The impact of the current marine heatwave on Ireland’s coastline is being recorded by international researchers who are taking a “snapshot” of the European coast where land and sea meet.
As The Irish Independent reports, the Traversing European Coastlines (TREC) involves both land and sea-based researchers undertaking simultaneous sampling.
The 36-metre schooner Tara is currently in Galway, working with a mobile laboratory for land work.
The 36-metre schooner Tara in Galway Port
Scientists can analyse samples even as they voyage across 46 different European regions extending from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia.
The baseline information on coastal ecology gathered will serve as an invaluable reference point to measure coastal climate change impacts.
Over 150 research teams from over 70 institutions in 29 European countries are involved, and the TREC project is being co-ordinated by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory( EMBL), working with local partners such as the Marine Institute in Galway.
The schooner, which is based in Lorient, France, is ice-strengthened to work in polar regions.
It is financed through a mixture of private and public funds with French designer Agnes B one of the main sponsors.
It has an “excellent chef”, but also everyone on board “gets to clean the toilets”, chief scientist Emmanuel Boss told the newspaper.
Chief scientist Emmanuel Boss(left) and captain Martin Hertau on board the French research schooner Tara in Galway Docks
“It doesn’t matter if you are chief scientist or captain of the boat – everyone has to do their chores as part of a roster,” he said.
“This makes for “far better relations” and no hierarchy, Boss said – “the relationship between crew and scientists is tighter than on any other boat I have been on,”he said.
The Marine Institute’s director of marine environment and food safety Joe Silke said the research being conducted “addresses crucial issues such as pollution, biodiversity loss, and invasive species, expanding on, and directly relevant to the Marine Institute’s work in Ireland's coastal habitats”.
The schooner, Tara, is open to the public today (Sunday, September 10th) in Galway docks from 10am to 6pm.
There is also a travelling exhibition, a reality game-based workshop and public workshops in the Galway City Museum and other venues next week.
Read The Irish Independent here
