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Three Beaches In North West Lose Blue Flag Status In 2019

20th May 2019
Rathmullan Marina in Co Donegal has been awarded its first ever Blue Flag for superior water quality Rathmullan Marina in Co Donegal has been awarded its first ever Blue Flag for superior water quality Credit: Rathmullan.net

Three beaches in the North West have lost their Blue Flags in the latest round of awards from An Taisce.

According to The Irish Times, the popular surfing haunt of Bundoran in Co Donegal, along with Bertra Strand and Golden Strand in Co Mayo, failed to retain Blue Flag status in this year’s awards, which were announced today (Monday 20 May) at The Armada Hotel in Midtown Malbay, Co Clare.

However, Rathmullan Marina in Co Donegal secured its first ever Blue Flag to bring the overall numbers to just two down on last year’s total.

In total, 80 of the 83 beaches awarded in 2018 retained their Blue Flag status, while all seven marinas rated last year — including the Royal Cork and Kinsale yacht clubs — have kept their flags.

Blue Flag beaches and marinas must adhere to specific criteria related to water quality, information provision, environmental education, safety and site management.

In addition, 62 beaches have received the Green Coast Award for the 2018 bathing season — the highest number to date.

The Green Coast Award recognises beaches managed in partnership with local volunteer groups for their clean environment, excellent water quality and natural beauty.

The full list of Blue Flag and Green Coast Award recipients for this year is available to download below.

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Published in Coastal Notes
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Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.