The ban imposed in 2008 on the €4 million centuries-old tradition of collecting natural mussel seed and replanting it further inshore near Cromane, in what is one of the biggest natural mussel beds in Irish waters, led to huge controversy.

Castlemaine harbour is an area of special conservation, as well as a special protection area, and the ban was put in place to collect baseline data in order to comply with the EU habitats and birds directive.

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The only beneficiaries of any such closure would be "starfish and green crab predators", according to skippers based in Cromane, Co Kerry, who say scientific studies have shown that birdlife is not adversely affected by mussel aquaculture.

Environmentalist Seán Ó Suilleabháin, who is chair of the local fishermen's co-op, says he is happy that Natura 2000 legislation and mussel culture can co-exist, based on scientific evidence.

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And Environment Minister John Gormley has also banned camping and lighting of fires in Knocksink Woods, near Enniskerry in Co Wicklow, under new regulations signed into law last week.

The move was taken to protect 14 sensitive nature sites which were being damaged because of recreational off-roading.

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THE NATIONAL Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), a division of the Department of the Environment, has said it is determined to secure "a full restoration of this important site" - the Tinnaberna Sandhills Special Area of Conservation (SAC) - after eight years of abuse by a local farmer.

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Scotland's Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham has written to her counterpart in Dublin, John Gormley, calling for talks to address the problem in both countries.

A golden eagle reintroduction programme is currently under way in north-west Ireland, after an absence of 100 years, based on limited donations of chicks from Scotland.

Ms Cunningham said: "Both countries are committed to a healthier future for golden eagles. People derive huge enjoyment from seeing these birds and they also help the economy in rural areas by boosting wildlife tourism.

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BIODIVERSITY IS such a boring term that it's no wonder it hasn't caught the public imagination. Maybe if people realised that it meant life on Earth, as depicted so memorably by David Attenborough in all of its glorious variety, their perception of its importance would be more sympathetic.

The United Nations always has its "years" for this or that, and 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, which comes with a message from secretary general Ban Ki-moon that conserving life on Earth "cannot be an afterthought once other objectives are addressed - it is the foundation on which many of these objectives are built".

Ban is implying that we shouldn't be so single-minded in fixing the economy if everything else is falling apart.

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TAKING TO the air is the one sure way of witnessing the slow death of Irish bogs.

From the height afforded by an Air Corps helicopter, the destruction wrought by turf-cutting is instantly apparent, from the incessant nibbling at the perimeter of the bog by mechanised cutters to the upheavals this is causing within the remaining surface area.

Our raised bogs are shrinking by the day, and what is left of them is deteriorating in quality.

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The Turfcutters and Contractors' Association (TCCA) said it would not abide by the new rule, saying that up to 6,000 families would be affected by the prohibition which comes into immediate effect.

The move will affect less than 5pc of the country's peatlands.

A raised bog, as opposed to a blanket one, is a bog deemed to be still growing.

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Believed to be poisoned, this is the third gruesome discovery in just four weeks and brings to 14 the number of premature deaths in Kerry since the eagle reintroduction project began in 2007. This is the eighth eagle to be poisoned and the birds were all found within a kilometre of each other.

The latest carcass was discovered floating in the River Laune by a group of kayakers, including local mountaineer Con Moriarty, his 12 year old daughter Liadh and sisters Caoimhe, Niamh and Lorna Griffin from Killorglin.

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In what has been described as the worst spate of poisoning in recent years, 10 such birds, including three kites, two white-tailed eagles, a golden eagle, three buzzards and a peregrine falcon, have been confirmed poisoned this year in the Republic.

Dr Allan Mee, manager of a white-tailed eagle reintroduction programme in Co Kerry, yesterday confirmed a second eagle had been poisoned in the Beaufort area, near Killarney, inside a month.

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PARTS of a fragile dunes area at a Kerry Blue Flag beach may soon be off-limits to the public for conservation reasons.

Kerry County Council is to meet with experts on dune management in relation to continuing erosion at Rossbeigh, where up to 50 acres have already been washed away by the sea and a new island formed.

While the council does not have the money to tackle ongoing erosion in the area, it now says some "no-go" areas may have to be created to help the dunes to recover.

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When Cabinet approved the heads of the contentious Bill in November of last year, it contained new powers for Environment Minister John Gormley to prohibit the use of off-road 4x4 vehicles and scramblers in certain areas. However, when the Bill was published last week, this element had been removed.

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A spokesman for the Minister for the Environment John Gormley said he was adamant that the derogation, which had allowed cutting on the bogs for the past 10 years, could not continue.

There had been an expectation the 6,000 farmers and rural dwellers who work the bogs in question might have been allowed a further year as a special interdepartmental committee had been dealing with the controversial issue.

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That is according to an expert in the subject, Dr Evelyn Moorkens, who has monitored the management by Doonbeg Golf Club of the 1.8mm snail at the west Co Clare links over the past 10 years.

The presence of the snail at the course held up its construction in 2000 after Tony Lowes of the Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) took a High Court action seeking to ensure the conservation of the snail.

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Followed by the hounds, the deer ran about 10km before it was spotted jumping over a hedge at the R152 Kilmoon to Duleek Road.

Moments later it was struck by a Mercedes car. After just 45 minutes, the hunt was over.

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Both bodies have urged relevant State agencies, farming organisations and the farming media, to "renew their energies" in raising awareness among farmers about the wider implications of illegal use of poisoned carcasses.

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With only 127 corncrake breeding males left in Ireland, the bird is threatened by extinction and is mainly confined to west Connacht, Co Donegal and the Shannon Callows.

In response to a judgment by the European Court of Justice ruling that the State had neglected its duty to the corncrake and failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law, the department yesterday unveiled its three-phase €200,000 project to save the corncrake from national extinction.

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