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Coastal Development in Ireland
A trailing-suction hopper dredger, Freeway arrived to the Port of Waterford’s main terminal, Belview, today, following a repositioning passage from the UK, where works recently took place at English Channel ferry ports, Portsmouth and Newhaven. This week, Freeway is to start a maintenance dredging campaign along the Waterford Harbour estuary with disposal of spoil to take place offshore of Hook Head.
A dredger was tracked arriving to the Port of Waterford today, following works carried out in UK south coast ferry ports on the English Channel, however this week work is to start along the Waterford Harbour estuary, writes Jehan Ashmore.…
Baltimore Railway Station
The former Glenans Sailing Centre in the West Cork coastal village of Baltimore has been sold to a private developer, despite the local community's campaign to preserve it for a maritime heritage centre. The long saga of Baltimore Railway Station,…
Humpback whale feeding, surrounded by kittiwakes
Clean Coasts have announced the winning photographers of the 14th edition of its Love Your Coast photography competition. With a prize fund of €6,000, the competition has attracted hundreds of photographers all around Ireland this year, receiving a record number…
A maintenance dredging campaign is to start this week at Waterford estuary which will involve work leading to spoil disposal to be carried out at an approved site south west of Hook Head, out in the open sea. Above off the famous lighthouse as seen in August in the foreground is Arklow Rainbow with loose bulk cargo from France and also heading inbound to the port is EemsLift carrying specialist project cargo from The Netherlands. While out to sea, Unistream, anchored and awaiting orders, as the vessel had unloaded wind turbine project cargo of turbine blades, each of over 66m.
The Port of Waterford is to have a maintenance dredging campaign start in the week beginning 13 November, with the work to be carried out at three locations along Waterford estuary, writes Jehan Ashmore. The Cypriot flagged dredger Freeway, will…
An excerpt from the bluescale map of Hook Head and environs in Co Wexford
See the iconic Wexford coastline, from Hook Head to Carnsore Point, in remarkable detail thanks to a new series of maps added to INFOMAR’s Bluescale Map Series. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the collection will comprise 18 high-resolution bathymetric maps…
Weather forecast imagery of Storm Betty as it approached Ireland and the UK in August. Increases in sea levels and storm surge arising from climate change will result in increased coastal erosion and displacement of the intertidal zone over the coming years and decades
The Government says it has set out a long-term strategy for dealing with coastal change with establishment of an interdepartmental steering group. A report of the interdepartmental group on national coastal management strategy has been published by Minister for Housing,…
The EPA report, entitled Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2022 and published today, shows that Uisce Éireann has made progress in stopping discharges of raw sewage over the past year, with the connection of six villages to new treatment plants in 2022
Waste water continues to harm the quality of many of Ireland’s rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters, a report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says. Over half of Ireland’s waste water discharges are not meeting EU standards set to…
A normally busy but deserted Forty Foot in Sandycove in June 2019 due to a temporary bathing ban resulting from a wastewater leak
More than half of Ireland’s bathing waters were affected by swimming bans this past summer, an investigation by Noteworthy has revealed. While four in five coastal and inland bathing spots were classed as excellent in 2022, that statistic runs counter…
“LEVERS”, a Trinity-led Horizon Europe education project, is inviting applications from “cross-sectoral alliances” around the country to collaborate on a climate justice project in their area.
Coastal communities interested in taking action on the climate crisis are being invited to work with researchers from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on a locally-led 18-month project. “LEVERS”, a Trinity-led Horizon Europe education project, is inviting applications from “cross-sectoral alliances”…
Ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage means, subject to certain exceptions, archaeological objects with no known owner will automatically become the property of the State
New archaeological legislation allows Ireland to ratify the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2023 will “repeal” existing legislation relating to Ireland’s archaeological and related heritage.…
File image of the RV Tom Crean
Surveyors for the INFOMAR seabed mapping programme have reported the detection of two obstructions on the Atlantic floor some 30 nautical miles west of Co Galway. Marine Institute research operations manager Aodán Fitzgerald told RTÉ News that these obstructions are…
Coastal Watch aims to highlight suspicious or unusual activity and detect and prevent importation of illegal drugs along the west coast of Ireland
A “Coastal Watch” to detect and prevent importation of illegal drugs has been revitalised by the Galway Garda division and Revenue Customs Service. Communities living along 500 km of coastline in the west, along with maritime businesses and those working…
Kinvara Tidy Towns at work in Galway as part of the Clean Coasts Big Beach Clean
7,700 Clean Coasts volunteers rolled up their sleeves and removed a staggering 46 tonnes of litter all across the country as part of the Big Beach Clean.  The Big Beach Clean is part of the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) organised…
Coastwatch co-ordinator Karin Dubsky
Coastwatch is appealing for citizen scientists to join its annual shore survey, which runs until mid-October. Already, three volunteer surveyors have identified seagrass beds and meadows in counties Wexford, Dublin and Galway. Some shorelines which had suffered plastic pollution after…
The App is very easy to use, and you do not need experience or knowledge of river health or environments. You only need a smartphone, the app, and 15 minutes to observe and complete the survey
The Rivers Trust has launched the inventive Big River Watch app to coincide with the upcoming World Rivers Day on September 24, 2023. This online tool aims to unite individuals, organisations, and communities throughout Ireland to protect and conserve the…
Some 101 green spaces were selected for Gren Flag awards in Ireland
Kerry’s Tralee Bay wetlands and Lough Gur lakeshore in Co Limerick are both winners in this year’s Green Flag awards. Some 101 green spaces were selected for awards in Ireland out of a total of 150 across Europe, according to…

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.