Proactive engagement with communities from an early stage, both on and offshore, has been key to reaching the most suitable and appropriate project design
Early meaningful engagement with fisheries
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Community Engagement
Your Community Liaison Officer
Jim O'Reilly
To contact your Community Liaison Officer, please email enquiries@northirishseaarray.ie
Engagement is not simply about providing information. We want the community to engage proactively with us too.
NISA is a project that is ultimately about delivering for people and the future and we believe that everyone should have an opportunity to have an input into how the design is developed and delivered.
In the interest of making sure that our engagement with the community is as comprehensive as possible, we encourage anyone with feedback or a project query to use our Engagement Area, or email Jim O'Reilly on enquiries@northirishseaarray.ie.
Complete our short anonymous survey
Fisheries Engagement
The fishing community has been a key stakeholder in the development of the NISA project from the outset. Engagement with the fishing community commenced in 2019, when only a concept layout was available.
We have been in ongoing contact with the fishing industry in relation to potential concerns and issues. This feedback has influenced how the project design evolved.
Each of the layout concepts considered during the design process has taken into account issues such as turbine layout orientation, turbine spacing and array locations as they relate to existing fishing practices. We endeavoured to adapt our design and processes to allow NISA and the fishing community to successfully share the area of the sea being considered. Protecting the current positions of those making a living from the proposed wind farm area is a core issue for us.
This proactive engagement is continuing and will remain for the lifetime of the project.
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Your Fisheries Liaison Officer
Mark O'Reilly
To contact your Fisheries Liaison Officer, please email flo@northirishseaarray.ie
Complete our short anonymous survey
Completion time: 2 – 2.5 mins
Completion time: 2 – 2.5 mins
Coexistence with the Fishing Industry
The offshore industry can deliver a more sustainable future for the fishing community. NISA is endeavouring to develop a collaborative approach to capturing benefits of sharing a marine space to deliver both sustainable energy generation and food production for mutual benefit. Offshore renewable energy can and should support those earning a living from the mutually shared waters. The existing fishing practices in this area have been considered during reviews of our design layouts endeavouring to allow for continued fishing. As more information becomes available from our surveys and our design matures, we will be able to get a better understanding of how the project might interact with local fishing practices carried out in this specific area.
NISA is committed to working towards supporting the sustainability of the local fishing communities and working with individual fishers and representative orgainsations to establish how this can best be achieved.
To view all Marine Notices, click here.
Fisheries Update - Q1 2024
The local fishing community as related to the NISA project is recognised as one of our most important stakeholder groups. As a result, the NISA team has engaged with fisheries from the earliest stages of active development of the project in 2019. This project update is part of our wider ongoing engagement with all interested parties, including the fishing community.
During public consultation events and other meetings over recent months, we advised attendees that we have applied for a Maritime Usage Licence (MUL). This application was submitted to the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) and is currently published on its website. Through MARA, this MUL application will be consulted on during March 2024. Surveys associated with this MUL would likely occur in the latter part of 2024 or early 2025.
We aim to submit a planning application for the NISA project in the latter half of Q2 2024, while further geophysical offshore surveys are planned for Q2 or Q3 2024. We will again proactively engage with the fishing industry before and during these surveys.
The NISA team is committed to proactive and constructive engagement with all stakeholders to develop a project which incorporates local feedback. The views of the local fishing industry have influenced current considerations, not only on the design front, but in terms of potential mechanisms to minimise disturbance to the local fishing community during the future development of the NISA project.
We will continue to consult with the fishing industry on these potential mechanisms over the coming weeks and months.
Further Update – Consultation Extension
NISA has been having ongoing engagement with fisheries stakeholders and in particular the industry’s representative organisations regarding a number of matters in recent times.Â
The Maritime Usage Licence Application is one such matter and we have therefore decided to extend the consultation period of the MUL by two weeks up to the 15th of April.
Click on the link below to view the notification of the extension:
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