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Displaying items by tag: Maritime Careers

Trinity House, the General Lighthouse Authority (GLA) for England, Wales and Channel Islands, has signed up to join London International Shipping Week 2023 (11-15 September).

The GLA's multi-function buoy tender THV Galatea is to visit the Pool of London where it will be a host to showcase its people, skills and technology-driven practices on board.

LISW is an industry-facing calendar of over 200 events across the centre of London, making great use of the capital’s maritime connections and landmark venues, including Trinity House, the International Maritime Organization and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Maritime safety organisation Trinity House is taking this opportunity to engage with industry and government by bringing THV Galatea into the Pool of London to berth alongside HMS Belfast, the iconic floating visitor tourist attraction on the Thames.

While the custom-built buoy tender THV Galatea will serve as a platform to showcase Trinity House’s people and how it approaches its dual missions as an aid to navigation prover and maritime charity.

Trinity House will make the ship also available as a space for functions and meetings during the week, among them Afloat includes to highlight a Maritime UK Careers fair following the UKSST report launch which is to take place on Monday, 11 September. 1.00am - 16.00pm.

This invite-only event will welcome students from Further and Higher education establishments and introduce the wide-ranging maritime careers available for those considering opportunities after education.

Afloat also highlights the event of Maritime Careers and Opportunities on Wednesday 13 September (09:00 - 15:00) This high-level seminar will identify innovations in training and support for industry entrants throughout their careers, at sea and beyond. For more details including to reserve a free ticket click here.

As for the main showcase, this too is to take place onboard THV Galatea on Wednesday 13 September (1830-2130) when a private event is held for industry, the government and press/media.

Visitors to the event will meet a number of our multi-disciplinary shore and vessel teams, whose work and expertise will vary from cutting edge research and development, navigational requirements, multiple engineering disciplines, cadet training, maritime welfare and giving, marine operations and commercial services.

For a list of all events and details click here.

On the importance of sending THV Galatea to exhibit at LISW, Deputy Master Captain Ian McNaught said: “While we can only show our guests a small part of what we do, we hope that everyone will appreciate the critical work being done by our people to safeguard seafarers and ships and keeping our island nation open for business, but also to raise awareness of the importance of the Red Ensign and the UK’s vital maritime sector.”

Published in Lighthouses

The National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) is to host their annual 'Open Day' next week at Ringaskiddy, Cork Harbour on Tuesday 8th of November between 10:00-15:00hrs.

The careers event will provide an opportunity to meet Shipping Companies and Organisations at the NMCI campus which is located beyond the ferryport in Ringaskiddy in the west of Cork Harbour. (For directions see further below). 

Career Presentations

  • Marine Electro-Technology
  • Marine Engineering
  • Marine Nautical Science

Presentations will be provided throughout the day on the theme of a maritime career held at the Main Lecture Theatre. These will start at 10:00 and will continue at regular intervals until 15:00.

  • Meet the students and lecturers
  • Ample parking and catering facilities

Tours of the College

During the Open Day, there will be group tours of the college that will be held at regular intervals. The tours will feature some of the college's specialist facilities among them:

  • The high-tech ‘Bridge and Engine Room Simulator’
  • The panoramic ‘Chartroom’
  • Workshops

NMCI is an approved national centre for education in the maritime sector and is a constituent college of Munster Technological University (MTU). For further information, email: [email protected] 

Directions to NMCI: follow the car ferry symbols on all road signs around Cork city. This will bring you to the village of Ringaskiddy, and then the college campus is situated on the left about 500m after the turn off for the ferry terminal.

Published in Jobs

As Afloat reported today, Maritime UK Week (10-16 October) is underway with the Belfast shipyard of the Harland & Wolff Group also joining in celebrating the maritime sector campaign.

In addition Harland & Wolff will also highlight their sites, skills, and people as part of the Martime Week's campaign to focus on the latest developments in the maritime sector and engage people across the UK with the world of maritime.

The week long event is led by Maritime UK, the umbrella body for the maritime sector, bringing together the shipping, ports, services, engineering and leisure marine industries.

Throughout the week, people are invited to explore the world of maritime through a series of careers fairs and open days, among them an 'Open Day' to be held tomorrow on the Isles of Scilly ferry.

During the week, Harland & Wolff will be hosting a first on site roundtable at their Belfast yard which is Centred on Pride in Maritime.

This industry roundtable, is to be held on 13 October (10am – 11:30am) which is to bring together leaders and network members to discuss progress on ensuring maritime is welcoming for the LGBT+ community.

In addition for more information about Maritime UK's careers events page click here.

Published in Shipyards

UK prime minister Boris Johnson visited London International Shipping Week (LISW19) yesterday where he boarded NLV Pharos, a Scottish aids to navigation tender which moored alongside HMS Belfast, writes Jehan Ashmore.

In between promoting maritime careers to an audience of students, professionals and school leavers, the prime minister spoke to the media among them BBC which reported Boris Johnson had denied lying to Queen Elizabeth over the advice he gave her over the five-week suspension of the UK Parliament.

The prime minister was speaking after Scotland's highest civil court ruled on Wednesday the shutdown was unlawful.

Click here to watch an interview of Boris Johnston onboard NLV Pharos (heli-deck) in the Pool of London. Afloat adds the vessel as a venue was ironic given NLV Pharos operates for Northern Lighthouse Board, which is responsible for the waters off Scotland and the Isle of Man.

The NLB is the Scottish equivalent of Irish Lights and Trinity House as previously reported, is responsible for the waters of England, Wales, Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Together the trio form the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLA's) in the UK and Ireland.

