The fourth annual NMCI Seafarers’ Conference will take place at the Castletroy Park Hotelin Limerick on Thursday 20th March 2025. The theme of this year’s Conference is Navigating Ireland’s Future Together – Recognising the Future Seafarer. The Conference will take place ahead of the two-day Irish Skipper Expo, being held at the University of Limerick on the 21st and 22nd of March.
Considering the extraordinary advances in maritime technology and artificial intelligence (AI), it is timely that, as an Island nation, we explore what seafaring will look like within the foreseeable future, within the context of future energy security and environmental challenges. Such an exploration and associated discussion will hopefully assist our policy makers, regulators, skills developers, educators, environmentalists, and operators to navigate the rocky shoals of developing Ireland as a maritime industrial and economic powerhouse.
As humankind looks seaward for solutions to both the climate and biodiversity crises, the necessity to jointly plot a coexistent future is key. An important part of navigating that future together is to firstly recognise the future seafarer, as Ireland will have to prepare its maritime industry’s capability and capacity beyond anything that it has achieved to date.
The Seafarers’ Conference Panel discussions will cover topics such as:
- What the Future Seafarer must look like
- Navigating Ireland's Seafood and ORE Ambition
- What Future Maritime Training and Education Institutions Will Look Like
- What the Future Will Hold
These discussions will look to identify key enablers such as: skills need; maritime education and training; the environment; infrastructure; policies; strategies; regulation and licencing; qualifications and certification; and coexistence, towards the central goal of navigating our future together. We will hear insights from Irish seafarers, the Norwegian approach to maritime training, the EU, the seafood and ORE industries, and from maritime students who will describe their hopes, dreams and vision for the future.
As with previous years, the Conference will also seek to explore and discuss how Ireland built upon the six recommendations arising from the last Conference held in February 2024.These Recommendations and associated Actions comprise:
Recommendation 1: Stakeholders must proactively engage to deliver climate action, the growth of a new offshore renewable energy sector including offshore grid, and a successful maritime economy centered on our coastal communities.
Action 1: The Seafood/ORE WG to produce coexistence guidelines towards maximising the economic, social, and environmental benefits of their respective industries.
Recommendation 2: Ensure a sustainable and resilient seafood sector, delivered in harmony with marine protection, and offshore renewable energy, through a cross Government and cross industry collaborative approach to marine spatial planning.
Action 2: Deliver Designated Maritime Area Plans (DMAPs) in close collaboration with
stakeholders to minimise spatial squeeze and deliver optimal coexistence.
Recommendation 3: Ireland to deliver a multi-port solution inclusive of commercial ports and fishery harbour centres to ensure that these nodes respond to new demands and new sectors while sustaining and growing traditional sectors.
Action 3: Ireland’s new ports policy to place our ports at the centre of offshore renewable energy, commercial, industrial, and fishing opportunities.
Recommendation 4: Ireland must develop and maintain the skills to deliver the maritime industrial revolution associated with offshore renewable energy, operation of ports and harbours and traditional industries.
Action 4: Ireland to action the recommendations from the “Building Our Potential – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Skills and Talent Needs” Report 2024, including progress on qualifications for seafarers.
Recommendation 5: Ireland must invest in maritime education and training to underpin the skills and talent needs identified in the report mentioned above and beyond.
Action 5: The NMCI to be enabled to coordinate all the national requirements for maritime education and training.
Recommendation 6: Hear the ‘voice of the ocean’ and how climate change is threatening all our interests. Coordinate the gathering of data nationally to better inform marine protection while simultaneously assisting the necessary acceleration of decision-making surrounding Ireland’s maritime industry.
Action 6: Updates on each of these Recommendations and Actions will be of great interest to Ireland’s seafarers, coastal communities, industry, and Government alike. However, with a view to the future, it is equally clear that the challenges Ireland faces in terms of delivering on its climate action targets, sustaining a thriving fishing industry and responding to the growing biodiversity crisis remain considerable and pressing.
The Seafarers’ Conference offers everyone an annual chance to have an open and frank discussion on the voyage ahead, and enhance our ability to safely navigate some rocky shoals and co-create a sustainable future for the next generation and beyond. We need to hear from and be able to recognise the seafarers that will deliver on this. We hope to see you all again on Thursday the 20th of March at the Seafarers’ Conference 2025 in Limerick, or online for
those away at sea, or unable to attend.
