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Coastal Development in Ireland
Overhead shot of a pile of oysters
Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is now inviting applications from oyster fishers seeking a licence to operate an oyster dredge for the 2022 season. Applications will only be accepted from applicants with boats on the sea fishing boat register of the…
The rubbish bin from South Carolina that was found on the beach at Mulranny, Co Mayo at the weekend
A refuse barrel from South Carolina has been found washed up in an unexpected spot — on a beach more than 5,500km away in Co Mayo. Myrtle Beach City Government shared their surprise email exchange with Keith McGreal, who discovered…
The coconut found recently on Owenahincha Beach in Rosscarbery
A young reader from West Cork has contacted Afloat.ie to appeal for information about a coconut he discovered washed up on a local beach. Michael Kearney (14) writes: Recently I got very excited when I found a coconut washed up…
TechWorks Marine logo
TechWorks Marine has scheduled the deployment of three trawl-resistant acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) in Tralee Bay from next week. The three bottom-mounted ADCP frames will be positioned on the seabed at various depths between Monday 1 and Saturday 13…
The largest number of boats affected by dredging will be those berthed in Carrickfergus
Two marinas and two harbours in the Mid and East Antrim Council area will be dredged over the coming winter and following Spring. They are Carnlough Harbour and Glenarm Marina on the Antrim Coast Road and Carrickfergus Marina and Harbour…
Drone with camera mount at flight with a forest background
The use of drones could play a key role in sustainable coastal fisheries in Ireland, according to a new study. As the Irish Examiner reports, researchers at University College Cork (UCC) evaluated a wide range of applications for drones on…
The Coastal Atlas of Ireland involves the work of over 140 contributors
The Coastal Atlas of Ireland is one of seven titles nominated for An Post’s Best Irish Published Book of the Year. The atlas published by Cork University Press involves the work of over 140 contributors ranging in expertise from archaeology…
Two Irish environmental coalitions are calling on the Government to ensure the necessary Dáil Committee time is given to debating the new Maritime Area Planning Bill. The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) and the Environmental Pillar say that Ireland is “marching…
Regional authorities and tourism agencies should provide supports for marine tourism, the study says
A new study of the Wild Atlantic Way recommends development of “niche marine tourism” options along the coastal route. Visitors taking part in marine-related activities tend to spend more and stay longer than average, and so regional authorities and tourism…
The first Coastal Atlas of Ireland is ambitious and multidisciplinary
What weighs almost five kilos and ranges in subjects from archaeology to zoology, with Atlantic tsunamis, Viking raids and the Irish coast’s role in cinema in between? The first Coastal Atlas of Ireland is ambitious and multidisciplinary. Between its 893…
Fungie the dolphin pictured in Dingle Harbour in the summer of 2019
Dingle will host a special commemoration for Fungie the dolphin this month, as the Irish Independent reports. Fungie took up residence in the Co Kerry harbour in 1983 and over the decades since formed the backbone of the town’s tourism-based…
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue TD has welcomed the publication of today's revised National Development Plan. The NDP will set the Department’s new five-year rolling capital allocations. It will support economic, social and environmental development across the country. ‘As we emerge…
Young Coastwatch volunteers surveying the seashore on the Beara Peninsula
Coastwatch has welcomed the promise of greater protections for sensitive maritime areas in the Marine Spatial Planning Bill as it continues its annual shoreline survey. As reported in The Irish Times, the environmental group’s coordinator Karin Dubsky said “public participation…
La Palma lava flows into the sea
A cascade of lava spilling into the Atlantic ocean from the Spanish island of La Palma has been photographed by the European Space Agency (ESA). The lava from the volcanic eruption extends the size of the coastline and covered about…
International maritime lawyer Michael Kingston
Relatives of the 50 people who died in the Whiddy island Betelegeuse tanker explosion 42 years ago are seeking an apology from the Government for “appalling failures “ The call has been made in a new RTE Documentary on One…
Graphic for Explorers Education Programme outreach in schools and classes
The Explorers Education Programme has been expanded to deliver modules to primary schools in all of Ireland’s coastal counties. Established in Galway over 15 years ago and funded by the Marine Institute, the Explorers programme now reaches schools all around the…

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.