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All Ireland Coastwatch Survey 2024 - Update III.

Writer's picture: Karin DubskyKarin Dubsky

Updated: Nov 26, 2024



Dear Coastwatchers,

 

Anyone who attended our recent zoom information event on the new marine regulatory authority MARA please see the power points presented here.

 

For more information on Coastwatch projects please look here. This area will expand rapidly as we are now partners in two EC horizon projects.

 

But first the immediate focus – the Coastwatch autumn survey 2024.

 

Between booked and submitted surveys we now have >500 su which is super!!!! Thank you so so much to all who booked and all who surveyed and all who inputted their data too.

 

A few updates:

We have extended the fieldwork survey to Oct 20th as ‘injury time’ to make up for 5 days of heavy rain and high waves.

 

If you input your results yourself - please please do - then you have til Friday 25th Oct. to submit them online here. We are planning to put all the pieces together over the weekend, check for oddities then start analyses. If anyone cant input then please send hard copy forms to Coastwatch, civil Eng. TCD by Oct 22nd.

 

RTE are hoping to cover the results and are shadowing surveyors in a few places over the next few days to use in that feature. So if anyone is planning to go out this week and might like to be shadowed – send a quick mail to survey@coastwatch.org

 

Spring Tides: If anyone has booked and not gone out yet – or wants to have another go – there are super low spring tides Wednesday to Saturday. One should be able to peep into magic of the sublittoral only exposed for a few minutes per year.

 

Filling gaps: Areas where we most need extra surveys to balance our data are West and Northern Irish coast. If you can’t go, but have a friend in NI or on the west coast you might just rope them in? The link www.coastwatch.org/all-ireland-survey gives them the information. The other priority area is Waterford Estuary as a new project called ECOTWIN has just started and we are lucky to be partners in it with Waterford estuary as case study.

 

Nitrate testing: The colour charts which went missing in the post have arrived. So anyone who took an inflow water sample and has kept it for testing, please send your address so I send you one.

 

Survey Results Launch Event

We are now planning the results launch event in 2 parts:

(1) Marine Litter tentatively Friday November 22nd lunchtime TCD. We have asked Minister Ossian Smyth to launch these as responsible for the changes in deposit on return and other critical waste management actions.

(2) Nature, Nitrates and Others - early to mid December 2024.

Dates will be fixed this week. All surveyors will be invited and a small Xmas party too.

 

Findings so far vary from amazing animals with stunning photos, to worrying like mass death of marine organisms swept up on the E coast Sept 30th after sustained onshore winds and strong waves dislodged them. Also frustration as oil pollution from a fishing boat was reported with excellent photographic evidence but so far nothing has happened.

 

If we have support we hope to have an exhibition and event in early 2025 as hosted by Wexford county council in Feb 2023.

 

There is super seagrass news with congratulations to… Sandra Woods Co Louth, Sam Moran Co Sligo, Tom Hannigan Co Donegal, Dave Tilly and Rita Hagan both Dublin. If there are others who think they found some and want verification please email putting seagrass in header to survey@coastwatch.org. Apologies if anyone else did report a new one in their survey data as I haven’t gone through that yet.

 

Reports on health of known beds are really important too. Thank you Mick Berry for sending those lush lawn photos and notes for Bannow Bay and Kevin Lynch from Galway. The decline in the Malahide estuary and browning patches recorded by Gemma Hooper Jones are of concern and being investigated.

 

Very best,

 

Karin & the Coastwatch team

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