Marine Institute Open Access Repository

Welcome to the Marine Institute Open Access Repository

The Marine Institute Open Access Repository facilitates full text access to the publications of the Marine Institute in accordance with copyright permissions. The aim of the Repository is to collect, preserve and provide open access to the publications of the Marine Institute, including the research publications supported by National and European funded marine research programmes.

Featured Items

The Stock Book 2025: Annual Review of Fish Stocks in 2025 with Management Advice for 2026

Marine Institute

The Stock Book is the principal annual publication of the Marine Institute's Fisheries Ecosystems Advisory Services (FEAS). Its purpose is to provide the latest impartial scientific advice on the commercially exploited fish stocks of interest to Ireland. The Stock Book is used by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine - (DAFM) at the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) negotiations with the EU in December and throughout the year at fisheries management meetings.

2025-12

Annual Report 2024/Tuarascáil Bhliantúil 2024 (English and Irish/Bilingual versions)

Marine Institute

The Marine Institute is the national agency for marine research, technology, development and innovation. It seeks to assess and realise the economic potential of Ireland’s marine resource, promote sustainable development of marine industry through strategic funding programmes and essential scientific services, as well as safeguard Ireland’s natural marine resource through research and environmental monitoring. Ireland has a marine area of approximately 880,000 km2 under the sea, which is over 10 times its land area, representing an enormous seabed and marine resource. The Marine Institute promotes the sustainable development of this vast resource through research, the application of new technologies and by providing credible science-based advice to industry, the Government and the EU.

2025

Ireland’s Ocean Economy, 2025

Flynn, Niall; Frost, Deirdre; O'Leary, Jenny; Mehorta, Sanjana; Tran, Tuyen; Hynes, Stephen

Ireland’s Ocean Economy Report, 2025, provides an update on Ireland’s ocean economy across three main economic indicators: turnover, gross value added (GVA) and employment. It provides an analysis of trends over a five-year period and a commentary on rates of change over a ten-year timeframe. The report is accompanied by an online dashboard, where data trends can be accessed. The 2025 Ocean Economy Report is the ninth in the ocean economy series. Ireland’s ocean economy statistics are based on nominal values.

2025-12

Marine Ireland Industry Network Feasibility Study

The Marine Ireland Industry Network (MIIN) Feasibility Study assesses the potential for MIIN to evolve from an informal network into a formal, industry-led cluster organisation supporting Ireland’s blue economy. Funded under the Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme, the study comprised three components: a Feasibility Analysis Study (led by Cluster Centre Ireland), member consultations, and this synthesis report providing a combined assessment and outlining recommendations and a roadmap for MIIN’s future direction. Findings show strong industry demand for a structured, professionally managed cluster to address shared challenges, foster innovation, and improve access to funding and skills. The report recommends a phased move to a strategy-led cluster with initial public support and a clear path to blended public–private funding. MIIN is well positioned to become a sustainable, industry-led national cluster, enhancing collaboration and competitiveness in Ireland’s marine sector.

