#INFOMARseminar- The annual INFOMAR Seminar is to take place in Waterford City over the course of two-days (22-23 October) at the Tower Hotel opposite the city's landmark Reginald Tower.

The seminar will include an update on Ireland's national seabed mapping programme featuring survey operations and coverage, future plans, associated research along with poster sessions. To register for a free place at the seminar, click HERE

INFOMAR which stands for The INtegrated Mapping FOr the Sustainable Development of Ireland's MArine Resource programme is a joint venture between the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute.

An area covering some 125,000 km2 of Ireland's most productive and commercially valuable inshore waters is carried out by INFOMAR. They produce integrated mapping products covering the physical, chemical and biological features of the seabed.

The following research vessels operate for INFORMAR the RV Keary, Geo and Cosantóir Bradán.

#INFOMAR – The Integrated Mapping for the Sustainable Development of Ireland's Marine Resource, in short (INFOMAR) have outlined their proposed mapping operations for 2013.

INFOMAR (covering 125,000 sq kms) is a joint venture between the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the Marine Institute.

During the current year of INFOMAR Phase 1 (2006-2016), operations are provisionally planned to take place within tabulated bays subject to approval from other agencies.

To see a map of proposed working area and more, Inshore Ireland (February / March) issue has a report.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the GSI's survey vessel RV Keary last month returned to service, having completed modifications carried out at Arklow Marine Services. The 15m aluminium catamaran research vessel was built in South Africa and is equipped with a full geographical suite.

#ShippingREVIEW- Over the last fortnight, Jehan Ashmore has reported from the shipping scene, where the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) research vessel Keary, returned to Dun Laoghaire Harbour following modification work at Arklow Marine Services.

A record total of 64 cruiseships are to call to Cork Harbour, making the 2013 season the busiest year to date and includes six maiden calls and two cruiseships will make overnight calls.

The New Year brought changes at Ardmore Shipping, where new promotions have been made for personnel at senior management level.

Not a single fast ferry is to be found operating on the Irish Sea, not to bad weather, but for the brief absence of Irish Ferries Jonathan Swift, currently in refit, from year-round Dublin-Holyhead service.

One of Stena Line's Dublin Port-Holyhead route ships, Stena Nordica is on relief duty, covering for Stena Europe between Rosslare-Fishguard. In place of the 'Nordica' Dublin sailings, the chartered Finnarrow is maintaining sailings to Holyhead.

A major upgrade of the Scottish ferryport of Cairnryan, on Loch Ryan, has begun to improve operations for P&O Ferries short-sea route to Larne.

According to the Port of Cork, a total of 9.05 million tonnes in trade traffic levels was reached at the end of 2012, not since 2008, has the port surpassed 9m tonnes.

Royal Daffodil, one of the famous Mersey Ferries fleet due to be withdrawn, has been discussed with the National Waterways Museum, but no decision has been made as of yet.

The efforts of Cruise Belfast has paid off as the 2013 cruise season is to be a record year with close to 60 calls bringing more than 100,000 visitors to Belfast Harbour.

#ResearchVessel – The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) research vessel Keary, returned to her homeport of Dun Laoghaire Harbour today, having completed modifications at Arklow Marine Services, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The South African built aluminium catamaran craft had been hoisted onto the quayside at the Co. Wicklow port so to allow the work to begin.

She made her homebound journey with a high-speed transit through Dalkey Sound, and completed her voyage to the 820-berth Dun Laoghaire marina.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie the RV Keary was joined in October by the former Inland Fisheries Ireland cutter, Cosantóir Bradán. She is employed as part of INFOMAR, the national marine mapping programme, conducted by the GSI and Marine Institute.

#RESEARCH VESSEL CHARTER - The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) have chartered the Cosantoir Bradan from the Central Fisheries Board

The fisheries patrol cutter is to be used in conjunction with the RV Keary for survey work, including bottom survey of all coastal regions around Ireland.

The 15m catamaran inshore research vessel is currently undergoing modifications and refurbishing works at Arklow Marine Services yard.

