As an island nation, Ireland has a rich resource for eco-tourism in the sea, combining conservation and education with the well-being of coastal communities. Eco-tourism has a social ethic as well as an environmental ethic, involving local people through volunteering, education, training and employment schemes while creating a tourism industry that will benefit the local and national economy. Marine eco-tourism takes on the two challenges of climate change and recession, protecting the environment while providing opportunities for growth.

The Irish Seal Sanctuary is fundraising for a move to an Irish Marine Conservation Centre with seal rehabilitation as a key-stone to the wider marine environment. Further engagements with marine conservation include the promotion of sustainable fishing methods and responding to oiled seabirds with a facility on the site for their rehabilitation. The Marine Conservation Centre will create opportunities for volunteering, training, research and employment. The centre will be a model in conserving and sustainably making use of marine resources and marine wildlife through eco-tourism.

• Seal Rehabilitation: The Marine Conservation Centre will continue the work of the Irish Seal Sanctuary, rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing orphaned and injured seals from around the Irish coast.

• Sustainable Fishing Methods: Sustainable fishing methods include line fishing and lobster potting. Unsustainable fishing methods include bottom trawling, which dredges up everything from the sea bed including juvenile fish. Bottom trawling also damages the sea bed. The future of the fishing industry depends on protecting juvenile fish, allowing fish populations to reproduce.

• Oil Spill Response: Marine wildlife is affected by large scale and small scale oil spills from ships and tankers. Oil is damaging to seabirds as it affects the waterproofing of their feathers.

All of the above have an educational value as well as a conservation value and offer visitors an opportunity to observe Irish marine wildlife closely as well as learn about the marine environment.

Marine eco-tourism is consistent with the principles of sustainable development, protecting natural resources for future generations, while sustainably exploiting them to create a tourism industry that will benefit the local and national economy. Sustainability lies in the balance of protecting the natural heritage of coastal communities and generating economic gain for those communities. One of the benefits of marine eco-tourism is the fact that it does not peak in the summer months, but is more evenly distributed throughout the year, reflecting the behaviour patterns of marine wildlife such as the seasonal migration of birds in the autumn and the breeding seasons of common and grey seals in the summer months and the winter months respectively.

Eco-tourism aims to be carbon neutral, off-setting its own carbon footprint through energy efficiency, water conservation, insulation, recycling and the promotion of local organic produce. Marine eco-tourism has an added engagement with sustainable fisheries and selective fishing methods, promoting seafood that has been caught locally without causing harm to other marine life or to the seabed.

While education programmes are designed to inform visitors of all ages about the marine environment and marine wildlife, interpretation programmes are designed for visitor satisfaction, with personal guides recognised in visitor surveys as a preferred delivery method. Marine eco-tourism is a rich resource for interpretation, exploring Ireland's relationship with the sea and on a local level, exploring the natural and cultural heritage of coastal communities factually and imaginatively through photography, film, art, music, poetry and story-telling.