2025-12

Recent Submissions

Open Access
Identifying a sustainable operating window for seaweed aquaculture in the Global North: balancing expansion barriers and carrying capacity
(Elsevier BV, 2026-1) Koch, Sophie J. I.; Filgueira, Ramon; Alberg, Jóhanna; Angel, Dror; Byron, Carrie; Cerca, Mariana; Ennis, Leeann B.; Bak, Urd Grandorf; Kane, Frank; Kotta, Jonne; Kraan, Stefan; Peck, Myron; Poelman, Marnix; Slegers, Petronella; Spilling, Kristian; Thomas, Jean-Baptiste; Kluger, Lotta Clara
Seaweed aquaculture is a growing blue sector that provides many benefits to society (e.g. biomass provision for food, feed and cosmetics) and the environment (e.g. eutrophication mitigation, carbon uptake and habitat provision). Successful and sustainable production expansion requires that these activities are operated within limits of acceptable change (LAC) i.e. align with ecological and social carrying capacity. Emerging from a three-round Delphi study, this work presents, from a Global North perspective, the most relevant 1) limiting variables from the socio-environmental spheres that influence the cultivation unit (inputs), such as high operating costs or underdeveloped markets or uncertain impacts from climate change, and 2) the negative impacts of aquaculture on environment and society (outputs), such as overhyped and unrealistic expectation for seaweed cultivation, conflicts with fisheries or pollution. Consolidated lists of these inputs and outputs are accompanied by specific thresholds beyond which unacceptable changes are likely to occur. These results are placed into a globally applicable holistic framework for a multidimensional assessment of seaweed aquaculture including barriers and carrying capacity, which has been outlined for the first time for seaweed cultivation. Our results emphasize the need to include socio-economic aspects into ecosystem approaches, like profitability or social license to operate – and the need for broad stakeholder participation. This study provides thus a directly useable lists of aspects to consider for cultivators and decision-makers. And as is as such a crucial contribution for the ongoing discourse on sustainable growth of this emerging blue sector.
Open Access
Defining Conservation Units in a Highly Diverse Species: A Case on Arctic Charr
(Wiley, 2025-12-28) Fenton, Sam; Bean, Colin; Martin, Samuel A. M.; Poultney, Samuel J.; Smith, Antony; de Eyto, Elvira; Elmer, Kathryn R; Adams, Colin E.
Defining appropriate conservation units is crucial to the protection and management of biodiversity. These delineations deliver further benefit when they include assessments of population vulnerability to extinction from pressures such as climate change. However, delineations and vulnerability assessments are particularly difficult within highly diverse species, such as the salmonid fish Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), that show extensive phenotypic and genetic variation within and across locations, variable and complex life histories and broad geographic distributions. As yet, the nature and scope of Arctic charr diversity has not been characterised at the scale needed to delineate key conservation units in Scotland. To identify evolutionarily significant and vulnerable populations to prioritise for conservation, we conducted a genomic study of Arctic charr populations across Britain and Ireland with a focus on Scottish populations (= 64 populations; 24,878 SNPs; 410 individuals). We found that most lake populations represented distinct genetic clusters, with limited gene flow between them and resulting in substantial genetic differentiation. Higher level groupings of genetic similarity across catchments likely reflect historic anadromy and migration, with populations primarily grouping east or west of the central watershed divide in Scotland. Analysing genetic offset, also known as genomic vulnerability, we identified strong inverse correlations between genetic vulnerability and latitude and distance to the sea, suggesting that more southern and more inland populations are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Additionally, patterns of vulnerability across several additional metrics identified other populations that may be at higher risk of loss. We further used our genetic data, along with phenotypic and geographic information, to identify populations of greatest evolutionary significance. This highlighted that the most important ones to protect are those in locations with multiple ecotypes, a key facet of functional Arctic charr biodiversity, and populations that are the only ones in their Hydrometric Area.
Open Access
International ORE (Offshore Renewable Energy) Design Flexibility
(Marine Institute, 2026-01) O'Shea, Michael; Pandit, Amiya; Flynn, William; Bin Sayeed, Ashkar
This report, led by University College Cork, presents a comprehensive assessment of design flexibility in offshore renewable energy (ORE) development, with a focus on informing Ireland’s evolving regulatory and planning frameworks. The study integrates international policy analysis, environmental modelling, and stakeholder engagement to support the implementation of the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Act 2021 and the Strategic Constraint–Designated Marine Area Plan (SC-DMAP).
Open Access
Newport Research Facility, Annual Report No. 69, 2024
(Marine Institute, 2025-12) Marine Institute
The Burrishoole Annual Report 2024 provides an overview of environmental conditions, fish stock dynamics and research activities within the Burrishoole catchment, continuing a long‑term dataset spanning nearly seven decades. Rainfall patterns in 2024 were marked by unusually wet winter and late‑summer periods, alongside prolonged dry spells in spring and early autumn. Environmental monitoring showed cooler summer water temperatures and persistently warm winter conditions, consistent with broader climatic trends. Wild salmon returns improved, with 589 grilse recorded—the strongest since 2020—while smolt output declined to 5,870, though marine survival increased to 7.4%. Sea trout stocks remained low, with 29 silvered fish and 188 smolts, continuing long‑term declines. The silver eel run totalled 3,069 individuals, with a pronounced migration peak in October. Electrofishing surveys indicated stable juvenile salmonid densities and sustained higher‑than‑average eel densities. The report documents continued expansion of collaborative research, including climate‑related studies, genetics, aquaculture innovation, and freshwater pearl mussel conservation.
Open Access
Marine Ireland Industry Network Feasibility Study
(Marine Institute, 2025-12)
The Marine Ireland Industry Network (MIIN) Feasibility Study assesses the potential for MIIN to evolve from an informal network into a formal, industry-led cluster organisation supporting Ireland’s blue economy. Funded under the Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme, the study comprised three components: a Feasibility Analysis Study (led by Cluster Centre Ireland), member consultations, and this synthesis report providing a combined assessment and outlining recommendations and a roadmap for MIIN’s future direction. Findings show strong industry demand for a structured, professionally managed cluster to address shared challenges, foster innovation, and improve access to funding and skills. The report recommends a phased move to a strategy-led cluster with initial public support and a clear path to blended public–private funding. MIIN is well positioned to become a sustainable, industry-led national cluster, enhancing collaboration and competitiveness in Ireland’s marine sector.

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