Acronym & Phrase Library - MARA - Maritime Area Regulatory Authority

Welcome to the MARA Library of Acronyms and Phrases. In the below listing we have included some of the most commonly used acronyms and phrases that you may come across when visiting the MARA website.

This library will be updated and reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Acronym	Phrase	Description
AIE	Access to Information on the Environment	The European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007 to 2014 (S.I. No. 133 of 2007, S.I. No. 662 of 2011, S.I. 615 of 2014 and S.I. 309 of 2018) (hereafter referred to as the AIE Regulations), give legal rights to those seeking to access information on the environment from public authorities. Under these regulations, information relating to the environment held by, or for, a public authority must be made available on request, subject to certain exceptions. The AIE regulations also oblige public authorities to be proactive in disseminating environmental information to the public.
ACP	An Coimisiún Pleanála	An Coimisiún Pleanála is Ireland’s national independent planning body that decides appeals on planning decisions made by local authorities as well as direct applications. It was formerly known as An Bord Pleanála.
AA	Appropriate Assessment	The assessment that is required by the Birds and Habitats Directives to determine the potential effect of a project or plan on a Special Protected Area or Special Area of Conservation with respect to their qualifying interests.
	Aquaculture	Aquaculture is breeding, raising, and harvesting fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants. Basically, it’s farming in water.
ARD	Assessment, Research and Data
BEP	Best Environmental Practice	The most appropriate combination of environmental control measures and strategies.
CCS	Carbon Capture and Storage	CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) at emission sources, transporting and then storing or burying it in a suitable deep, underground location. CCS can also mean the removal of CO2 directly or indirectly from the atmosphere.
CMRC	Coastal & Marine Research Centre
CPA	Coastal Planning Authority
CIL	Commissioner of Irish Lights	The Commissioners of Irish Lights, often shortened to Irish Lights or CIL, is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and their adjacent seas and islands.
CBF	Community Benefit Fund
CA	Competent Authority	A competent authority is any person or organization that has the legally delegated or invested authority, capacity, or power to perform a designated function.
CER	Compliance, Enforcement & Revenue Collection
CNG	Compressed Natural Gas
CS	Continental shelf	Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) the continental shelf is that part of the seabed over which a coastal State exercises sovereign rights with regard to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources including petroleum deposits as well as other minerals and biological resources of the seabed. The legal continental shelf (consisting of the shelf, the slope and the rise) extends out to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the coastline, or further if the shelf naturally extends beyond that limit (as it does in Ireland’s case).
DPO	Data Protection Officer
DBEI	Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation
DCEE	Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment
DoD	Department of Defence
DES	Department of Education and Skills
DEASP	Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
DETE	Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Dfin	Department of Finance
DFAT	Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
DFHERIS	Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
DoH	Department of Health
DHLGH	Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
DPENDR	Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
DRCD	Department of Rural and Community Development
DoT	Department of the Taoiseach
DTCAGSM	Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
DMAP	Designated Maritime Area Plan
DG	Director General
DNZ	Domestic Net Zero
DREDGING	Dredging	The removal of material from the sea bed, for a variety of purposes, including the clearing of channels for navigation, or the extraction of minerals.
DaS	Dumping at Sea
EMAS	Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
EcIA	Ecological Impact Assessment
	Ecosystem	A biological community of interacting organisms (plants, animals and microbes) and their physical environment (OSPAR definition).
	Ecosystem approach	The comprehensive integrated management of human activities based on the best available scientific knowledge about the ecosystem and its dynamics, in order to identify and take action on influences, which are critical to the health of marine ecosystems, thereby achieving sustainable use of ecosystem goods and services and maintenance of ecosystem integrity (OSPAR definition)
	Ecosystem functioning	How plants, animals, microorganisms and the non-living environment that make up the ecosystem work together
	Ecosystem services	Processes by which the environment produces resources utilised by humans, such as clean air, water, food and materials
ESB	Electricity Supply Board
ESBN	Electricity Supply Board Networks
EI	Enterprise Ireland	Enterprise Ireland is an Irish state economic development agency focused on helping Irish-owned business deliver new export sales. The aim of Enterprise Ireland is to help Irish enterprises to “start, grow, innovate and win export sales in global markets.
EIA	Environmental Impact Assessment	Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the process of examining the anticipated environmental effects of a proposed project – from consideration of environmental effects at design stage, through consultation and preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), evaluation of the EIAR by a competent authority and the subsequent decision as to whether the project should be permitted to proceed.
