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Displaying items by tag: EU Boat project

#historicboats –  Boat-building organisations from France, Spain and Belgium and boating enthusiasts from across Ireland will attend an EU backed workshop conference as part of a three day visit to Cork Harbour next week.

The host organisation Meitheal Mara, based at Crosses Green in the heart of Cork City, is a community boatyard that, through its training programmes, utilises traditional boatbuilding, wood working and rowing skills to promote participant's social and personal development.

The EU Boat project is a three year learning partnership connecting Meitheal Mara with similar organisations from across Europe to share good practice, discuss challenges and devise solutions.

In addition to connecting community boat-builders, the project will also provide an opportunity for public representatives to come together to discuss their strategies for developing recreational water activities, preserving maritime heritage and promoting harbours and waterways for tourism. This week will see representatives from Cork City Council, Port of Cork and Failte Ireland come together with their European counterparts who are also travelling to Cork for the event.

The European visitors will also get the chance to try their hand at rowing a traditional Irish currach on the river Lee, visit the Port of Cork and tour the bonded warehouses on Custom House Quay. 

Published in Currachs

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!