The Department of Transport wishes to bring to the attention of all fishing vessel owners, agents, skippers and fishers to the report published earlier this year by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) into the sinking of the FV Horizon off the Old Head of Kinsale last year.

Afloat.ie reported this past April on the MCIB report into this incident, which took place on 14 May 2021, which concluded that an unattended electronic device on charge may have caused an extensive fire that engulfed the vessel. The full report may be obtained from the MCIB website.

In response to one of the report’s recommendations regarding the maintenance and testing of fire detection systems, Marine Notice No 55 of 2022 reminds all owners, operators, skippers and crew of fishing vessels of 15-24m in length overall of the following:

• The mandatory requirements for fishing vessels in accordance with S.I. No. 640 of 2007 – Merchant Shipping (Safety of Fishing Vessels) (15-24 Metres) Regulations 2007, especially regarding automatic fire alarm and fire detection systems testing procedures which are to be carried out in accordance with Section 9.2.5.2 of the International Code For Fire Safety Systems (FSS Code). In particular, detectors should be periodically tested using equipment suitable for the types of fires to which the detector is designed to respond. Operators and Skippers of existing vessels not fitted with such an approved system should satisfy themselves that any fire detection and alarm system that is fitted is maintained in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions and is regularly tested.

SubCom will be carrying out subsea cable installation operations in Irish waters off the coast of Co Mayo, scheduled to begin Thursday 18 August.

A total of three vessels will be working on the America Europe Connect-2 project: the guard vessel DR Defiant (callsign MLAS6), day vessel MV James (callsign EI-TT-2) and CS Durable (callsign V7DI8).

The latter of these vessels will be engaged in pre-lay grapnel run and cable installation works.

In addition, the CS Durable will be restricted in manoeuvrability and all vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Throughout operations, all three vessels will be displaying appropriate lights and shapes.

SubCom advises that these activities will take 39 days to complete, however the start date and duration of the activity is weather dependent.

Coordinates and a map of the survey are as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 53 of 2022, attached below.

Vermilion Exploration & Production Ireland Limited will carry out a maintenance campaign at the Corrib Gas Field’s subsea infrastructure from next weekend.

The works are due to commence in field next Sunday 14 August and last for up to 21 days, weather allowing. Maintenance works, including pipeline and subsea structure inspection, will take place at Latitude 54° 20’ 20.413” N, Longitude 11° 03’ 30.769” W.

All works will be undertaken by the vessel EDT Jane (callsign 5BXW3). All equipment used will be vessel and/or remote operated vehicle (ROV) mounted. Visual and acoustic surveys will be conducted by means of vessel- and ROV-mounted sensors.

The vessel will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

Maps of the survey area and contact details are included in Marine Notice No 50 of 2022, attached below.

The ban on Russian vessels entering Irish ports on the foot of sanctions from the European Union amid the continuing invasion of Ukraine is being extended to locks from the Friday (29 July).

An amended version of Marine Notice No 19 of 2022, attached below, outlines that all Irish ports (after 16 April) and locks (after 29 July) are directed to deny entry to any ship, yacht or recreational craft registered under the flag of Russia.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, exceptions may be made, pending approval by the relevant authorities, for the transport of fossil fuels; metals and chemicals; pharmaceutical, medical, agricultural and food products; and humanitarian purposes.

The ban is also waived in the case of a vessel in need of assistance seeking a place of refuge, of an emergency port call for reasons of maritime safety, or for saving life at sea.

Fugro will shortly undertake a geotechnical site survey campaign for offshore wind farm projects in the North Celtic Sea and South Irish Sea.

The operations are expected to be carried out from next Saturday 30 July until the end of September, weather conditions allowing.

The works comprise a downhole cone penetration test (CPT) and continuous sampling pf boreholes with geophysical logging, and will be conducted by the supply vessel Fugro Voyager (callsign 9V3888) on a 24-hour basis. This vessel will display appropriate lights and markers.

For coordinates, maps of the survey locations and contact details, see Marine Notice No 48 of 2022 attached below.

