The EU has established a new conservation area recognising the biological sensitivity and commercial importance of the waters around Ireland. The new Irish Conservation Box (ICB) or Irish Biologically Sensitive Area will replace the old Irish Box, a 50-mile, protected fishing zone around the Irish coast. The ICB is smaller than the old Irish Box, but extends further south. A major feature of the zone is that it follows the 200m contour on its western side and is based on the conservation box that was established to protect juvenile hake in 2001 as part of the northern hake recovery plan. The waters around Ireland contain some of the most important spawning and nursery areas for commercial fish stocks in the North - East Atlantic. These include:

· major spawning areas for mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting off the west coast

· major spawning areas for hake, megrim and herring off the south coast.

· very important nursery areas for herring, haddock, hake, whiting and megrim in the shelf waters off the south and west coasts

The biological sensitivity of the waters around Ireland has been clearly demonstrated by international scientific surveys of adult fish, juveniles and fish egg distribution. They show a clear picture of the importance of Irish coastal waters as fish spawning and nursery areas. This information formed an integral part of the case made by Ireland on the biologically sensitive nature of the seas around Ireland.