Enjoy our wildlife, but avoid causing disturbance!

Date published: 23 May 2025

A new guide explains how to make wildlife encounters sustainable and provides best practice for coastal and marine users when interacting with animals that are susceptible to disturbance.

With an increasingly wide range of recreational activities available to us at the coast, both on land and on the water, the guide gives people an overview of the species they may come across and explains how to avoid causing them disturbance, even if that may be unintentional.

Emphasising the importance of valuing our time at the coast, while being aware of the potential disturbances to our coastal and marine wildlife, Minister Muir said: “We are very lucky to have such a special coastline and marine area in Northern Ireland. While we want everyone to be able to enjoy their time at the coast, we must avoid causing disturbance to our precious coastal and marine wildlife.

“We have an amazing array of marine wildlife, much of which is protected by law and I would encourage everyone to familiarise themselves with the basics of how to avoid marine wildlife disturbance before setting out along the coast.”

General principles for avoiding wildlife disturbance include keeping your distance, being cautious and quiet, and if on the water, ensuring that your craft’s movements are steady and predictable.

In addition, DAERA has also produced a quick-guide that illustrates how to avoid marine and coastal wildlife disturbance at-a-glance. It signposts to useful contact numbers if sick, injured, dead or stranded marine animals are identified.

Insensitive behaviour that leads to disturbance or injury to protected species is rare, however, if you come across such behaviour this should be reported to the PSNI by calling the 101 number.

DAERA will be circulating the leaflets in marinas, harbours and popular coastal locations throughout the season. Both guides can also be located on the DAERA website.