The North Irish Sea Array (NISA) offshore wind farm project is to undertake a geophysical survey campaign on the proposed array area off the coast of North Co Dublin, Meath and Louth.
It follows the benthic survey campaign completed earlier this month and is expected to take place between Friday 27 May and the end of June, weather permitting.
The survey campaign will be confined to the proposed NISA OWF array area. This area forms an irregular shape spanning 32km north-south and 14km east-west at its widest point. At its closest location, near Rush in Co Dublin, the survey site is 7.4km from the coastline.
The survey will be conducted by the survey vessel Fugro Mercator (callsign C6DU5) using utilise multibeam echo sounders, sub-bottom profilers, side-scan sonar and magnetometer, both hull-mounted and towed. Typically, the towed cable lengths will be about four times the water depth while acquiring survey data.
Work will be conducted on a 24-hour basis and the vessel will display appropriate lights and signals. Mariners are advised to keep continuous watch on VHF Channel 16 when navigating the area.
As the survey vessel will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre when surveying, due to the deployment of the towed survey equipment from the vessel for the duration of the survey activities, other vessels are kindly requested to keep a wide berth.
Details of relevant coordinates and contact information are included in Marine Notice No 27 of 2022, attached below.