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Coastal Development in Ireland
Professor Dearbháile Morris, School of Medicine, NUI Galway
More than 90% of samples taken from Irish rivers show the presence of E. coli, according to a new study from NUI Galway. And researchers found that the toxic bacteria was also present in bathing waters which pass muster with…
Baltimore in West Cork pictured on a normal sunny evening in summer time
Baltimore Resident Donna McCarthy was angered by Afloat's article West Cork Sailing Dreamtime – Some Day, Summer will Come Again Dear Editor, This is my first time writing to you, though I enjoy reading the articles in Afloat on a regular…
With a moon like this, anything can happen……spooky thoughts are evoked by Tuesday’s super-moon over Balscadden Bay in Howth at a location of exceptional literary associations
We’ll begin by making it clear that this remarkable image of Tuesday night’s super-moon over Balscadden Bay in Howth was taken at 2041hrs by a Howth resident within the prescribed two kilometres of her residence, using a carbon-neutral means of…
Irish Dredging which is a a subsidiary of Royal Boskalis Westminster nv, has the use of their trailing suction hopper dredger Shoalway which is currently conducting operations on the Waterford Estuary.
A maintenance dredging campaign has begun in recent days at the Port of Waterford where activities will involve the waters of Duncannon Bar, Cheekpoint, and at the port's main terminal at Belview, writes Jehan Ashmore Prior to the operations at…
Wet wipes and disposable household wipes must be binned and not flushed
Improper disposal of wet wipes could cause the coronavirus to spread via Ireland’s recreational waters, it’s being claimed. The Green News reports on Coastwatch Ireland’s warning over the use of wet wipes, which are linked to around 90% of wastewater…
The Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg
The Doonbeg golf resort owned by US President Donald Trump has been refused permission to build a ‘sea wall’ of coastal defences, as RTÉ News reports. An Bord Pleanála’s decision published on Wednesday (18 March) said planners were not satisfied…
Marine Planning Framework Meetings In Kinsale & Wexford Cancelled
Due to the current situation regarding Covid-19, upcoming public events on the National Marine Planning Framework planned for Kinsale next Monday 23 March and Wexford on Tuesday 31 March have been cancelled. Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government says…
Volunteers at a previous Coastwatch Ireland survey
There has been a dramatic halving in the number of drinks containers littered around Ireland’s coastline. But the dumping of tyres to trap crabs for angling bait is among the persisting issues noted in the latest Coastwatch Ireland survey report,…
Strumble Head Lighthouse in south Wales where AFLOAT adds is located close to the Port of Fishguard where the ferry operator Stena Line has made a donation to boost biodiversity along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail.
In south Wales a project that aims to boost biodiversity along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail will be boosted following a substantial donation from Stena Line, which runs the ferry crossing from Fishguard to Rosslare. Stena Line’s contribution was…
Operation by helicopter to remove barrels of waste diesel, hydraulic oil from MV Alta aground near Ballycotton east Cork
Near Ballycotton in east Cork, an operation on the coast has been undertaken to airlift around 80 barrels of waste diesel and hydraulic oil from the 80m cargo ship MV Alta which ran aground on rocks a week and a…
An Oil Spill Assessment Team convened again as of 2.00pm today, as part Cork County Council's Oil Spill Contingency Plan in response to the grounding of cargoship (Alta) in Ballycotton, Co. Cork.
Preparing to remove materials from a grounded ghost ship by helicopter on Tuesday is in the hands of Cork County Council as they could pose a pollution risk. The council according to Green News.ie, is preparing to airlift barrels of machine…
File image of the MV Madelen, which will carry out the ADCP deployment this Friday
The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport advises that University College Dublin intends to deploy an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) sub-surface installation off the Aran Islands this Friday 28 February, weather permitting. The deployment will occur around 0.6 nautical…
Gail McAllister (right) and her fellow Blue Flag national jurors
Irish Sailing’s regional development officer Gail McAllister is among the jury for this year’s Blue Flag awards programme. The national jury met last month to consider a total of 88 sites around Ireland comprising 80 beaches and eight marinas. Their…
The project would see seven large gas storage caverns hollowed out under Larne Lough in Co. Antrim.
The main conservation groups in Northern Ireland have come out against a plan to develop gas storage caverns underneath Larne Lough. They are opposed on environmental grounds and as BBC News NI reports, they believe the potential impact on wildlife…
East & West Coasts To Link Up In Tandem Beach Clean Challenge This Weekend
Ireland’s East and West Coasts will compete to collect the most marine litter in a simultaneous beach clean this Sunday 2 February. The Tandem Beach Clean is being organised by Galway City Museum along with Flossie and the Beach Cleaners,…
The popular Cliff Walk between Bray and Greystones topped the Irish Independent readers’ poll
The cliff walk between Bray and Greystones has been named as Ireland’s favourite local attraction by the readers of the Irish Independent. The coastal hiking path between the two Wicklow towns placed tops in the newspaper’s Reader Travel Awards for…

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.