Greenlink Interconnector Ltd (GIL) is proposing to develop an electricity interconnector between the southeast of Ireland, from Great Island in Co Wexford, to southwest Wales at Pembroke.

As part of these proposals, a pre-construction survey is expected to be carried out from today, Saturday 16 July to Tuesday 2 August, weather permitting.

The survey works will be conducted by the Geo Ocean V (callsign: 5BWE3), a multi-disciplined offshore survey vessel with hybrid propulsion fitted for geophysical and geotechnical survey work.

The vessel will have stern deployed equipment and will be restricted in manoeuvrability. All other vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Throughout operations the Geo Ocean V will display all appropriate lights and shapes and will be listening to VHF Channel 16 but can set any other channel as required.

For coordinates and a map of the survey location as well as contact details, see Marine Notice No 45 of 2022 attached below.

Ocean Infinity is undertaking a geophysical site survey campaign for the South Irish Sea offshore wind farm from today, Thursday 14 July to 30 August 2022, weather allowing.

The survey works will be conducted on a 24-hour basis by the Northern Maria (callsign OZAV2) using a hull-mounted multi-beam sonar and sub bottom profiler, along with a towed side-scan sonar and piggy-backed magnetometer (tow max 320m) and ultra high resolution survey equipment.

During operations, the Northern Maria will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre and will display the appropriate day shapes and lights. All other vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Coordinates of the survey area and further details can be found in Marine Notice No 46 of 2022, attached below.

As part of the Emerald floating offshore wind (FOW) project, Green Rebel Marine will undertake a geophysical site survey campaign in the North Celtic Sea from Wednesday 13 to Sunday 31 July, weather allowing.

Survey operations will be conducted by the research/survey vessel Roman Rebel (callsign 2ICA5). The survey will utilise multi-beam echo sounders and ultra-high-resolution survey equipment.

Geophysical equipment will be both hull-mounted and towed. Typically, the towed cable lengths will be approximately 35m from the vessel while acquiring survey data.

The work will be conducted on a 24-hour basis continuously until completion, subject to weather and logistics. During operations, the Roman Rebel will display the appropriate day shapes/signals and lights as required by the COLREGS.

A continuous listening watch will be maintained on VHF Channel 16 and Digital Selective Calling (DSC).

As the survey vessel will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre, all other vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Coordinates of the survey area and contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 47 of 2022, attached below.

Vermilion Exploration & Production Ireland Limited will carry out a campaign of inspection of the Corrib Gas Field near-shore pipeline and umbilical.

Weather permitting, these works are due to commence on Thursday 7 July and will last for approximately 10 days.

The near-shore pipeline and umbilical sections will be inspected from the nearest point accessible inshore at high tide progressing to offshore until a suitable overlap with the offshore inspection is achieved. Landfall is at Latitude 54° 16’ 59.799” N, Longitude 09° 49’ 14.528” W.

The operation will be conducted by three vessels. The Leah C (callsign EIQS5) will undertake the near-shore survey scope. The Macbel (callsign EIHL5) and the Blue Eagle (callsign EI6808) will provide safety and welfare support to Leah C.

Visual and acoustic surveys will be conducted by means of vessel-mounted sensors, cameras, ROV and towed side-scan sonar. Please note that all the equipment used will be vessel deployed. All three vessels will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

Contact details are included in Marine Notice No 44 of 2022, attached below.

Following survey works earlier this year, Lir Offshore Array will be completing geophysical survey works in the Irish Sea off counties Louth, Meath and Dublin as part of a scientific data-gathering exercise over the next six weeks.

Survey company Ondine will be carrying out these survey works on a 24/7 basis from Friday 1 July to Monday 15 August 2022, subject to weather.

Operations will be conducted by the research vessels DP1 Kommandor Iona (callsign GAAK) and DP1 Ondine Jule (callsign EIZH4), the latter of which will start work later in the campaign.

These work vessels will be towing geophysical equipment during operations at the offshore wind farm site and they will be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre.

All other vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash. Radio transmissions will be conducted with other seafarers to notify them of the operations.

Contact details, coordinates and a map of the survey area can be found in Marine Notice No 43 of 2022, attached below.