Green Party candidate for Strangford, Georgia Grainger, has said that the protection of Strangford Lough is a priority for her and the party. She was speaking while on a fact-finding visit with party colleagues to the Queen’s University Marine Laboratory in Portaferry.
She said: “The marine lab makes you appreciate that Strangford Lough isn’t just a place of outstanding natural beauty… it is also of important scientific interest.
“The research conducted by the marine lab into the lough and its inhabitants has a crucial role to play in our understanding of the environment and the species we share it with.
“As our climate changes due to global warming, the impact of that will be felt in all sorts of ways. Not all of them are immediately apparent but have far reaching consequences nonetheless.”
Dan Barrios-O’Neill, a research fellow at the marine lab said: “Rising levels of carbon dioxide trap heat in the atmosphere and oceans; but they also make the sea more acidic, as the carbon dioxide is absorbed. So we have to look at both heat and acidity. For example, some species of shellfish find it harder to form their protective shells, which has a knock on effect on other species too. Here in the Marine Lab we are investigating how all these factors interact to affect biodiversity in Strangford Lough, and beyond.”
Georgia Grainger added: “It’s so important that we protect and understand places like Strangford Lough. There is a real danger these days that we open them up to thoughtless exploitation for short-term gain and spoil them for future generations.
“We’re seeing acts of careless environmental vandalism taking place in other parts of Northern Ireland – in the exploratory oil drill at Woodburn Forest, and threat of mining that hangs over the the Sperrins. It mustn’t happen here. We have to see ourselves as the custodians of these places of beauty and interest.”