As Afloat previously reported Princess Anne officially launched the opening of LISW19 on Monday. Earlier this year the Princess Royal, whose role is Master of Trinity House as part of the ongoing 150-year relationship between Irish Lights and the Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland, paid a visit to Irish Lights headquarters in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Princess Anne toured the Irish Lights ILV Granuaile (see related London reinactment sailing story) and visited the Baily, Rockabill and Kish Lighthouses. In addition the tour outlined Irish Lights’ work providing vital maritime safety services and modern navigation aids.

Published in Ports & Shipping

A list of internships for the international maritime industry for 2011 has been announced and can be viewed on the Maritime Careers section posted on the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO). 

The following companies: ABS, BP, Shell, Clarksons, Lloyds Register and the European Maritime Safety Association (EMSA) are offering a broad range of internship positions. 

For further details on the internships and links to the companies, logon here

Published in Jobs

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - FAQS

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are geographically defined maritime areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources. In addition to conserving marine species and habitats, MPAs can support maritime economic activity and reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

MPAs can be found across a range of marine habitats, from the open ocean to coastal areas, intertidal zones, bays and estuaries. Marine protected areas are defined areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources.

The world's first MPA is said to have been the Fort Jefferson National Monument in Florida, North America, which covered 18,850 hectares of sea and 35 hectares of coastal land. This location was designated in 1935, but the main drive for MPAs came much later. The current global movement can be traced to the first World Congress on National Parks in 1962, and initiation in 1976 of a process to deliver exclusive rights to sovereign states over waters up to 200 nautical miles out then began to provide new focus

The Rio ‘Earth Summit’ on climate change in 1992 saw a global MPA area target of 10% by the 2010 deadline. When this was not met, an “Aichi target 11” was set requiring 10% coverage by 2020. There has been repeated efforts since then to tighten up MPA requirements.

Marae Moana is a multiple-use marine protected area created on July 13th 2017 by the government of the Cook islands in the south Pacific, north- east of New Zealand. The area extends across over 1.9 million square kilometres. However, In September 2019, Jacqueline Evans, a prominent marine biologist and Goldman environmental award winner who was openly critical of the government's plans for seabed mining, was replaced as director of the park by the Cook Islands prime minister’s office. The move attracted local media criticism, as Evans was responsible for developing the Marae Moana policy and the Marae Moana Act, She had worked on raising funding for the park, expanding policy and regulations and developing a plan that designates permitted areas for industrial activities.

Criteria for identifying and selecting MPAs depends on the overall objective or direction of the programme identified by the coastal state. For example, if the objective is to safeguard ecological habitats, the criteria will emphasise habitat diversity and the unique nature of the particular area.

Permanence of MPAs can vary internationally. Some are established under legislative action or under a different regulatory mechanism to exist permanently into the future. Others are intended to last only a few months or years.

Yes, Ireland has MPA cover in about 2.13 per cent of our waters. Although much of Ireland’s marine environment is regarded as in “generally good condition”, according to an expert group report for Government published in January 2021, it says that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are of “wide concern due to increasing pressures such as overexploitation, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change”.

The Government has set a target of 30 per cent MPA coverage by 2030, and moves are already being made in that direction. However, environmentalists are dubious, pointing out that a previous target of ten per cent by 2020 was not met.

Conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment has been mandated by a number of international agreements and legal obligations, as an expert group report to government has pointed out. There are specific requirements for area-based protection in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the OSPAR Convention, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Yes, the Marine Strategy Framework directive (2008/56/EC) required member states to put measures in place to achieve or maintain good environmental status in their waters by 2020. Under the directive a coherent and representative network of MPAs had to be created by 2016.

Ireland was about halfway up the EU table in designating protected areas under existing habitats and bird directives in a comparison published by the European Commission in 2009. However, the Fair Seas campaign, an environmental coalition formed in 2022, points out that Ireland is “lagging behind “ even our closest neighbours, such as Scotland which has 37 per cent. The Fair Seas campaign wants at least 10 per cent of Irish waters to be designated as “fully protected” by 2025, and “at least” 30 per cent by 2030.

Nearly a quarter of Britain’s territorial waters are covered by MPAs, set up to protect vital ecosystems and species. However, a conservation NGO, Oceana, said that analysis of fishing vessel tracking data published in The Guardian in October 2020 found that more than 97% of British MPAs created to safeguard ocean habitats, are being dredged and bottom trawled. 

There’s the rub. Currently, there is no definition of an MPA in Irish law, and environment protections under the Wildlife Acts only apply to the foreshore.

Current protection in marine areas beyond 12 nautical miles is limited to measures taken under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives or the OSPAR Convention. This means that habitats and species that are not listed in the EU Directives, but which may be locally, nationally or internationally important, cannot currently be afforded the necessary protection

Yes. In late March 2022, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said that the Government had begun developing “stand-alone legislation” to enable identification, designation and management of MPAs to meet Ireland’s national and international commitments.

Yes. Environmental groups are not happy, as they have pointed out that legislation on marine planning took precedence over legislation on MPAs, due to the push to develop offshore renewable energy.

No, but some activities may be banned or restricted. Extraction is the main activity affected as in oil and gas activities; mining; dumping; and bottom trawling

The Government’s expert group report noted that MPA designations are likely to have the greatest influence on the “capture fisheries, marine tourism and aquaculture sectors”. It said research suggests that the net impacts on fisheries could ultimately be either positive or negative and will depend on the type of fishery involved and a wide array of other factors.

The same report noted that marine tourism and recreation sector can substantially benefit from MPA designation. However, it said that the “magnitude of the benefits” will depend to a large extent on the location of the MPA sites within the network and the management measures put in place.

© Afloat 2022