EIAR	Environmental Impact Assessment Report
EPA	Environmental Protection Agency
	EU Birds Directive	EU Directive 79/409/ EEC on the Conservation of Wild Birds, as amended.
	EU Habitats Directive	EU Directive 92/43/ EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Flora and Fauna, as amended
	EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)	EU Directive 2008/56/ EC on establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy, known as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
EC	European Commission	The European Commission is the primary executive arm of the European Union. It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants.
EMEC	European Marine Energy Centre	The European Marine Energy Centre Ltd. is a UKAS accredited test and research centre focused on wave and tidal power development, based in the Orkney Islands, UK. The centre provides developers with the opportunity to test full-scale grid-connected prototype devices in wave and tidal conditions.
EU	European Union
EEZ	Exclusive Economic Zone	An “exclusive economic zone,” or “EEZ” is an area of the ocean, generally extending 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond a nation’s territorial sea, within which a coastal nation has jurisdiction over both living and nonliving resources.
ECC	Export Cable Corridor
FLS	Floating LiDAR System
FLiDAR	Floating Light Detecting and Ranging
Foreshore	Foreshore	Foreshore is the land and seabed between the high water of ordinary or medium tides (shown HWM on Ordnance Survey Maps) and the twelve-mile limit (twelve nautical miles is approximately 22.24 kilometres).
FIL	Foreshore Investigation Licence
FOI	Freedom of Information
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulations	The General Data Protection Regulation is a European Union regulation on information privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and human rights law, in particular Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
GIS	Geographical Information System
GSI	Geological Survey Ireland
	Harmful algal blooms	Concentrations of phytoplankton producing toxins which can affect human health, oxygen levels in water and which can kill or harm fish and other vertebrate and invertebrates
	High Seas	The seas that are not controlled by any country
	Integrated Coastal Zone Management	Brings together all those involved in the development, management and use of the coast within a framework that facilitates the integration of their interests and responsibilities. National Marine Planning Framework \| Project Ireland 2040
INFOMAR	Integrated Mapping for the Sustainable Development of Ireland’s Marine Resource
IMO	International Maritime Organisation	The International Maritime Organization – is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships. IMO’s work supports the UN SDGs.
IMIN	Irish Marine Industry Network	The Marine Ireland Industry Network (MIIN) is made up of a diverse array of companies, state organisations, research groups and higher education institutes, working in Ireland’s blue economy. The Network was established in 2016 with the aim of bringing together the many elements of Marine Ireland.
IMDO	Irish Maritime Development Office	The Irish Maritime Development Office provides the Irish & international shipping industry with quarterly updates on market news, developments, performance & conditions.
JR	Judicial Review
MI	Marine Institute
MMO	Marine Mammal Observer
MPDM	Marine Planning and Development Management Bill (note that this has been superseded by the Maritime Area Planning Bill
MPA	Marine Protected Area
MSP	Marine Spatial Planning	A process that brings together multiple users of the ocean to make informed and coordinated decisions about how to use marine resources sustainably. It is a process by which the relevant public authorities analyse and organise human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives.
MSP Directive	Marine Spatial Planning Directive
MSFD	Marine Strategy Framework Directive	The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) was put in place to protect the marine ecosystem and biodiversity upon which our health and marine-related economic and social activities depend.
MSO	Marine Survey Office
MAC	Maritime Area Consent
MAP Act	Maritime Area Planning Act 2021
MARA	Maritime Area Regulatory Authority
MULA	Maritime Usage Licence Application
MUL	Maritime Usage License
MHWS	Mean High-Water Spring
MSL	Mean Sea Level	Mean sea level is an average surface level of one or more among Earth’s coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured.
	Mitigation	Measures designed to avoid, reduce, remedy or offset impacts. These measures can mitigate impacts: by Prevention -When a potential impact is prevented by a measure to avoid the possibility of the impact occurring. by Reduction -When an impact is lessened. by Remedy- When an impact is resolved by a remedial action. by Offsetting- When an adverse impact is balanced by a positive impact
NDP	National Development Plan
NESC	National Economic and Social Council
NECP	National Energy and Climate Plan
NMPF	National Marine Planning Framework
NMCI	National Maritime College of Ireland
NPWS	National Parks and Wildlife Service
NSAI	National Standards Authority of Ireland
NSPA	National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture
NIS	Natura Impact Statement
NS	Naval Service
NRA	Navigation Risk Assessment
NGO	Non-Governmental Organisations
OPW	Office of Public Works
OCEI	Office of the Commissioner of Environmental Information
ORESS	Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme
ORE	Offshore Renewable Energy
OREDP	Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan
OWDT	Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce	The Taskforce is chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and its membership comprises senior officials from Government Departments and agencies with offshore wind related actions under the Climate Action Plan.
