just sort of get behind that rewilding efforts. 429 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:28,360 Because that goes back to our vision, 430 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:34,720 which is like in Ireland, where wild nature thrives and there's so many benefits to people when that happens. 431 00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:37,880 All the seed benefits to, to nature itself. So, 432 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:40,080 that's exciting. 433 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:44,920 We're not we wouldn't call ourselves a really a, a leading rewilding organization right now. 434 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:49,720 We're not doing huge amounts of it in practice, but we've always been advocates for it. 435 00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:54,720 And now we want to start doing a bit more ourselves. So there's a few things. Yeah. Key things come up. 436 00:36:54,720 --> 00:36:55,280 Excellent. 437 00:36:55,280 --> 00:37:01,280 This is this is fantastic because the nature restoration law we we covered nature restoration law from various angles 438 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,040 on this podcast many times. And I'm sure the listeners are well aware of that. 439 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,960 Marine protected areas also were covered in length. 440 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:13,640 And rewilding, it's like one of the staple topics. So I'm sure that they do that. 441 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,320 Yeah, I'm sure the audience is very familiar with all of that. 442 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:22,440 And that is just, should should make them want to join the Irish Wildlife Trust if they didn't already. 443 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:29,120 Kieran, before we wrap this up, if you can wave the magic wand for nature in Ireland, well, that would be. 444 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:31,320 Well, no pressure. 445 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:34,400 I'm going to try and think. 446 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:40,400 I think big, rather than focusing on any one ecosystem or pressure. 447 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:51,720 Really, what it comes down to is that unfortunately, there's a real lack of awareness as crept into humanity, about, 448 00:37:52,440 --> 00:38:00,320 the interconnectedness of everything and the fact that human beings are a part of nature and we seem to have tricked ourselves. 449 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:06,440 We've done this great trick on ourselves where we think that we're separate from it, and we can go on with our own activities, 450 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:10,800 our own economy. And it's got nothing to do with nature that's, you know, we're slowly killing off. 451 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:17,520 So if you could maybe wave the magic wand and make Irish people, everyone in the world 452 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:24,360 really just kind of, appreciate the interconnectedness of humans with the rest of the natural world. 453 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:28,800 I think that would probably just solve everything for me. Yeah, I think you're right. 454 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:34,520 I think you're right. I never I never heard that answer, but I think you're right more than any other answer, folks. 455 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:39,840 The link to the Irish Wildlife Trust website is in a description of the show and going there. 456 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,000 Subscribe to the newsletter. 457 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:42,240 Subscribe to the newsletter. 458 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:47,400 It is, it is the best way to keep in touch. And, Kiernan, thank you so much. 459 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,160 Thanks for me. Thanks a million. It's nice to chat with you.