This was the RV Keary's first INFOMAR survey leg of 2011 and it was also the first time that both vessels have worked in tandem. The mapping of the estuary was from an area just west of the city's Rice Bridge to the open sea at the mouth of Waterford Harbour.

The estuary was mapped before in 2007 using the Marine Institutes larger vessel the RV Celtic Voyager, which covered the harbour approaches from the 10m contour to greater depth offshore. Both RV Keary and RV Geo overlapped their coverage with this previous data, producing a comprehensive and seamless seabed map of the area.

RV Keary is constructed of marine grade aluminium and was custom built in 2008 for the (GSI) by Veecraft Marine of Capetown, South Africa.
The 15m craft with a draft of just 2m is equipped with an extensive range of highly sophisticated technology. She has an open working area at the aft-deck to conduct operations and is licensed to carry up to 12 personnel. For further vessel characteristics click HERE.

The 34-tonne craft made her 7,000 mile delivery voyage from the African continent to Europe. She was firstly transported on the deck of a cargoship to Rotterdam. After unloading at the Dutch port the 22-knot capable craft set off with several calls along the UK south coast to include loading bunkers before finally reaching Dun Laoghaire, from where she entered service in April 2009.

Two mussel dredger-trawlers made a rare transit of Dalkey Sound, last Friday, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The sound which is located to the south of Dublin Bay is not used by commercial traffic but is frequented by pleasure-craft, local fishing boats from Dun Laoghaire. In addition to occasional traffic by the Irish Naval Service, Marine Institute research vessel RV Celtic Voyager, the GSI's RV Keary and foreign tall-ships.

The vessels were making a southerly direction as they headed across Dublin Bay towards Dalkey Island. Mytilus lowered a mussel cage bucket into the sound which was dragged on two separate occasions over a short distance running parallel between the island and the coast.

The operation was all too brief as the Mytilus then proceeded into Killiney Bay followed closely astern by Branding. Upon entering the neighbouring bay, both vessels conducted dredging activity before continuing south beyond Bray Head.

Mussel grounds are located throughout certain hotspots in the Irish Sea and earlier this month, it is reported that there was a notable increase in mussel dredgers in Bangor, Northern Ireland. The dredgers were the Mytilus and Branding which berthed at the Co. Down harbour after a lengthy period of relative inactivity.

Mytilus was built in The Netherlands by Scheepwerf Van Os Yerseke B.V. and appeared in an episode of the successful BBC TV series 'Coast'. At the time of the broadcast she was registered at Beaumaris, Anglesey and was seen working in the northern approaches of the Menai Straits. The fishery grounds are ideally suited for the growing processes required in farmed mussel production.

Branding was also built by a Dutch shipyard, Kooieman in 1988 and her design is typical of the mussel dredgers based in Wexford. The market for mussels is mainly from the northern European countries of Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

"Achieving ISO 14001 accreditation, an internationally recognised green standard, shows our respect of the sensitive marine environment and has been well received by our international and Irish clients. It is of particular significance to our clients involved in underwater exploration and scientific research and those involved in the transport of agricultural produce either refrigerated or in bulk."

Maritime Management has an international client base with a diverse range of vessels. Services include technical, operational and crewing for specialist passenger ships, cargoships, refrigerated cargo ships and specialist vessels such as the exploration vessel EV Nautilus.

The vessel is managed on behalf of the famous undersea explorer Dr. Robert Ballard, who is known best for his discovery of the Titanic, PT 109 and the Bismark. Over the last two years Maritime Management has carried out major work to adapt the vessel to suit the requirements of broadcasters National Geographic and CBS.

The work carried outon the vessel has the ground breaking ability to broadcast live HD video from the ocean floor. This enabled scientific teams from the USA and around the world to interact in real time with the underwater operations. To read more about the work of the EV Nautilus and the mapping of underwater volcanoes, life forms,shipwrecks and more click here.

Maritime Management's projects in Ireland have included the design and construction of the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) RV Keary, a small yet high-tech survey vessel which was built in South Africa. The 15m asymmetrical catamaran is constructed of aluminium and has a speed of 15 knots. The craft has a Marine Survey Office P5 license for 12 passengers. For further technical details click here.