Marine scientists Dr Louise Allcock and Prof Oliver Thomas (NUI Galway), and a team of 10 university researchers and students, are researching cold water corals and sponges for potential antimicrobial (anti- cancer) properties.

On board the Marine Institute’s RV Celtic Explorer two-hundred miles southwest of Ireland at the edge of the continental shelf, data is being gathered by the Institute’s remotely operated vessel, ROV Holland 1, at depths of 300m to 3,000m.

Deep-sea research of corals and sponges off the Irish Continental Shelf being carried out by NUI Galway Scientists on board the Marine Institute’s RV Celtic Explorer. Photo: Louise Allcock

 "The researchers and students are seeing for the first time corals and sponges covering an area around the Whittard Canyon, Porcupine Seabight, Gollum Channel and the Belgica Mounds in Irish waters, remarked Dr Oliver Thomas.

Irish company, Sea Power, is preparing to test its prototype 16.8m x 4.5m wave energy device at the Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test site, following successful small-scale trials.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Marine Institute are collaborating to develop Ireland’s ocean energy testing infrastructure at the Lir National Ocean Test Facility in Cork; the quarter-scale test site in Galway Bay and the Atlantic Marine Energy full-scale test sight off the Mayo coast.

CEO Jim Gannon said it was encouraging to see Irish technologies progress to this stage where ocean energy was creating “huge potential” in job creation and energy security in this emerging sector for Ireland.