The complex common issues faced by those concerned with the future of two sensitive and similar coastal zones - Strangford Lough in Co Down and Ban now Bay in Co Wexford - have prompted a cross-Border sharing of ideas and experiences.
Concerned committees in both zones are trying to find ways to reconcile the various interests - commercial, recreational and environmental - which can have an impact on their local natural resources.
They both want to arrive at integrated management plans which will have the support of all sections of their local communities, thus creating an authoritative and unified voice which could influence future policy-making at national and European level.
A start was made at last weekend's summer school of the Ban now Bay Coastal Zone Management Group which brought together a large and diverse group in the small village of Fethard-on-Sea.
It outlined the aim of developing a community spirit for all interest groups in the area and drafting an agreed management plan for the bay. The group aspires to implementing this plan as "a showcase of sustainable use of natural and historical resources".
The follow-up would be to market the area, "emphasising quality, environment-sensitive management and production, and community-led development". The group chairman, local farmer, Willie Gleeson, said as far as it was aware, it was the first group in the Republic with these aims.
He admitted that achieving harmony between the traditionally conflicting interests would be difficult, "but there is only one way, and that's the long haul".
The group has already visited Strangford Lough to learn from the management committee there, and observers from the Strangford group participated in last weekend's summer school.
The wealth of unique natural, historical and archaeological resources associated with Bannow Bay was detailed by a range of speakers at the school. Some experts described evidence that ecological and physical changes are already happening.
A contract ecologist, Simon Berridge, who is working with Birdwatch Ireland, outlined his recent observations of a sharp decline in the occurrence of zos tera, or eel grass, which is a favourite food of the Brent geese which winter locally. The geese appear to have turned to feeding on rye-grass from local farm fields.
Simultaneously, there has been a rapid spread of a macro-algae called enteromorpha (gutwort), which may have been encouraged by large-scale run-off of nitrate fertilisers from farms. The decline of the eel grass may be due to erosion at the mouth of the bay, which has resulted in large quantities of sand being carried in and covering the mudflats on which the eel grass thrived.
These changes, he said, showed the complexity and interwoven nature of the natural and man made phenomena affecting the bay. There was a need for integrated coastline research to monitor and explain what was happening.
The school was opened by the Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Hugh Byrne, who said the work of the group could identify the issues and priorities concerning the bay, and could contribute to the County Development Plan.
Mr Gleeson said the group did not pretend to have answers to the issues, or the ability to achieve solutions, but it was a broad community group which was gaining moral support and building trust between the different interests.
Over the coming months, it will consult with development agencies in the county and with interest groups and start to put together a draft management plan for the Bannow Bay area.
"It will be a slow march," he said, "but if the ethos is to work, it must bring the local community with it."