Fishermen join forces to search for R116 crewmen
The Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation and the Irish Fish Producers Organsations are continuing to search for the missing crew of Irish Coast Guard helicopter R116, Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith, by organisating a coordinated search of Donegal Bay this weekend (April 8-9).
Wreckage of Coast Guard R116 ‘positively located’
Following initial Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) operations, wreckage of Coast Guard helicoper R116 has been positively located on the seabed, east of Blackrock at a depth of approximately 40m.
INFOMAR multibeam data of waters surveyed around Blackrock Island, Co Mayo
Wreckage from Coast Guard helicopter ‘consistent’ with hard surface impact
Investigators from the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) have confirmed that wreckage from Coast Guard helicopter R116 shows impact ‘consistent with the tail of the aircraft contacting rocky surfaces’.
Blackrock Island, 13km off the Mayo coast
It is believed the Sikorsky S-92 stuck rocks on the western end of Blackrock Island, 13km off the Mayo coast. The exact nature of the damage and the circumstances of the accident remain unknown.
Capt Dara Fitzpatrick’s body was recovered shortly after the incident late on Monday March 13. Her colleagues, pilot Mark Duffy and winchmen Ciarán Smith and Paul Ormsby are still missing.
Appeal against cruise berth development centres on environmental impact
Save our Seafront, the environmental non-governmental organisation that has been active in the protection and promotion of Dublin Bay for over 12 years, was granted leave (Jan 5) to seek a Judicial Review of An Bord Pleanála’s planning permission for a cruise ship berth and associated works at Dún Laogahire Harbour.
Star Legend, carrying 208 passengers and 164 crew, will visit Dún Laoghaire on June 26
The appeal centres on the Environmental Impact Study and the Natura Impact Statement and the application as a whole, which was ‘inadequate and fails adequately, or at all, to capture the environmental effects of the proposed development on the environment’ the NGO contends.
Coast Guard 2016 statistics
Use of Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) and Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) were responsible for directly saving the lives of five mariners in 2016, according to the Coast Guard.
Coast Guard demonstration at Leenane, Co Galway Photo Gillian Mills
One of these incidents related to a Coast Guard helicopter rescue of a lone yachtsman, whose yacht had overturned 20 miles south of Co Wexford. A second related to the location and recovery of three fishermen whose vessel had sunk. The third incident concerned the location of a single crewed yacht that had become dismasted off the SW Coast and was subsequently towed to Castletownbere, Co Cork.
Calls to upgrade the Coast Guard
Irish Examiner (12/16)
Christy Parker
'Search and rescue volunteers in the Coast Guard are calling on the government to upgrade the service to a ‘standalone primary response agency’.
They warn the service is constantly under threat, primarily due to political manoeuvring and not getting the recognition deserved at departmental levels.
Coast Guard demonstration at Leenane, Co Galway Photo G Mills
Volunteers claim the Coast Guard is the only one of the State’s ‘blue light’ services — An Garda, ambulance and fire service — not covered by Statutory Instrument legislation which ensures standalone status.
Maritime spatial planning to energise Ireland’s blue economy
“Maritime spatial planning brings together multiple users of the marine space to make informed and co-ordinated decisions about how to use marine resources in a sustainable way through the production of a comprehensive plan,” is how Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Simon Coveney defined what he believes to be the single most important government legislation for the past fifty years.
The minister was addressing this year’s SeaFest in Galway prior to announcing that he had signed regulations to transpose the EU Directive on Maritime Spatial Planning into Irish law – a move that heralded major implications for Irish marine law.
Green light for restricted cruise berth terminal in Dún Laoghaire harbour
An Bord Pleanála has decided by a 4:1 majority to grant permission for a cruise berth terminal in Dún Laoghaire Harbour, subject to conditions including a restriction on vessel size of 250m length overall.
The decision however overrules the board’s own planning inspector’s report to refuse permission on the grounds, inter alia, that the application failed to have adequate cognisance to the MARPOL Convention wherein at 3 nautical miles from shore, i.e. within the boundary of the Rockabill to Dalkey Island SAC, the cruise ship operators may discharge their treated sewage.
4:1 ABP decision to grant permission for a cruise berth terminal, subject to vessel length restriction of 250m. Photo G Mills
The EIS and NIS as submitted did not provide data on the impact of such discharge upon the Conservation Interest of this SAC, the Harbour Porpoise. … In such circumstances, the Board is precluded from granting approval. (See below)
Primary school curriculum to include marine studies
'Leave No Trace - the outdoor ethics programme designed to promote and inspire responsible outdoor recreation through education, research and partnerships - has teamed with the Marine Institute's 'Explorer's Education Progamme.
A new module in the 2016 programme - 'Leave No Trace in the Marine Environment' - for primary school children in south Mayo, Donegal, Sligo, and Kerry, will teach how to protect local marine environment, through classroom saltwater aquariums, seashore safaris, and marine projects and workshops.