Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Coastal Development in Ireland
Ireland's Biggest Earthquake in Years Strikes Near Corrib Gas Field
#EARTHQUAKE - The North West region experienced its biggest ever earthquake this week in an event that poses “very interesting questions for geologists”. The magnitude 4 quake on the morning of Wednesday 6 June, which was epicentred close to the…
'Ireland's First Coconuts' Found in West Cork Shipwreck
#COASTAL NOTES - A 17th-century merchant vessel recently discovered off West Cork could have carried Ireland's first coconuts, the Irish Examiner reports. The shipwreck near Schull was discovered embedded in silt 30ft below the surface by workers laying pipes for…
West Cork Piers Get Funding Under Infrastructure Programme
#COASTAL NOTES - A number of West Cork piers have been included in the current round of funding under the 2012 Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Capital Programme, according to the West Cork Times. Keelbeg Pier at Union Hall will…
Round Anglesey Cruise
#ROUND ANGLESEY CRUISE – A 'Round Anglesey' cruise operated by Waverley Excursions and served by  Balmoral (1949/688grt) is scheduled a month from today as part of the season of excursions, writes Jehan Ashmore. The cruise circumnavigation of the Isle of…
Clean Coasts Week Is Underway
Thousands of coastal custodians around Ireland will be participating in the Clean Coasts Week (11-18th) which runs until next Friday. The theme for the event is "Love Our Coast" which is to empower communities to participate in protecting and celebrating…
Lough to Lagan Flotilla: Temporary Closure of Belfast Basin
#BELFAST BASIN CLOSURE – The Belfast Harbour website has a notice informing the temporary closure of the Abercorn Basin over this May Bank Holiday weekend. The closure times of the basin are from 12.00pm on Sunday 6th May as this…
€39.5m Pier Development Opens in Castletownbere
#CASTLETOWNBERE –The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD officially opened the major new €39.5 million Dinish Wharf Development on Dinish Island at Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre and also launched the community led development strategy - 'Castletownbere…
Buncrana Brings Back Seafront Diving Boards to Revive Its Past
#COASTAL NOTES - The Belfast Telegraph reports that one Co Donegal seaside town is returning to its past in an effort to attract more visitors. Buncrana is set to bring back the diving boards that once lined its shorefront some…
Weymouth Bay Olympic Charlet Produced by Admiralty
#WEYMOUTH – The UKHO in collaboration with Portland and Weymouth Harbour Authorities has produced a laminated Admiralty chartlet specifically for visitors to the Olympic sailing events 2012. It shows all the official information needed by visitors to the area and…
Meeting for Bantry Bay Fish Farm Opponents Tonight
#COASTAL NOTES - Bantry Bay has reached its capacity for salmon farming, says the committee formed to oppose a proposed new facility at Shot Head. Save Bantry Bay has called a public meeting for supporters tonight (24 March) at Eccles…
Oil Strike Success Off Cork Coast Could Be Worth Billions
#COASTAL NOTES - Providence Resources has struck big off the south coast of Cork with an oil flow that could be worth billions of euro to the beleaguered Irish economy. According to the Guardian, the Dublin-based company announced yesterday that…
Oscar Winning Director of 'The Shore' Returns to NI
#COASTAL NOTES - Northern Irish director Terry George has returned to a hero's welcome in his native Co Down following his Oscar win for short film The Shore, the Irish Echo reports. The film, which was set on Coney Island…
NI's Exploris Aquarium and Seal Sanctuary Could Be Privatised
#COASTAL NOTES - Northern Ireland's only aquarium could be privatised, according to the News Letter. Ards Borough Council is reportedly considering its options for the future of Exploris, the aquarium and seal sanctuary in Portaferry that celebrates its 25th anniversary…
South Coast Oil Appraisal 'Extremely Encouraging'
#COASTAL NOTES - Providence Resources has found light out with its first appraisal well off the south coast of Ireland, Offshore reports. The company's semi-submersible GSF Arctic III drilled a well in 100m water to a depth of more than…
Sailing Clubs Share in €2.6m Announced for West Cork Harbours
#WEST CORK – Sailing Clubs stand to benefit in an allocation of over €2.6 million to harbour boards across West Cork this year to fund essential remedial works. The State funding has been approved for harbour development works in Skibbereen,…
Details Sought on Noise Levels Over Proposed Larne Lough Gas Plant
#LARNE LOUGH - Larne Council has looked into the concerns of local residents over a proposed £250 million (€300 million) natural gas plant at Larne Lough, the Larne Times reports. Islandmagee Storage Limited (IMSL) has applied for planning permission 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.