IRBC announcement on recording birds at sea.
Introduction
The IRBC’s Checklist of the Birds of Ireland (IWC 1998) describes the recording area as “the island of Ireland and, in addition, inshore waters up to 30 km from the nearest land or, where relevant, the median point between Ireland and Great Britain. So-called ‘at sea’ records, i.e. records outside this 30 km limit but still in the Exclusive Economic Zone which extends up to c.370 km (200 nautical miles) offshore or, where relevant, the median point between Ireland and Great Britain, are assessed and published by the IRBC and NIBA (now NIBRC) in their respective reports, but are excluded from the main list.”
The IRBC recently reviewed this position and concluded that this 30 km limit appeared to be arbitrary and did not reflect legal territorial waters as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which was adopted in 1984 and came into force in 1994. It was ratified in Ireland in 1996. Article 3 of this Convention states that “Every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with this Convention”. This baseline is generally measured from the low water line (Article 6).
Accordingly, the IRBC has decided to amend the recording area to 12 nautical miles (nm) or 22.2 km to reflect Irish Territorial Waters as defined under UNCLOS. The recording area that is the median point between Ireland and Great Britain remains unchanged.
The recording of records outside the 12 nm territorial waters but within the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will continue to be recorded as ‘At sea’ and will not be counted as part of the main list. (Note the 200 nm EEZ extends from the outer limit of the territorial sea, which is 12 nm from the baselines, out to a maximum of 200 nm).
It should be noted that this change of recording area does not result in any change to the Irish List as all species that are potentially affected were recorded within the 12 nm zone. It should also be noted that any records within the jurisdiction of NIBRC are subject to adjudication by that committee.