OWE	Offshore Wind Energy
OWF	Offshore Wind Farm
OCAC	Oireachtas Climate Action Committee
OSI	Ordinance Survey Ireland
OSPAR	OSPAR Commission	The Commission, which manages work under the OSPAR Convention (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic). OSPAR is the mechanism by which 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. OSPAR started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping and was broadened to cover land-based sources of marine pollution and the offshore industry by the Paris Convention of 1974. These two conventions were unified, up-dated and extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. The new annex on biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea.The fifteen Governments are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.OSPAR is so named because of the original Oslo and Paris Conventions (“OS” for Oslo and “PAR” for Paris).
PDA	Planning & Development Act 2000, as amended
PDR	Planning & Development Regulations 2001, as amended
PI 2040	Project Ireland 2040	Project Ireland 2040 is the government’s long-term overarching strategy to make Ireland a better country for all and to build a more resilient and sustainable future.
RES	Renewable Energy Source
RD&I	Research, Development & Innovation
RAMS	Risk Avoidance Method Statements
RDP	Rural Development Programme
SFI	Science Foundation Ireland
SFPA	Sea Fisheries Protection Authority
SMP	Sectoral Marine Plan
SMPP	Sectoral Marine Planning Policy
SSS	Side Scan Sonar	Side-scan sonar is the system that provides high-resolution seafloor morphology from both sides of the vessel track.
	Significant adverse impacts	The identified impacts and their significance in each situation will typically differ dependent on the specifics of individual proposals. However, some general considerations on what might constitute significant adverse impacts will apply. In an overarching policy context, significant adverse impacts may include economic or social impacts on coastal communities, impacts that threaten the achievement of Irish Government targets, impacts that threaten the protection of designated sites, landscapes or historic assets, or impacts that threaten ecosystem resilience, or the achievement of Good Environmental Status (GES). In a key sectoral / activities policy context, significant adverse impacts may include impacts on the integrity and scope or economic viability of an existing or consented activity or potential future activity, including its capacity to provide wider social benefits.
SUP	Single Use Plastics
SSSI	Site of Special Scientific Interest
SEMRU	Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit	Within the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change of NUI Galway
SPL	Sound Pressure Level
SC-SMAP	South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan
SAC	Special Areas of Conservation	Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) under the EC Directive 92/43/ EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Flora and Fauna
SPA	Special Protected Area
SPAs	Special Protection Areas under EC Directive 79/409/ EEC on the Conservation of Birds.
SI	Statutory Instrument	An order, regulation, rule, scheme or bye-law made in exercise of a power conferred by statute.
SNCB	Statutory nature conservation body
SEA	Strategic Environmental Assessment	Strategic Environmental Assessment is the process by which environmental considerations are required to be fully integrated into the preparation of plans and programmes prior to their final adoption. The objectives of SEA are to provide for a high level of protection of the environment and to promote sustainable development.
SISAA	Supporting Information for Screening for Appropriate Assessment
SSC	Suspended Sediment Concentration
SDGs	Sustainable Development Goals	The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals.
SEAI	Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland
MARPOL	The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
MaREI	The Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, Environmental Research Centre, University College Cork	MaREI is the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research and innovation co-ordinated by the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) at University College Cork. The Centre comprises over 220 researchers focusing on defined global challenges such as the Energy Transition, Climate Action and the Blue Economy.
TII	Transport Infrastructure Ireland
UHRS	Ultra-High resolution seismic
USBL	Ultra-Short Baseline
UAIA	Underwater Archaeological Impact Assessment
UAU	Underwater Archaeology Unit
UXO	Unexploded Ordnance
UN	United Nations
UNCLOS	United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea	The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted in 1982. It lays down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world’s oceans and seas establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources.
UNESCO	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
WWD	Waste Water Discharge
WFD	Water Framework Directive	Directive 2000/60/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy