Inshore ireland vol 11 nr 2 (apr may) 2015

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The Marine & Freshwater Environment Publication Back to the PLASTIC POLLUTION future on impact 100 years old and keeps of the Landing on giving - page 12 Obligation - page 10

April/May 2015 Vol 11 Issue 2

ONLINE EDITION

You can now view the February/March issue on www.inshore-ireland.com or you can follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/inshore_ireland and Facebook www.facebook.com/InshoreIreland

Mussel crisis in the southwest threatens long-term viability of premium product Gillian Mills

A

severe crisis is threatening the mussel production sector from Castlemaine to Dunmanus Bay as a result of highly unusual algal blooms this winter, according to the Irish Shellfish Association.

“Some bays have been forced to close down for

five consecutive months, and farmers have had to watch their crops wash away during the winter storms instead of fetching premiums in top supermarkets and restaurants,” explained Richie Flynn, aquaculture executive of the Irish Farmers’ Association.

“By closing their harvesting operations, the mussel farmers ensured that consumer and food safety comes first but unfortunately

they have no control over the length of time these natural blooms can persist in the ocean,” he added.

Producers are not arguing with the science or criteria which closed them down.

“IFA members work very closely with the agencies such as the Food Safety Authority; Marine Institute; HSE and BIM, to ensure we have the safest shellfish system in the world.”

Crucial compensation

Flynn added that the EU recognises such closures can be extremely painful and must be balanced by a special scheme to allow producers to stay in business: “That official recognition was enshrined in EU regulations over seven years ago. Minister Coveney must use these EU rules now to find a scheme to help dozens of small family businesses

along the south west coast to stay in business.

“Accurate figures on each producer’s production can be accessed from Gatherers Documents records held by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA),” he said.

IFA’s analysis shows that up to 10,000 tonnes of top-quality mussel crop have been lost to the elements or are now unusable:

The new INFOMAR survey catamaran, RV Tonn, undergoing trials in Dún Laoghaire Harbour, Co Dublin, prior to the 2015 survey season.

»» page 2

Photo Gillian Mills

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News »» from page 1

“This crop should have been sold in November, December and even January.

But some bays have been closed continuously since mid-2014 due to an extremely rare occurrence where algal blooms which should have disappeared, stayed within the bays making the shellfish unsafe to consume.

Even if the bays were opened in the morning, prices have entered the annual cyclical slump and most of the crop has lost its quality appearance and size as it prepares for the spring spawning season, Flynn concluded.

Delegate meeting

Richie Flynn confirmed to Inshore Ireland that a delegation of 16 producers representing every closed bay has met with the Molluscan Shellfish Safety Committee and it was confirmed by the Marine Institute and the SFPA that the bays had been officially closed since July 2014. They confirmed that the exceptional toxin closure length and levels were indicative of a ten-year cycle of high toxicity that can occur in Ireland.

The delegation also met with senior Department of Agriculture, Marine and Food officials to brief them on the

Muskerry Seafoods, Kilmackillogue, Co Kerry crisis and appeal for urgent aid as per the EU regulations.

“The ball is firmly in the government’s court now – the losses and background are clear and the EU regulations support the requested aid to the sector. Our priority has to be to keep SMEs in the south west in business and to ensure that the EMFF is fully capable of dealing with any similar crisis without delays or special pleading should it occur,” he added.

The ISA said its members were grateful for the support they had received from local representatives including Noel Harrington TD; Deirdre Clune MEP; Senator Denis O’Donovan and Michael Healy Rae TD and asked that all local representatives keep up the campaign for the survival of the industry.

Appeal to minister

Irish Shellfish Association Chairman, Jerry Gallagher

Marine Institute Foras na Mara

Photo: Gillian Mills

has appealed to Minister Coveney to find a financial solution to the problem: “This is the Minister’s chance to make a real difference and keep open a successful indigenous industry in an important

economic black-spot. With the expertise of BIM and other agencies such as the Marine Institute, a full assessment of the damage is possible, and a legal and justifiable scheme can be implemented - without delay,” he stressed.

DAFM responds to Inshore Ireland On 22 January 2015, Simon Coveney, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, received a request from aquaculture industry representatives for a package of compensation for mussel farming enterprises affected by the harvesting suspensions. On 23 February, the Department met with a delegation of mussel farmers from the south-west.

This meeting shared up-to-date information on the situation, bay by bay, and heard about the impact of harvesting suspensions. It was clear from that meeting that the overall impact of the closures would not be clear until the farmers have harvested and sold their product.

A new Seafood Development Programme is being finalised under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund up to 2020 and a draft will be published later in March with a view to submitting the new Programme to the European Commission by May for its consideration and adoption.

It is likely to be towards the end of 2015 before the Commission adopts the Programme.

The EMFF Regulation potentially allows for compensation aid to aquaculture enterprises for biotoxin events to be included in Member State Operational Programmes. Equally, it provides for many other worthwhile investment possibilities and national choices must be made between competing demands.

The Minister will consider all views received during the consultation concerning how the limited funds available under the Programme should be invested.

Background

Our Ocean - A Shared Resource Ár n-Aigéan - Acmhainn Comhroinnte Ireland’s National Agency for Marine Research and Innovation An Ghníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Thaighde Mara agus Nuálaíochta

www.marine.ie

Scientists from the Marine Institute carry out weekly testing of shellfish under the National Shellfish Biotoxin Monitoring Programme on behalf of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority and Food Safety Authority of Ireland. These tests check for the presence and levels of naturallyoccurring biotoxins (produced by phytoplankton), to ensure compliance with strict food safety regulations to protect the consumer and the good reputation of the Irish seafood industry.

A range of these natural biotoxins build up periodically in particular bays, requiring these bays to be closed until the biotoxin levels subside and the shellfish are cleared of the biotoxins. The biotoxins do not harm the shellfish which can be sold for human consumption once the biotoxin levels have abated.

The levels of biotoxins in shellfish in a number of bays in the southwest exceeded the regulatory limits throughout the Autumn and Winter, resulting in temporary suspension of shellfish harvesting in these areas. Such harvesting suspensions are not unusual and all seafood enterprises will be aware that this is a known and recurring business risk in the sector.

These toxicity events have abated over the past two months and all production areas except one are again open and mussel farmers are actively harvesting their product.

inshore ireland April/May 2015

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Comment

When truth is stranger than fiction…

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n September 2014, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) welcomed what it described was ‘a definitive review’ by top international scientists from Norway, Scotland and Ireland of selected scientific publications on the effects sea lice can have on sea trout stocks.

Funded by the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF) the ‘NINA (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) review’ cites 320 scientific papers and, according to IFI, ‘also examines the potential effect of sea lice on salmon and concluded that sea lice have a potential significant and detrimental effect on the marine survival of Atlantic salmon at sea, with potentially 12-44% fewer salmon spawning in salmon farming areas’.

The NINA review is a formidable body of work and a welcome contribution to the often bitter argument on the impact that sea lice from salmon farms might have on wild salmonids.

Nowhere however does NINA refer to the

SUMBAWS report (an international research project on the SUstainable Management of interactions Between Aquaculture and Wild Salmonid fish), except in the biographical detail of the IFI scientist who contributed to the review.

When we asked the FHF why not, they said they had never heard of SUMBAWS!

Public funds

At a cost of €2.3m of which €1.5m was EU funding, the SUMBAWS Project (2002-2005) is by any standards a major study. It includes findings from Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands and Norway.

The Irish contributions were

by Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Economic and Social Research Institute.

In our January issue we reported difficulty in obtaining a copy of the SUMBAWS report from these two agencies and from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR).

We highlighted that two requests under Freedom of Information by IFA Aquaculture had also failed

to locate SUMBAWS from an official Irish source. A similar request by them under the mechanism of Public Access to Information on the Environment also failed.

This is particularly odd given that SUMBAWS was cited at least half a dozen times in EU Pilot cases taken by Salmon Watch Ireland and Friends of the Irish Environment in 2009 and 2013.

That both environmental lobbyists appear to have had access to SUMBAWS when it was being denied to others requires clarification.

When asked, a spokesman for Salmon Watch Ireland would not reveal his source, and Friends of the Irish Environment’s response was that SUMBAWS does not exist! And anyone who requests SUMBAWS from the DCENR or IFI is advised to contact the University of St Andrews or the European Union.

Documents recently released to Inshore Ireland by the Marine Institute under FOI however include a copy of the SUMBAWS report. More significantly, these documents indicate

comment

Gery Flynn

that SUMBAWS was held by the DCENR in 2009.

The correspondence shows that in August 2009, the DCENR provided the SUMBAWS report to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Why therefore did DCENR advise Inshore Ireland: ‘The decision made by the original decision maker […] on the basis that my fresh examination of the relevant records indicates that the Department does not hold a “full and final copy of the SUMBAWS report” and therefore the record sought does not exist or cannot be found having taken all reasonable steps to locate it’.

A chronology of Inshore Ireland’s requests for SUMBAWS is now on www.inshore-ireland.com

After 35 years of “outstanding service to the State” and more than 600,000 nautical miles - or 28 world circuits - the Irish Naval Service vessel LÉ Aoife has been decommissioned.

At the ceremony on the quayside in Waterford City, Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Paul Keogh, paid tribute to the crew of the longest serving vessel in the fleet. He acknowledged their detention of 440 fishing vessels and 4,700 boardings at sea as part of the vessel’s role in fishery protection as well as search and rescue missions. He also noted her role in search and rescue missions, most notably the recovery in 1985 of the black box from Air India Flight 182 off the southwest coast. Under the replacement programme, LÉ Samuel Beckett was handed over at the end of April 2014 and LÉ James Joyce is scheduled for delivery “in the coming months,” he said. A third offshore patrol vessel is scheduled for delivery by mid-2016.

Inshore Ireland is published by IIPL Ltd

Editor

Features Editor

Gillian Mills

Gery Flynn

mills@inshore-ireland.com

flynn@inshore-ireland.com

01 235 4804

091 844822

Sales & Marketing sales@inshore-ireland.com

087 290 2045 085 747 5797

Design

Durgan Media info@durganmedia.ie

074 91 77893

The publishers do not accept responsibility for the veracity of claims made by contributors and advertisers. While care is taken to ensure accuracy of information contained within Inshore Ireland, we do not accept responsibility for any errors or matters arising from same.

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inshore ireland April/May 2015

News

Bio-marine Ireland Ltd gets green light for €40m project in premier fishing port

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onegal County Council has granted initial planning permission for the construction of a €40m, seven-acre facility, for Bio-marine Ingredients Ltd, adjacent to the new pier in Killybegs, Co Donegal.

According to chief executive, Jason Whooley, BII is projected to create 70 long-term jobs and a further 50 jobs in the construction phase.

“This project fits very comfortably into the recently launched Action Plan for Jobs

2015 which places particular emphasis on balanced regional development and job creation.”

“We are very excited at the prospect of creating marine ingredients and high-value nutritional products from species such a blue whiting and boarfish.”

BII Chairman Martin Howley added that the project would be a massive boost for Killybegs and its hinterland: “This town and Co Donegal as a whole is crying out for new employment

Planning permission granted for the 7-acre, Bio-marine Ingredients Ltd facility in Killybegs, Co Donegal. Photo: G Mills

opportunities. As an area, we have suffered terribly during the economic collapse. Our project can play a part in helping the northwest turn the corner. The prospect of construction jobs by the late summer is very exciting for all concerned.”

Background The project is a joint venture between Killybegs fishing interests and Norwegian marine biotech experts, Biomarine Science Technology (BST). The new facility will be used to extract high-end proteins, oils and calcium from fish, ultimately for use as food ingredients.

The proposed plant will have the capacity to process up to 50,000 tonnes of raw material annually, primarily boarfish and blue whiting.

Ruling called on non-disclosure of salmon farm escape report Gery Flynn

T

he Friends of the Irish Environment group (FIE) is seeking a High Court order requiring the Information Commissioner to rule on what they claim is Minister Simon Coveney’s refusal to release the Accident Report on the escape of a large number of salmon from a fish farm in Bantry Bay in February last year.

This is the latest move by the West Cork-based environmental monitor to force the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to release the report of its investigation into what caused a cage moored at Gerahies to break its moorings on the south side of Bantry Bay during stormy weather.

On February 19, 2014, a few days later a spokesman for Save Bantry Bay - a local group opposed to salmon farming in the bay area - claimed that the Gerahies fish farm “had been virtually wiped out”.

Public interest

ARE YOU IRELAND’S BEST YOUNG FISHMONGER? BIM is fishing for Ireland’s most competent, capable, knowledgeable and progressive young fishmonger.

Do you fit the bill?

WHO CAN APPLY? This competition is open to persons working full time in fish retail shops or on supermarket seafood counters. To be eligible to apply you must: ■ ■

■

■

FIE say that Minister Simon Coveney refuses to release the report on grounds that it was an ‘internal communication’ and that the public interest would not be served by the disclosure.

Tony Lowes, a director of FIE, says there has been no improvement in the long delays his group has experienced with its appeals, noting that the 2013 Annual

Report of the Information Commissioner states that the ‘backlog is growing’.

“This matter was especially urgent because a previous report of a similar 2010 disaster released to us last year without any delays showed that the Minister himself was at fault for not requiring the necessary inspections of the equipment.

“The Department of Marine’s Engineering Division Report on the loss of 80,000 salmon in Clew Bay in 2010 blamed the disaster on Minister Coveney’s department’s failure to enforce licensing conditions, says Mr Lowes.

The FIE spokesman claims that “a note by the Assistant Secretary on the report states: ‘This Report clearly points to the fact that adequate systems in relation to certification, maintenance, inspection, repairs and record need to be in place for this type of installation’.

“We believe the Report would show that in fact nothing had been done in the past four years to ensure the safety of the installations. And given the increasing severity and frequency of storm events due to climate change, it is vital that we see this report before the storms recur.

“We have now included The Attorney General in our action for failing to ensure that Irish law correctly transposes the European Directives requirement for ‘expeditious’ procedures.”

FIE had expected its High Court action to have been heard by mid to late January this year but told Inshore Ireland it now expected the hearing to be “soon”.

Be under 35 years of age on 31/12/15 Work a minimum 30 hours full-time per week exclusively on the seafood counter Have at least 2 years’ experience working in a fish shop or on a supermarket seafood counter Have excellent seafood product knowledge, technical and seafood preparation skills and customer in-sight

Note: All past winners are ineligible to enter the competition

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Lorraine O’Byrne Business Development & Innovation Division, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, PO Box 12, Crofton Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Tel: (01) 214 4185 • Email: obyrne@bim.ie FIE contends that increased frequency and severity of winter storms can be expected due to climate change. Photo G Mills

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News

Irish salmon producer achieves global environmental standard

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arine Harvest Ireland the first salmon farm worldwide to achieve organic certification - has been awarded the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standard for salmon, acknowledged as one of the highest international environmental and social sustainability standards for fish farming.

The standard was obtained for a site at Deenish Island in Ballinskelligs Bay, Co Kerry.

According to MHI managing director Jan Feenstra, the standard is an endorsement of the company brand and the high standards they consistently aspire to and succeed in reaching.

“This particular accreditation was initiated by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF), recognised globally as a benchmark in building a future where human needs are met in harmony with nature.”

MHI operations contribute over €15m to the domestic economy annually and involve 800 Irish suppliers.

“More significantly, we have a €22m investment earmarked for Ireland over the next five years, subject to new licences, renewals and improvements in existing licences,” Feenstra added.

“This alone could create a further 250 direct jobs.

The single biggest issue we face today is that we cannot meet demand for our product,” he said.

Industry endorsement

Congratulating MHI, IFA Aquaculture Executive Richie Flynn described the company’s achievement as a “solid industry response to customers, the public and regulators who demand the highest standards, transparency and independent evidence of the aquaculture sector’s long-term commitment to sustainability.”

He added that with 40 years

ASC background

Founded in 2010 by WWF and IDH (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative), the ASC is an independent worldwide not-for-profit organisation.

With its partners, the ASC runs a programme to transform the world’s seafood markets and promote the best environmental and social aquaculture performance by increasing availability of certified responsiblyproduced seafood to buyers and promoting use of the ASC logo.

ASC aims to be the world’s leading certification and labelling programme for responsibly farmed seafood, and works with aquaculture producers, seafood processors, retail and food service companies, scientists, and conservation groups, to: • recognise and reward responsible aquaculture through its certification programme and seafood label • promote best environmental and social choice when buying seafood • contribute to transforming seafood markets towards sustainability Audit procedure Key environmental areas: feed; escapes; nutrient loading and carrying capacity; benthic impacts and siting; disease and parasite transfer, and chemical inputs, included in seven principles: P1 c omplying with all applicable national laws and local regulations P2 conserving the natural habitat, local biodiversity and ecosystem function P3 protecting the health and genetic integrity of wild populations P4 using resources in an environmentally and responsibly manner P5 managing disease and parasites in an environmentally responsible manner P6 developing and operating farms in a socially responsible manner P7 being a good neighbour and conscientious citizen

of knowledge and expertise in farming the Irish coast “we’ve learned how to build a longterm sustainable industry and have established the sector as an important employer in peripheral rural areas.

“You can’t get any further west in Europe than Deenish or our other farms from Donegal to West Cork, yet these remote locations are sites where modern, state-ofthe-art standards, monitoring and management are implemented on a daily basis to produce quality fish for the home and export market.

Flynn believes certification sends out an important message that while Ireland is a relatively small producer, it is a “very proud and ambitious part of the growing aquaculture industry worldwide.”

And he described the company’s achievement in passing the ASC audit as a “solid industry response to customers, the public and regulators who demand the highest

Deenish Salmon Farm, Co Kerry, winner of the first Aquaculture Stewardship Council Award in Ireland standards, transparency and independent evidence of the aquaculture sector’s long-term commitment to sustainability.”

“IFA congratulates Marine Harvest Ireland and its entire staff on the certification, which sends

a very important message to the public, consumers, the government and world markets that Ireland is a relatively small but very proud and ambitious part of the growing aquaculture industry worldwide,” he concluded.

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news

Inis Turk

Bere Island

Photo Helen Riddell

Funding crisis for non-Gaeltacht Islands Gery Flynn A spokesman for the non-Gaeltacht Community Development Projects (CDPs) has lashed out at a government decision to cut the budget for the non-Gaeltacht islands by 24% saying it brings into question whether the Island Community Development Offices can continue to operate.

In a letter to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Simon Murray of Inisbofin describes this latest cut, due from April 1, as “savage”.

“This 24% cut comes on the back of a 9.5% cut in 2013 and a 3% cut in 2011 which adds up to a staggering 36.5% cut to the budget for the non-Gaeltacht islands during the lifetime of this government,” Murray says.

No commitment

Speaking to Inshore Ireland Simon Murray questioned this government’s commitment to sustaining the non-

Gaeltacht Islands, describing its approach as “Death by a thousand cuts.”

“It seems to me this is a clear message to communities like ours that the current government is not committed to sustaining non-Gaeltacht Islands. I would request Minister Kelly - at a very minimum - to maintain the 2014 level of funding through 2015 and to work towards increasing the budget to what it was before all the cuts, from 2016 onwards,” he said.

The five island community development projects of Bere; Sherkin; Inishbofin; Inishturk and Clare Island were established by the then Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs in the 1990s through its community development programme.

From 2011, the five have operated on the basis of a service level agreement with the islands’ local development company, Comhar na nOileán, through an infracturctural and community hub on

each island receiving LCDP funding through Comhar na nOileán.

Simon Murray believes that the wider issue of funding for the Non-Gaeltacht Islands needs to be examined, and that what he believes to be the “confusion and uncertainties surrounding it” must be clarified.

“This is a very complicated issue it’s even more complicated now with the proposed closure of FORUM Connemara Ltd in Letterfrack. But to cut a long story short, government needs to reassess the entire SICAP Programme and the way it was rolled out nationally.

As islanders we didn’t quite fit into this Programme and nationally too there were a lot of issues about its effectiveness. One answer might be to create a new islands development programme, something like we had for sixteen years.

That might be an imaginative way of looking at a sustainable way to fund island development,” he concluded.

Response to Inshore Ireland Alan Kelly, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, and Minister of State Ann Phelan recently acknowledged the work of their colleague, Minister of State Joe McHugh, and thanked him for his foresight and pragmatism in working with him on a revised scheme of support for the nonGaeltacht islands.

The islands are Bere, Sherkin, Heir, Whiddy, Long and Dursey in Co. Cork, Inishbofin in Co. Galway, Inishturk and Clare in Co. Mayo.

Minister Kelly emphasised that both Departments fully understand the importance of the island community development infrastructure on the non-Gaeltacht islands, currently funded through his Department’s Local and Community Development Programme, and he confirmed that both Departments will work together to ensure that the services they provide are retained.

This approach will see these islands, and relevant supports, becoming a key function of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) funding for these community groups will continue until the end of March 2015, pending the roll out of a revised new system which will be led by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Minister Kelly has confirmed that his Department is contributing significant funding to the new scheme in order to maintain funding at close to 2014 levels.

Minister of State McHugh has said that while he is aware that the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), the successor programme to the LCDP, will operate in all Local Authority areas, the funding from his Department will assist with the delivery of other essential services for these island communities and his Department will seek to enhance this delivery into the future through engagement with the communities on the nonGaeltacht islands.

Sherkin Island

Photo Gillian Mills

Inisbofin

Photo Gillian Mills

Clare Island

Photo Kathy Gallagher

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Aquaculture

May A two-part special marking the centenary of the loss of RMS Lusitania torpedoed off the Cork coast. We’ll be talking to author and historian Dr Michael Martin and visiting the Heritage Centre on the Old Head of Kinsale.

We will also be talking to author of The Sinking of the Lusitania – Unravelling the Mysteries, Patrick O’ Sullivan among others. [Inshore Ireland hopes to view the book in our June/July issue] Seascapes also will be challenging some of the myths that surround the tragedy and talking to many connected with marking this important maritime centenary. We’ll be meeting members of the World Ships Society again on the programme as they convene for the coming year.

Photo Gillian Mills

Operational airstrip has potential to boost Inisbofin tourism More than €9m spent on Inishbofin airstrips

(Irish Times January 30, 2015)

M

ore than €9 million of public money was spent on landing strips to improve access to Inishbofin Island, but air services never got underway, it has emerged.

The airstrips at Inishbofin and Cleggan, Co Galway, were developed over five years and completed in about 2009. Arrangements are now being made to transfer them to the coast guard, according the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Secretary General of the department Joe Hamill told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee the only use to which the landing strips may have had was to aid the coast guard on occasion, and perhaps by unauthorised private aircraft. But as far as facilitating small aircraft access to the islands as they were intended, the air strips had not been “officially used” he said.

Mr Hamill said further proposals to provide a landing strip at Tory Island had not gone beyond the planning process.

Maintenance costs of Inishbofin and Cleggan airstrips were included in costs for the three working airstrips on the Aran Islands, which currently amount to about €300,000 per year, Mr Hamill said.

He told Labour TD Joe Costello the strips were made of tarmac and sufficient to land a small aircraft.

They had been fenced since 2009. No terminal buildings were ever built.

Mr Hamill told Gabrielle McFadden TD the airstrips were a product of a time when the department’s annual budget for the islands was about €40m.The budget was now about €600,000, he said.

He said the project had to be seen as part of broader attempts to improve air access for islanders and tourists, and included in the National Development Plan in 2003. He said there was some proposals at the time that the air service to the Aran Islands could be extended to serve Inishbofin and Cleggan.

The department is now in discussions about selling the airstrips to the Coast Guard.

Mr Hamill has agreed to commission a more detailed report on the airstrips which he said he would forward to the committee.

Community initiative Speaking to Inshore Ireland, Simon Murray, Inisbofin explained that two years ago when the Minister visited the island, “he told us straight out there was no money available to

operate the airstrip. We put it to him however that even if that was the case, then please allow our community to operate it in the short term, for, say, five years.

“We would open it up to private use and after five years or so the entire feasibility of this idea could be looked at again.”

He added the community has received “stacks of email enquiries from flying clubs - not just from Irish clubs but from England, Wales, Scotland and all over Europe - even from as far away as Moscow and from hobby pilots who want to land on Inishbofin and spend some time here”.

“Inishbofin is the most westerly airstrip in Europe! Now that has a bit of a ring to it, and it’s a very good selling point to hobby pilots who would love to come here. Allowing private planes to land on Inishbofin would bring in much needed revenue, and we’d also attract additional tourists to the island.

“Ireland alone has over 230 of these airstrips, many of which are very simple strips in farmers’ fields operating only during the summer months. Our airstrip is way ahead of that type of landing area - it’s a proper strip. So, that’s the angle we’re pushing.

“At the time the department officials showed a lot of interest and told us it was a good idea.

But then, nothing happened.You couldn’t make it up!” he said.

Dr Michael Martin, author of RMS Lusitania

The World Ships Society in Cobh with Bill Millar

Seascapes is presented and produced

by Marcus Connaughton and is transmitted every Friday evening at 10.30pm on RTE Radio 1

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inshore ireland April/May 2015

Fisheries

Kilmore Quay. All photos G Mills

Fishermen are placed centre-stage to realise rural smart economy Francis O’Donnell IFPO

A

ccording to the Central Statistics Office, there were over 185,000 active enterprises in Ireland in 2012, 99.7% of which were SMEs (small to medium enterprise). According to the EU, the definition of an SME is a business that employs less than 250 persons and has an annual turnover not exceeding €50m and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding €43m.

Micro enterprise employ less than ten persons and have an annual turnover of less than €2m and an annual balance sheet total of less than €2m. This is where most of the Irish fishing businesses reside on the SME scale.

Of course there are catching businesses that also process product and fall into the small enterprises category, employing between ten and fifty persons and have an annual turnover of less than €10m. Some processors are slightly larger in scale and can be classed as medium enterprises, employing between fifty and two hundred and fifty persons, and have an annual turnover of less than €50m.

Rural back-bone It would be accurate to say that both the catching and processing sectors, in conjunction with farming, form the back-bone of rural Ireland and its local economy. This is especially significant for coastal communities.

Every Irish fishing vessel is an SME of one sort of other.

On average, an Irish fishing vessel employs between 1 and 7 persons on board, depending on whether the vessel is an inshore potter; a prawn vessel; a vessel targeting mixed whitefish or of RSW (refrigerated salt water) capacity.

There are many ‘inbetween categories’, too many to mention. Each vessel has a secretariat or agent that is land-based to process paperwork for revenue; sales notes; to ensure wages are paid basically the same as any other business venture. In essence, this means that most of the 15m - 20m vessels are employing eight to ten people locally with little government support in rural areas neglected in terms of national investment.

Development of the ‘smart economy’ is central to current government policy for economic renewal.

According to the Food Harvest 2020 strategy, which is a vision for Irish agrifood and fisheries sectors, we are asked to become ‘smart’ as an industry, by developing new working relationships in the food chain; piloting new product streams; targeting resources at new markets; enhancing levels of productivity and competitiveness, and developing leadership positions across a range of sectors.

In short, we must invest in ideas; knowledge and skills; encourage innovation and creativity, and recognise new opportunities for collaboration across the

food supply chain - in some cases with other companies that are often seen as competitors.

Irish SMEs in the fishing sector must seek new markets; develop new product streams that meet changing consumer demands, as well as finding new ways to assert Ireland’s environmentally-friendly credentials to target the premium end of the market with high-value products.

‘Being smart means being busy.’

The national strategic vision for fisheries is a mirror image of what is contained in the new Common Fisheries Policy and Common Organisation of the Markets regulations, both published in the last two years and fully supported by the European Commission.

Building capacity To achieve this vision, the Irish fishing industry needs support in terms of building capacity to realise these goals. Producer Organisations such as the Irish Fish Producers Organisation are now being tasked under EU regulations to meet the above objectives. To do so we will need to employ extra staff, marketing experts and PR companies to strengthen brand image of the industry itself, not to mention the need to brand the products we catch.

There is no doubt that our industry needs to be innovative, more focused on customers’ demands in terms of labelling and traceability, be in a position to spot new market

opportunities and respond as first movers. The €148m that Ireland received as part of the new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund aims to address the many obstacles blocking our industry from growing and from securing our niche in world food markets.

Under Production and Marketing Plans (in simple terms a business plan) submitted by Producer Organisations to the Department of the Marine, which are a new legal requirement this year, each PO sets out in very clear terms how it intends to realise the strategic national and EU policies as set down.

Producer Organisations have been placed central to realising those objectives by the European Commission as having the expertise and tacit knowledge to do so.

They communicated this to us last October at meeting in Dublin. The government is due to announce the funding allocation for Producer Organisations in the coming weeks, which will from part of the €148m contained in Ireland’s allocation of the EMFF. It will be interesting to see how committed they are to their own Food harvest 2020 strategy and the Irish fishing industry as a whole.

Schull

Ros an Mhíl

inshore ireland April/May 2015

9

Fisheries

State funding to upgrade harbour and coastal infrastructure

M

inister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, has announced a €17.8m Capital Investment Package for ongoing development of Ireland’s publicly-owned fishery harbours and local harbour network. “€14.9m will go towards safety, maintenance and new development works at the six Fishery Harbour Centres at Howth, Dunmore East, Castletownbere, Dingle, Rossaveel and Killybegs, in addition to completion of infrastructural improvement and storm damage repair works at North Harbour, Cape Clear. I have also allocated €1.-5m for a Local Authority Harbour Development and Marine Leisure Programme in 2015.”

A further €1.4m will go towards completing Local Authority storm damage projects approved in 2014 «as part of the Government›s response to the extreme

weather conditions in late 2013 and early 2014, but not completed.., he added.

This is a significant level of investment...and will continue the implementation of the Government›s strategy to develop and improve the facilities at our Fishery Harbour Centres and other public harbours around our coast, benefitting a broad cohort of stakeholders including the fishing industry, seafood processing sector, other ancillary marine industries, marine tourism and leisure and the wider rural coastal communities,” he concluded.

Cape Clear, Co. Cork.

Project

€900,000

Duffy’s Pier

€900,000

Safety & Maintenance Works

€50,000

Disability Access Works

€10,000

Piers, Lights & Beacons

€136,000

Traffic Management Works Provision of Small Craft Pontoon

Castletownbere FHC

An Daingean FHC

Rossaveel FHC

Dunmore East FHC

Site investigation for West Pier pontoon and Middle Pier upgrade

Total

€75,000 €1,000,000 €150,000 €150,000

Power points & Electrical Upgrade

€350,000

Sanitary Facilities Works

€90,000

Harbour Slipway – Phase 1

€400,000

Replacement of Water Network – Dinish Island- design

€20,000

Proposed Development South Side – Dinish Island- site investigation

€30,000

Navigation Buoys Replacement

€130,000

Main Pier sheet pile Remedial Works

€200,000

Harbour Workshop and Marina Users Facilities Building - Design

€40,000

Upgrade Harbour Entrance

€150,000

Phase 2 Small Craft Harbour

€700,000

Construction of New Slipway – Design Phase

€70,000

Harbour Office Upgrade – Phase 2

€200,000

Breakwater design

€150,000

Traffic Management Plan

T

he fishery representatives of the National Inshore Fisheries Forum (NIFF) met recently to elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman and to appoint representatives to fill positions on a number of committees made available by marine minister Simon Coveney.

These included one representative to the Quota Management Advisory Committee (QMAC); two representatives to the Seafood Development Programme Monitoring Committee (SDPMC) and to confirm the position on the consultative committee of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA).

The inshore sector has

suffered from poor representation for many years, and I feel that Minister Simon Coveney and his officials are to be commended for setting up the six Regional Inshore Fisheries Forums and the National Inshore Fisheries Forum.

For the first time, the forums give inshore fishermen the opportunity to have direct input into the issues that concern them.

The entire coast is very well represented on the six RIFFs whereby the chair and vicechair of each RIFF make up the panel of NIFF. As a fisherman myself, I know first-hand the importance of the inshore sector, and for the many families around the coast who depend on it. There is a back log of issues that need to be addressed, local and nationally.

I cannot stress how important it is that fishermen engage with their local RIFF representative in order for their concerns to be brought

forward for discussion at local level and then onto national level.

We have a fantastic opportunity to make a positive impact on the inshore sector. We have great teams of representatives both on the RIFFs and the NIFF, dedicated to working hard to make a difference for inshore fishermen.

Already, we have secured representation on some very important committees that have direct impact on the inshore sector. The forum was set up by Minister Coveney but I can assure you, he has left it up to us as to what we want to get out of it.

This is our forum and we need to take full advantage of it and as chairman, I intend to work hard to do just that. As I’ve said, there are some very important issues concerning inshore fishermen and we will be pressing hard for a resolution to these at our meetings with the minister.

Chairman: Ciaran Quinn (NW RIFF) Vice-chairman: Eddie Moore (SW RIFF) QMAC: Trudy McIntyre (SE RIFF) SDPMC: Richard Guildea (NE RIFF) and Alex Crowley (SW RIFF) with Juan Blanes, (NE RIFF), substitute.

SFPA Consultative Committee: Eamon Dixon (NW RIFF) Five members were also nominated as observers on the QMAC which will work on a rotational basis: Jerry Early (N RIFF); Charlie Featherstone (SE RIFF); Michéal Ó Goill (W RIFF); Alex Crowley (SW RIFF) and Shane McGee (N RIFF).

TUGS & PONTOONS JACK UP BARGES WINDFARM SUPPORT VESSELS DIVE SUPPORT VESSELS MULTICATS

€15,000 €6,500,000

Improvement works to Shipyard Entrances

€40,000

Small Craft Harbour – Phase 2

€700,000

Provision of additional bollards

€60,000

Smooth Point Pier Extension – studies and preparation:

€175,000

Power Outlets - Boatyard Local Authority

€1,440,000

Upgrading Electrical System – Phase 3

Dredging Works

Killybegs FHC

Department Approved Funding

Bull Nose Development

All Fishery Safety and Maintenance Harbour Centres

Howth FHC

Ciaran Quinn, Chair of NIFF

Capital Programme

»» major dredging works at Dunmore East »» provision of small craft harbours and pontoons in Howth, Rossaveal and Killybegs, »» electrical upgrading in Castletownbere, and »» necessary remedial works to the main pier in Dingle

Table 1- Fishery Harbour & Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme 2015 Location

Election of inshore fisheries representatives to national committees

€40,000

Local Authority Harbour Development and Marine Leisure

€1,500,000

Local Authority Storm Damage

€1,400,000 €17,771,000

WWW.FASTNETSHIPPING.COM

10 inshore ireland April/May 2015

fisheries

Back to the future on the impacts of the Landing Obligation Dr Ronán Cosgrove, BIM and Dr Norman Graham, MI

T

he key challenges regarding the impending Landing Obligation (LO) will include requirements to land undersize quota species, cessation of fishing activity once the quota for the first individual TAC species is exhausted (choking) and costs associated with handling and disposal of catches that cannot be sold for human consumption.

In order to ascertain how this obligation will impact fishermen, BIM and the Marine Institute (MI) in collaboration with industry and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, simulated operational and economic impacts as well as some potential solutions to the choking issue.

Two vessels were chartered to undertake the trial in the Celtic Sea: Vessel 1, a 24 m quad-rig trawler targeting Nephrops; Vessel 2, a 25 m single-rig demersal trawler targeting mixed whitefish species.

Vessels were required to retain and land all catches of demersal species specified in Article 15.1.C(ii) of EU regulation 1380/2013, namely

This study confirms that while technical, tactical and indeed quota uplift measures can partially assist in mitigating impacts of the LO, they are unlikely to provide a comprehensive solution.

cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, Norway lobster, hake, common sole and plaice.

A scientific quota was allocated to cover catches in excess of monthly quotas.

This enabled vessels to effectively fish their normal monthly quota allocations for all species, facilitating an economic comparison of a ‘business as usual’ (BAU) scenario where discarding was permitted, versus a LO scenario where discarding was prohibited.

In order to examine potential solutions, the study was split into two phases.

Phase 1, commenced in October 2014, when vessels were expected to operate under LO conditions; Phase 2, commenced in November 2014, when skippers were requested to use technical or tactical measures to reduce unwanted catches, thereby postponing choking and extending fishing time under the LO scenario.

Vessel 1 used a 300 mm square mesh panel in the majority of hauls conducted in November in an attempt to reduce whitefish catches. Vessel 2 primarily adopted a tactical approach by attempting to avoid areas where juvenile fish were abundant but also used a 90 mm cod-end mesh size to reduce catches of undersize whiting.

choke species

Haddock was the key choke species encountered

by Vessel 1 in both months.

Vessel 2 choked on haddock; whiting and cod in October and haddock in November.

Vessel 1 caught substantially less whitefish species and postponed choking until 41 hauls were completed in November, compared with 27 hauls in October.

Vessel 2 achieved substantial reductions in catches of juvenile fish but only managed to postpone choking by an additional two hauls in November compared with October.

Based on STECF figures, an additional 1.6 tonnes of haddock was added to the monthly quota allowance of 2.5 tonnes for this species as an example of a potential quota uplift which might mitigate the impact of the LO on Vessel 2. An increase in haddock quota to 4.1 tonnes resulted in an increase of fishing effort by one day or four hauls in October and by just one extra haul in November.

In terms of economics,

Vessel 1 operated at a loss under BAU during October due to relatively low catch rates of the target species Nephrops. Consequently, a premature cessation of fishing activity had little impact on profitability that month.

Although things improved under the BAU scenario, profits were substantially reduced to just above breakeven point under the LO scenario for Vessel 1 in November. Profits earned by Vessel 2 under BAU turned into major losses under the

LO scenario in October.

Breakeven was roughly achieved by Vessel 2 in November under both scenarios. Vessel 1 ceased fishing early on November 16 due to lack of quota, and a poor level of profitability under the BAU scenario caused by lower catches of marketable fish - a likely side effect of attempts to avoid catching juvenile fish.

This study confirms that while technical, tactical and indeed quota uplift measures can partially assist

in mitigating impacts of the LO, they are unlikely to provide a comprehensive solution. A detailed analysis of additional measures such as alternative quota management strategies, ‘de minimus’ or permitted discarding, and high survivability is urgently required to ensure economic impacts of the LO on Irish vessels are minimised.

The full report is available at www.bim.ie/ our-publications/fisheries/

inshore ireland April/May 2015 11

Seafood

Masterclass in seafood cookery C

L to R: Derrick Rose; BIM New Product Development chef; Peter Deasy, Glen Mar Shellfish; Union Hall, Co Cork; Michael Geary, Seafood Cuisine; Skibbereen, Co Cork; Gloria Corcoran, BIM; David Scully, Scully’s Butchers & Deli, Clonakilty; John Sadlier and Michelle Sadlier, GL Sadlier Seafoods Limerick and Tomas Cooper, BIM

ompanies attending a seafood workshop in February at BIM’s Seafood Development Centre (SDC) in Clonakilty, Co Cork, were shown stepby-step instructions to prepare seafood dishes from chowder to seafood faijas and fish pie.

Demonstrated by the sea-fisheries board’s new product development chef, Derrick Rose, the aim of the workshop was to provide retailers with the know-how to prepare ‘ready to eat’ seafood meals in their own premises; boost sales attract new customers and gain more knowledge about seafood cookery generally.

The search begins for Ireland’s ‘Best Young Fishmonger’

P

ersons employed full-time in fish retail shops or on supermarket seafood counters are being encouraged to enter the annual BIM Young Fishmonger competition which recognises fishmongers (under 35 years) who demonstrate a high level of expertise and knowledge.

BIM is inviting all interested fishmongers to apply before the deadline (12 noon, 17th April 2015 - see details page 4) The competition, now in its third year, is growing in popularity and as the consumer demand for seafood increases, Ireland’s fishmongers are adapting to consumer’s needs.

More retail outlets are now offering a wide range of fresh fish and shellfish; prepared ‘ready to cook’ seafood dishes and accompaniments from crumbs and marinades to flavoured butters.

Ireland’s seafood retail market is valued at almost €200m and fishmongers have an important role to play in encouraging consumers to eat more fish, be more adventurous and to try new species, says Donal Buckley, BIM’s Director of Business Development & Innovation.

“This competition will raise the bar in terms of quality, customer service and seafood skills and knowledge,” he added.

The competition is judged over three rounds and includes an anonymous visit to the retail shop to assess the overall premises, seafood displays, and product knowledge and customer service.

Five fishmongers will then be

shortlisted to proceed to round two which involves in-depth visits by the judges. The final stages, to be held in the BIM Seafood Development Centre in Clonakilty, Cork, include a filleting skills test with all finalists expected to fillet and prepare a range of fish and shellfish under time constraints.

Finalists will go through a oneto-one interview regarding their business plans, opportunities and challenges and will participate in a master class with a specialist seafood chef.

The prizes The finalists will be presented with their prizes including a specially designed trophy, a set of professional knives and a cheque for €500 at an event in November. The winner will also receive a specially-designed trophy and knives in addition to a seafood study trip and a cheque for €1,000.

The five finalists in last year’s competition were Stevie Connelly, Connelly’s Fish Company, Rathmines, Dublin; Gary Quinn, Stephen’s Fish Market, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath; Gerard Collier, Fisherman’s Catch, Clogherhead, Co. Louth; Mateusz Kowalik, Doran’s on the Pier, Howth, Co Dublin and Neil Turner, Caviston’s Food Emporium, Glasthule, Co Dublin.

The overall winner was Gerard Collier of Fisherman’s Catch: “I was thrilled to win the BIMYoung Fishmonger 2015 competition.

As well as the recognition and confidence boost it has given me and the business, I have learnt a great deal and it has inspired me to further develop our product

As Irish consumers are leading increasingly busy lifestyles, fishmongers and supermarket seafood counters are responding to demand for ready-to-eat dishes by becoming onestop-shops for marinades, crumbs and ‘ready to eat’ options for on-the-go lunches and family meals.

BIM is hosting a second Seafood Cookery Workshop for retailers in BIM’s Head Office in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin on April 14 (9am– 2pm). The cost is €50 per participant and includes lunch and all recipes in electronic format. Details from Lorraine O’Byrne: obyrne@bim.ie or (01) 2144185

Perfecting knife skills at a fish handling and filleting workshop

S

eafood retailers and chefs from around the coast honed their skills in fish preparation at a recent handling and filleting workshop organised at BIM’s Seafood Development

offering.

“I am passionate about seafood and am committed to improving the business and encouraging new customers to try the excellent seafood off our coast. This competition not only recognises the importance of your local fishmonger – it also profiles Irish seafood and if we can get more people to eat more seafood – that will be a great result!”

Criteria for entering • Under 35 years-of-age on 31/12/15 • Work a minimum of 30 hours full-time per week exclusively on the seafood counter • Have at least two years’ experience working in a fish shop or on a supermarket seafood counter • Have excellent seafood product knowledge, technical skills and seafood preparation skills and customer insight.

Details on www.bim.ie or contact Lorraine O’Byrne on 01-2144185 or email obyrne@ bim.ie

Centre.

Led by experienced trainer and filleting expert, Hal Dawson, the two-day workshop covered topics that included species identification; hygiene and safety; safe knife preparation and filleting techniques (butterfly filleting, skinning) and flatfish fileting.

Over the coming months, BIM will host further workshops aimed at seafood retailers on topics including seafood cookery; HACCP and advanced fish quality. Details: www.bim.ie

Back row: Hal Dawson, Facilitator; Noel Holland – Galway Bay Seafoods; Brian Gannon, Castlebar, Co. Mayo; Andrew Jacob, Bunclody, Co Wexford and Lorraine O’Byrne – BIM Seated : Kieran Buckland - Chef, Chapter One Restaurant, Dublin; Una Ni Charra, Eyeries, Beara, Co Cork; James Dobson - Chef, Chapter One Restaurant and Barry O’Malley – Connemara Smokehouse

12 inshore ireland April/May 2015

YOURVIEW

Plastic pollution: 100-years-old and keeps on giving…

Mindy O’Brien Coordinator, Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment

I

t seems as though plastic has been part of our lives forever but in reality, plastic has only been regularly used in consumer items since the 1960s. In the past 50 years, we have gone from zero to 32 million tonnes of plastic waste produced every year.

Scarily, every bit of plastic produced is still in existence today since it takes 200 years for plastic to decompose. In America, only 9% of plastic is recovered for recycling. In Ireland, according to the EPA’s 2014 National Waste Statistics, we currently recycle around 40% of our plastics. The rest is either landfilled, burned or lost in the environment.

Worrying trends

Instead of increasing our recycling rates, Ireland seems to be sending waste as Separated Derived Fuel (SRF) or Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) to Waste to Energy (WtE) or incineration plants.

EPA statistics illustrate that the amount of Mixed Dry Recyclables (MDR), which include paper, cardboard, metal and plastics and were put into our green recycling bins, decreased by 3.2% between 2011 and 2012.

Additionally, the 15% increase in plastic packaging recovered, which means burned, primarily reflects strong growth in Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) as feedstock in thermal treatment plants. Since plastic is derived from oil, it is attractive as

a fuel for such plants. The burning of plastic however can and does create cancercausing dioxins and furans.

What do these statistics mean?

Much recyclable material is now being bailed and sent off to be burned in Irish incinerators and abroad.

Ireland has one WtE plant in Meath which takes 200,000 tonnes of waste annually (due to increase to 220,000 tonnes shortly), and plans to develop a WtE plant in Ringsend in Dublin, to take 600,000 tonnes annually.

The new regional waste plans also conclude that further energy recovery plant capacity will be needed and recommends developing another 300,000 tonne plant.

All these plants are hungry beasts and need waste to operate effectively. This reliance on incinerators will hamper further recycling and reuse/repair businesses that rely on the recyclable raw product.

Marine plastic litter

Much of our plastic is washed into the oceans and waterways across the globe.

Almost 9 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the oceans each year (see The Irish Times, Feb 14, 2015) The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a ring of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean which extends over thousands of miles. Fish, birds and other wildlife and microorganisms have been tragically affected by the floating plastics. Animals eat small bits of plastic, which are toxic, mistaking them for plankton and other micro-organisms.

Plastic micro beads

I recently went in search for some facial scrub for my teenage son and found that every item I saw in the local pharmacy contained polyethylene, or as the advertisers proclaim, ‘the microbead’. In the past, these scrubs contained shredded apricot pits or coconut fibres to provide the abrasion to attack spots; however, industry has substituted these with tiny plastic beads.

These beads have been found throughout the world’s waterways - from the oceans to The Great Lakes in the US. These beads are not captured in the filters at sewerage treatment plants and continue unhampered into our water.

Like other bits of plastic, fish and birds are eating these plastic beads, thus introducing plastic into the food chain.

Environmentalists have alerted industry and governments about the dangers of the plastic microbead and the message has resonance. Some industries have begun to change their manufacturing process by removing plastic microbeads and the sale of products containing plastic microbeads is banned in some states in the USA. (see: http:// www.elkharttruth.com/ news/indiana/2014/06/18/ In-odd-twist-industryagrees-to-ban-microbeads. html and http://pallone. house.gov/press-release/ pallone-upton-introducebipartisan-legislation-banuse-microbeads-cosmetics)

Solutions

In order to reduce the amount of disposable plastic packaging and other nonrecycled waste, we must look

upstream to the production of such consumables. Industry must look towards eco-design to ensure that their products are modular and easily repairable or reusable for other purposes, or are made of easily recyclable material.

There are so many different types of plastic it is almost impossible to recycle certain polymers. For instance, we use around five toothbrushes each year, which means more than 20 million toothbrushes are landfilled each year in Ireland alone. Toothbrushes are very difficult to recycle; manufacturing a toothbrush with eco-design in mind would develop a more recyclable toothbrush.

We also need to capture valuable feedstock for the recycling industry. It is proven that plastic bottles mixed in the normal household waste bin are of lesser quality than bottles collected through a separate ‘deposit/

refund scheme (see http:// www.bottlebill.org/about/ benefits/quality.htm. This is the same for glass.

Ireland’s aluminium recovery is also low, below 60%. Aluminium should be the first product we recover because it is 100% recyclable. Recycling one can uses about 5% of the energy needed to produce a can from raw material.

While we are getting better at separating recyclables at home, the same cannot be said for recycling at work or out and about. Deposit/ refund schemes for drink containers would provide the incentive to collect these containers and remove them from rubbish bins, streets, beaches and the oceans.

Many countries and US States have adopted deposit/refund schemes with great success; between 80-98% of drinks containers are collected.

What can I do?

»» ask your local politician or Minister Kelly to adopt a container deposit/refund scheme to collect all the plastic, glass and aluminium drinks containers »» reduce the amount of single-use disposable items and packaging you use. »» Bring your own travel mug to the café »» use your own containers when buying meat, fish or deli items »» buy your fruit and veg without packaging For more information, see our blog: www.voiceireland. org/general-news/how-to-make-a-difference-inour-disposable-society on the disposable society The next time you go off shopping to buy facial scrub or other cosmetics, be aware of the presence of polyethylene, AKA, the dreaded microbead.

Also, join the campaign against the plastic microbead: ‘Beat the bead’. For more information on products without plastic microbead visit: http:// www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/product-lists

inshore ireland April/May 2015 13

Inshore Ireland and its publishers do not accept responsibility for the veracity of claims made by contributors. While every care is taken to ensure accuracy of information, we do not accept responsibility for any errors, or matters arising from same. Contact the editor at mills@inshore-ireland.com.

Marine litter and seabirds Heidi Acampora, GMIT

P

lastics could be termed the ‘invention of the century’. They can be moulded into any shape, are lightweight, durable and most importantly: cheap. Plastics are less than 100-years-old and we don’t seem to be able to live without them.

Plastic production is growing at a fast rate; a recent study shows that coastal cities input at least 8 million tons of plastics into the ocean per year (Jambeck et al., 2015).

But why are we putting plastics into the ocean? Plastics are ubiquitous in the world’s oceans; they are buoyant and they travel with currents. Marine litter could have its origin on land, with litter thrown on streets being carried by wind, rain, river discharges and snow melt. Or it could be originated at sea, with litter disposed improperly by fishing, shipping, recreational boats and platforms.

Marine animal impact By being so durable, plastics decompose very slowly. All plastics ever produced are still in the environment, in one form or another; however they do break down into smaller pieces and become more widespread and more accessible to marine species.

At least 693 species of marine animals are reported to be impacted by marine litter (Gall et al., 2015) which is primarily composed of plastics.

Entanglement and ingestion are the most common cases.

Species can become trapped in debris and lose their ability to search for food, or they can be severely injured. Small pieces of plastics could be mistaken for food as they might resemble prey items. As plastics cannot provide nutrition, animals can feel satiated and still die of starvation.

We have become a plastic dependent society and have used it at such a rate that although oceans are so vast, input of litter into our waters has become a clear and very visible problem.

According to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive under the descriptor 10, ‘Properties and quantities of marine litter should not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment’. The Directive is a piece of legislation that EU member states must comply with. Due to this descriptor, we are required to monitor the abundance and distribution of litter in the marine environment.

There are several types of marine litter and these can cause a variety of impacts. Some North Sea countries (e.g. Holland, Belgium and Germany) use the Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) to monitor the amount of plastics at sea. A target has been set regarding the acceptable amount of plastics to be found in fulmars’ stomachs.

Seabirds are good monitors as they spend most of their lives at sea, coming ashore only to breed.

The amount of plastic found in the birds’ stomachs is used as an index to measure the abundance of litter at sea. By monitoring these birds, it has become clear that plastics can be more readily available than the food birds would be accustommed to eating.

Ireland’s Beached Bird Survey is an initiative to establish the monitoring of marine litter in Irish waters through seabirds. It is a network of volunteers that regularly walk Irish beaches and collect beached birds carcasses for marine litter research.

We are trying to engage citzens and relevant institutions to care for the environment.

Although Ireland is a relatively clean country, oceans have no boundaries, and debris travels worldwide making it a global issue.

Regrettably the message ‘Do not litter’ is not enough anymore and we continue to severely damage the marine environment.

This must be addressed now before it is too late.

The Beached Bird Survey is being conducted by myself through GMIT and volunteers and is supported by the Department of Environment, Communications and Local Government.

If you would like to participate or have found a beached bird carcass, please contact me at heidi. acampora@research.gmit.ie

Further information: http://plastictides.wordpress.com

Heidi Acampora is a PhD researcher at GMIT Marine and Freshwater Research Centre. Her research focuses on policy compliant monitoring for marine litter. She has been involved in marine litter research and its impacts on biota in Australia and Brazil, where she co-founded the Brazilian Marine Litter Association. In Ireland, she is responsible for the Beached Bird Survey.

Opposite Page: North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia.

Photo Heidi Acampora

Above: Dún Laoghaire Harbour, Co Dublin.

Above right & right: Wexford coastline.

Photo Heidi Acampora

Below:

Bahia State, Northeast Brazil.

Photo Global Garbage

14 inshore ireland April/May 2015

aquaculture

Visit to local swine farm in Raoping, Chaozhou, Guangdong province China with the Ocean Harvest Team San Chau, COO left; Dr Stefan Kraan (middle) and sales agent Kent Ngai far right, with the farmers/owners.

On the pig’s back…

Stefan Kraan Ocean harvest Technology Ltd

W

orldwide health institutions such as the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) for Enteric Bacteria or the EU Commission are increasingly concerned about human antibiotic resistance.

Tightening restrictions on the use of antibiotic growth promoters or a proposed complete ban and mounting consumer pressure on food safety along with changing consumer preference have led to the search for natural alternatives to replace antibiotics.

In view of a continuous expansion of intensive pig farming of well-over 100 million tonnes of pork in 2009 (FAO, 2011), this is the fastest-growing sector in

world food production. But certain chemical additives and other key ingredients in the diets of swine, along with a decline in availability and increasing costs has created the need for alternate sources for the swine industry.

With the current trend set to continue, an urgent need has arisen to use alternative and sustainable feed ingredients and antibiotic replacements. Seaweeds in this case can form part of the answer!

Pioneering swine seaweed feed Ocean Harvest Technology is a pioneering company using seaweeds in animal feed and has been looking at replacing these chemicals with a healthy natural alternative i.e., specific tailor-made macroalgae mixes. The company has had some recent success, notably in the Guangdong province in China - the land

were 50% of global pork production takes place.

The concept developed

by OHT is based on providing a Eubiotic - a mix of macroalgae called Oceanfeed™ that act as a gut flora modulator, a prebiotic and an immune modulator. The mode of action makes the pig healthier by stimulating at a low level the immune system; maintaining gut integrity while affecting the gut flora, and providing a better gut environment so that the pig is more efficient in nutrient uptake.

This means better nutrient absorption due to a preserved intestinal integrity; better feed utilisation and less energy spend on large-scale immune response by modulating the responses.

This will ultimately result in better production, better return on investment and a way to save on nutrients.

Extensive trials with the University of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and the State University of Luzon in the Philippines, followed by commercial trials in China, have confirmed the effects mentioned and have helped to fine-tune the application which depending on the life stage, ranges from 0.5% up to 1.5% inclusion levels of Oceanfeed™ swine.

Outcome Besides a 40-50% reduction in mortality, we observed shortening of fattening days; increased fertility, higher milk production in sows and

Green seaweeds can be a healthy alternative for undesirable ingredients in pigfeed an extra piglet per litter.

Trials in the Philippines showed in the piglet stage that Oceanfeed™ swine outcompeted the standard feed that included various antibiotics and growth promotors not presented in the experimental feed with Oceanfeed™. Previous trials in Canada showed that common antibiotics like tetracycline and amoxicillin can be 100% replaced with Oceanfeed™ swine.

On top of this it seems that the addition of seaweed lowers the overall fat on the pig’s back and produces

more lean meat while not affecting the unsaturated fats; on the contrary we observed a relative increase in Omega 3 fatty acids for example - something that we have proven and published for salmon in the European Journal of lipid Research in 2014.

Looking at global growth and food production, pork production can only further increase; however with global bacterial resistance and a complete ban on using in-feed antibiotics, seaweed has a promising role to play in the swine industry.

inshore ireland April/May 2015 15

freshwater focus - angling and salmon report

Lough Currane: phenomenal and unique Brendan Connolly

T

he Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of Ireland is incredibly beautiful.

Encircling it is the famous Ring of Kerry ― a route draped like a necklace around its edge with a series of stunning views along its length as its jewels.

There is however so much more to this amazing region. On its west coast, tucked in at the foot of the mountains and with a river of a few hundred metres flowing into Ballinskelligs Bay, lies Lough Currane.

Beautiful, atmospheric, its islands with ancient monastic settlements, this lake is as evocative as the rest of the peninsula. Lough Currane is moderate in size, approximately 3.5 miles long by 2 miles wide, but its size belies its huge significance to Irish sport angling.

In addition to its fine salmon run, starting in February with spring salmon of over 15lbs, it is unique in Ireland because of its phenomenal seatrout population.

Specimen seatrout lake

Year after year, more than 75% of specimen seatrout caught in Ireland are caught in Lough Currane. Keeping in mind that specimen weight for seatrout is 6lbs, Lough Currane accounted for three specimen seatrout of over 6lbs; two over 7lbs; five over 8lbs, and two over 11lbs during the 2014 season.

In contrast, the sum total in 2014 for specimen seatrout caught in the rest of Ireland was one seatrout of 9.91lb. This illustrates the

truly phenomenal nature of Lough Currane’s seatrout.

Attracted by Lough Currane’s allure, a group of anglers journeyed there for some September seatrout fishing. The day started with a nice breeze and one angler commenced by casting wetflies, including the Bibio as recommended for this lake, along with various Claret flies.

The second angler decided to try dapping, using daddy longlegs. The anglers drifted between the islands and along the rocky shores, luxuriating in this fantastic setting.

Closer to the shore, some small trout splashed at the dapped daddy longlegs, and the wet flies attracted a couple of boils, but no trout were caught. Lunchtime approached, the day got warmer, and the wind dropped. The two anglers rendezvoused with the other for a leisurely lunch on one of the islands.

Mirror image

After lunch the anglers were faced with a glassy calm lake where the mountains and shores formed perfect mirror images on the water surface.

In the absence of wind, the anglers decided to troll. The first angler cast out sideways and allowed the cast of flies sweep back in a curve to then slowly retrieve and cast out sideways again as the second angler slowly rowed the boat.

Time went by without a sign of a fish but then the first angler suddenly exclaimed.

He saw a large swirl at his flies as he cast out from the boat.

The first angler rowed around so they could cover the same spot again. And again just off a series of rocks, a large swirl erupted beneath the flies.

Again they turned the boat.

It was on the third time of

MHI’s Clare Island salmon farm shore-base at Achill Island. Photo G Mills

passing this spot when not only did they see the swirl but the fish took, and the fly-rod bent over in a tight arch.

The reel zipped as the fish accelerated away from the rocks. Down it went into deeper water. This certainly was no tiddler!

Ireland can build on salmon farming’s global success

A

Full-stretch fly line

report published by the International Salmon Farmers’ Association (March16) at the annual Boston Seafood Expo describes in detail the positive socio-economic impact of salmon farming worldwide.

The report includes “scientifically-supported facts” showing the sector’s global employment, environment and food contribution. Specific case studies include Clare Island sea-farm – the world’s longest-established organically certified salmon farm.

“When you examine the facts, the conclusion that salmon farming is ‘efficient, sustainable and vitally important for communities’ is indisputable,” says Richie Flynn, Irish Salmon Growers’ Association.

“Ireland reflects the global success with our marketfocused farming while operating in coastal areas that would otherwise have been left to wither and die.”

Despite small production levels, “Ireland has been a leader since the early days of sea farming and our members are responsible for many innovations such as off-shore and organic farming techniques. We can be proud of our contribution to this remarkable industry, but more importantly we can bring more of that success home with a focused effort by government,” he added.

The fly line was at full stretch and the fish swam at depth in a semi-circle around the boat. Slowly the distance between the fish and the boat decreased, and the silver flash white belly of a 4-5lbs seatrout could be seen below the surface.

Carefully the seatrout was worked back to the boat again. While Lough Currane is famous for its large seatrout, a seatrout like this is always a special event - particularly on a windless day like this.

So, care was taken in playing this fish close to the boat a couple more times, and eventually it came to the surface and turned on its side.

The second angler slid the landing net under the large seatrout and the first angler put down his rod and took his eye off the net. The second angler was watching the net as it was lifting and could not believe his eyes that it was empty!

He dipped the net back into the water to see if the fish would miraculously reappear but the net stayed empty.

The two anglers wordlessly stared at each other, and at the net, willing the seatrout to reappear. Close examination showed a hole in the side of the net through which the fish had escaped.

Subsequently the second angler invested in a new landing net, the two anglers continue to fish together and this event has not been forgotten.

Standard endorsement As Ireland’s aquaculture industry waits news on clear governmental support for licencing, recent announcements by Marine Harvest Ireland of plans to invest €22m to secure jobs, and of receiving the first ever WWF-Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification “shows the sector is committed to a long-term future in Ireland,” Flynn contends.

“We need the tools to produce enough product for the marketplace, instead of turning away customers who want Irish fish. We need to have a consistent supply all-year-round and the kind of modern licencing arrangements that encourage efficiency.

We need a better educated bureaucracy and a stronger link between policy aspirations and actual delivery of services.”

Flynn added that the IFA has been calling for that link to be-established “for the last 12 months to rebalance the slow, unfocused inertia that has dominated official interaction in Ireland towards aquaculture. I hope decision-makers read this report carefully and consider not why we haven’t capitalised on the success of the global salmon revolution, but how we do so into the future.”

For a copy of the report, visit www.salmonfarming. org/events/14-8-billionmeals-and-121000-jobs/ attachment/isfa-final-reportmarch-16-2015/

FEBRUARY/MARCH COMPETITION WINNERS The

of the ‘real-life’ experience ’ link between and the ‘deskbound “… the missing by climate change ive considerations are the people affected s of bottomplans and administrat the practicalitie reality in which text captures well failure of democratic formulated. The situation and the citizens. for the safety of up needs in a hazardous causes. ive systems to provide and administrat an acute dissection of the underlyingin which way The tale rests upon essential in documenting the is this like A book manifests itself.” ‘the disconnect’ President of An Taisce NUI Maynooth and Prof John Sweeney,

of 2014

Climate Change edness and a case of Unprepar

Martin Kay

About the Author

and educated in born in Ceylon Martin Kay was holds a PhD and Ireland. He Scotland, England his home is of Limerick and from the University in coastal special interest lies in the County. His the maritime tradition. communities and

w w w.originalwritin

Lim er ick Flood

Flood of 2014 The Limeric k

ess ion and unpreparedn exposé of disorganisatnarrative, ‘home truths’ This is a gripping hit Limerick. Its when climate change engage a wide audience. will and explanations

set down “… what was actually in Limerick seems of in official reports charade, a piece to have been a …” ridiculous pretence g.ie

Martin Kay

Seatrout perfection

MARTIN KAY THE LIMERICK FLOOD OF 2014 Joe Heron, Golden Lane, Dublin 8 Mary Marshall, Knockboy, Waterford

Congratulations to all our competition winners

16 inshore ireland April/May 2015

Marine R&D 2

1

4

3

5

6

1: Data obtained during the Celtic Voyager sea trials; 2: Celtic Explorer in Falmouth dry-dock; 3: Celtic Voyager at dry-dock in Killybegs; 4: EM2040C sonar head ready for final placement on the Granuaile; 5: Celtic Explorer back from another successful sea trial; 6: Last Tx transducer ready to be lifted in to place.

Enhancing Ireland’s hydrographic capabilities Fraser Lawson Subsea Acoustics Engineer, Kongsberg Maritime

2

014 was a productive year for hydrographic installations in Ireland. Kongsberg Maritime successfully installed an EM2040, shallow water multibeam sonar system on two vessels: Granuaile and RV Celtic Voyager. In addition, EM2040 and EM302 multibeam systems were installed on RV Celtic Explorer in early 2015.

The Commissioners of Irish Lights’ vessel, Granuaile, opted for the EM2040C dual-sonar head option, which provides a significant upgrade to its shallow water multibeam performance.

The vessel is now capable of conducting hydrographic work that requires a high degree of accuracy. The system is capable of surveying up to 10 times the water depth on flat bottoms with up to 200º angular coverage.

Considerable effort was put in to achieving the correct installation angles for the dual 2040C heads. Kongsberg Maritime’s installation requirements were met in the end with some precise welding.

The Marine Institute’s vessel,

Celtic Voyager, now supports a full EM2040 system with dual Rx transducers. This new system provides the capability to produce very high accuracy, high resolution surveys in shallow to mid water depths down to around 600m.

Both the EM2040 and EM2040c systems operate between 200 and 400 KHz so can be used to meet a variety of different survey requirement, from close inspection work to full bathymetry survey. The Dual Rx option offers very generous swath coverage of up to 200º with up to 800 soundings per ping.

The Celtic Voyager installation was completed in March 2014 and has proved a successful upgrade from the Kongsberg EM3002 system originally installed. Later in the year, the installation was upgraded to utilise the new Kongsberg Maritime slim processing units for EM2040, a more optimised solution.

Celtic Explorer installation

The Marine Institute’s RV Celtic Explorer went in to dry dock in Falmouth late in 2014 to complete the installation of the EM302 deep-water multibeam system. A new EM2040 shallow water system was also installed, which will be used as an exchangeable system between the drop-keel and the Institute’s Holland 1 ROV. Installation of the deepwater system can prove to

be technically challenging as the system needs to be aligned precisely and surveyed to a very high degree of accuracy. BluePix surveyors did excellent work alongside Kongsberg Maritime to ensure that the transducer module frames were in specification flatness as well as completing an overall dimensional control survey for the entire system.

Care also needed to be taken to ensure a smooth flow of water beneath the transducer arrays. It is paramount to the operation of the echo sounder that there is no aeration beneath the transducers, as an air bubble can throw off any acoustic transmission and would ultimately cause loss of bottom detection. In order to aid the flow of water, some welds were made to fair off sharp edges forward of the transducer arrays.

External sensors play an important role in any high accuracy multibeam system.

The Celtic Explorer was fitted with the latest KONGSBERG Seapath 330+ and MRU 5+ interfaced with RTCM differential corrections.

The high precision of these sensors aid the system’s overall performance, and allow it to meet the most stringent survey requirements.

Celtic Explorer Sea Trials

The EM302, 30 kHz multibeam echo sounder is designed to perform seabed mapping with high resolution and accuracy

to a maximum depth of 7,000 m. It represents a major improvement from previous models by offering significantly larger swath width, improved data density and greatly improved resolution.

Sea trials for all of the new systems on RV Celtic Explorer were carried out

by Kongsberg Maritime in February 2015 with aid of the expert consultancy of Prof John Hughes Clark, University of New Brunswick.

Deep-water trials were carried out off the Atlantic shelf, south of Ireland, while shallow water trials were carried out south of Cork.

The dimensional control values were verified with standard roll, pitch, heading and latency calibrations in various water depths, ranging from 400m-4.5km.

The system was thoroughly tested in a range of different survey conditions. During the transit back to Ireland, the new multibeam systems were run in synchronisation with the old EM1002 that was still in place. Comparisons between the systems showed the vast improvement of the deep and shallow water survey capabilities.

The Marine Institute already has extensive plans to utilise the new system which includes mapping the deep Atlantic while on transit from Canada to Ireland before summer.

In addition, the EM302 will be used to support ROV surveys led by the University

College Cork. These surveys will also utilise the EM2040 shallow water system, which will be transferred to the Marine Institute’s Holland 1 ROV, for close inspection work in both downward deployment and forward facing for vertical inspection.

The system’s detailed water column acquisition will be put to good use to identify hydro thermal vents on the Reykjanes Ridge south of Iceland for a survey project taking place later in the year.

The diverse capability of the system is shown through the variety of applications that the Marine Institute supports, including a PHD programme commencing this year that will use multibeam water column data in support of fishery research.

In addition to these upgrades, RV Celtic Explorer underwent an upgrade to its sub-bottom profiler by installing a new system capable of operating in depths of up to 6,000m. The variety of systems available on RV Celtic Explorer are complimented with a new K-Sync synchronisation as an upgrade to the previous SSU system to allow operation of various systems simultaneously.

Overall, the last few years have been exciting for the hydrographic industry in Ireland. These new deliveries from Kongsberg Maritime add to Ireland’s inventory of well-equipped survey vessels.

inshore ireland April/May 2015 17

Marine R&D

RV Celtic Explorer’s capability extended to deep-water ocean exploration

David O’Sullivan, Marine Institute

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ver the New Year, INFOMAR helped oversee the installation and trial of a new suite of hydrographic and geophysical sonar systems aboard Ireland’s largest multipurpose scientific research vessel, R.V. Celtic Explorer (see also pg 16).

The high specification instrumentation ensures that the Marine Institute and INFOMAR continue to provide deep-water ocean exploration, hydrographic and geophysical capabilities to underpin research and resource management in Irish waters and elsewhere.

The new systems extend the mapping range of the vessel from 600 to 6,000m water depth, and will underpin a range of activities including hydrographic mapping for vessel navigation or deep-sea ROV deployment, through to fisheries habitat mapping and stock assessments.

Marine Institute; Geological Survey of Ireland; Kongsberg Maritime; University of New Brunswick (Prof. John Hughes Clarke), UCC; IXBlue and P&O Maritime. The capabilities and limitations of the new equipment were fully assessed during the comprehensive Sea Acceptance Trials in seas of up to 15m and deep waters off Ireland’s south coast and into the Bay of Biscay.

Performance tests conducted during a transit from Cork to the Bay of Biscay, in water depths ranging 50-4,500m demonstrated the real potential and quality of the EM302 mapping system.

The system manufacturing, installation and alignment complexity, vessel hydrodynamics, and ship noise are but a few issues that can give rise to huge complications in achieving a system installation to required specification, sometimes resulting in further dry-docks, and in extreme cases vessel redesign and modification.

Thankfully the EM302 multibeam was deemed “a great system on a great ship” by Prof.

John Hughes Clarke, worldrenowned multibeam expert from the University of New Brunswick.

Fisheries & remote sensing research activity INFOMAR continually supports the development of integrated scientific research, and the systems will be extensively used during various fisheries acoustic surveys. Ciaran O’Donnell - a specialist in fisheries acoustic research with Fisheries Ecosystem Advisory Services at the Marine

Institute has just begun a PhD research project that will link fisheries and seabed mapping acoustic technologies.

By using both technologies, he aims to learn more about how fish behave during acoustic surveys and therefore increase the precision of fish stock assessments. Specifically, Ciaran will use the acoustic technology to study the aggregation morphology and vessel avoidance behaviour of pelagic fish species.

The fisheries calibrated EK60 sonar will provide vertical profile estimate of biomass, augmented by 3D water column data derived from the new multibeam sonars.

INFOMAR is generating integrated datasets for sustainable marine resource management, and recently expanding its

marine scientists, educators, environmental agencies, policy makers and industry.

Education and outreach As part of their Education and Outreach Development Programme, INFOMAR recently welcomed transition-year students to the Marine Institute. The students learned about hydrographic surveys, and how seabed mapping relates to the fishing industry, and underpins evolving sectors like ocean energy.

The INFOMAR material will form a component of the Marine Institute run Transition Year oneweek pilot course at the end of April, during which 20 students will get an insight into marine science and seabed mapping.

Jack Lillis (Gort Community School) presenting to Infomar staff at the Marine Institute

New survey systems Installation began in late December 2014 as part of an extensive re-fit in the A&P yard in Falmouth (UK), under the supervision of P&O Maritime (Ireland). The dry-dock priority was installation of a state-of-theart Kongsberg EM302 multibeam system, providing full ocean depth (6000m) seabed and water column mapping capability, to underpin Phase 2 of the 20-year INFOMAR programme.

Installation of an IXSEA Echoes deepwater sub-bottom profiler will facilitate cross section imaging of near surface sediments - a requirement for engineering, slope stability studies, or cable route design.

Sea trials Extensive sea trials (February 16–24) were overseen by a team of acoustics, mapping, fisheries and engineering technical experts from the

satellite remote sensing capacity.

An upcoming event will see the launch of a suite of time-series products focussing on annual sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a levels. These data will support a wide variety of users and applications, as well as increase scientific and operational output for oceanographic satellite measurements.

The scale of the data allows for a comprehensive ecosystembased approach to study climate change, and the influence of the environment on species distribution and abundance. The new products will be presented

by Gema Casal of INFOMAR at the 36th International Symposium for Remote Sensing of the Environment (May 11-15, Berlin). Potential users include

RV Celtic Explorer dry-docked in Falmouth

18 inshore ireland April/May 2015

Marine R&D

Explorers Marine Education Programme visits Lifetime Lab in Cork The Lifetime Lab team talk to students about the size of Ireland’s marine territory and its amazing resources.

A selection of marine species typically found in Irish waters, are shown at the touch table during the Explorers Education Programme workshop held at Lifetime Lab, Cork.

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ver 900 primary school students experienced the wonders of Irish marine at Lifetime Lab, Cork during March 2-13 where they participated in the Explorers Education Programme workshops.

By inspiring students’ interest in the marine through the Explorers programme, teachers are able to easily include marine-themed lessons based on the Irish curriculum already taught in national schools

The pupils learned about marine animals and plants living in Irish waters, and took part in water experiments involving water pressure; the power of the sea; creating submarines and periscopes, as well as learning about the Real Map of Ireland which illustrates Ireland’s marine territory and resources.

“We are delighted to partner with the Marine Institute for the Explorers series of workshops, as we are always looking for new and innovative ways of engaging students in science education. Raising the awareness of marine science to Cork classrooms can only bring long term benefits,” remarked Mervyn Horgan, manager of Lifetime Lab. “We perceive the Lifetime Lab as an extra classroom for every school in the city and county - a science nursery for institutions whose high level graduates ensure that Cork has a well-educated and highly skilled workforce long into the future,” he added.

Capturing young imaginations

“The Explorers programme focuses on Ireland’s two greatest resources: our young

people and our vast marine territory. By inspiring students’ interest in the marine through the Explorers programme, teachers are able to easily include marine-themed lessons based on the Irish curriculum already taught in national schools,” remarked Cushla Dromgool-Regan, of the Marine Institute.

“Ireland is on its journey of realising the benefits of a thriving marine sector, and by engaging students’ interest at a young age, we hope it will encourage them to consider some of the exciting wide range of careers in the marine - especially through some of Ireland’s modern marine research centres around the country.”

The Explorers Education Programme brings the excitement of the sea into the classroom and has already been successfully rolled out to twelve schools in the greater Dublin and Wicklow areas, as well as reaching ninety primary schools in Mayo, Galway, Clare and Sligo during the 2014/15 school year. The Cork project is a collaborative effort between the Marine Institute, Galway Atlantaquaria and Lifetime Lab. Further information and lesson plans are available www.explorers.ie.

For information about Explorer workshops contact Lifetime Lab on 021 4941500 or visit www.lifetimelab.ie

Aaron McCarthy and his friends from Scoil Mhuire Lourdes, Carrigaline, Co Cork take part in a number of water experiments.

Naomi O’Sullivan of Scoil an Athar Maitiú, Togher, learns about a range of Irish seashore animals on display in the Explorer aquariums during the workshop held at Lifetime Lab.

Roan Lyne, Darragh Deane and Eric Ryan,Scoil Mhuire Lourdes, Carrigaline, Co Cork learn about a range of marine species including sharks, whales and starfish to name a few, at the touch table.

Photographs by Clare Keogh

inshore ireland April/May 2015 19

Marine R&D

Transition year students learn about mapping Ireland’s seabed

Jack Lillis from Gort Community School gives a presentation about his Transition experience at the Marine Institute

J

ack Lillis, Aoife Muldoon and Emily Egan recently completed transition year placements hosted

by INFOMAR at the Marine Institute. They learned how seabed mapping can improve safety at sea; how it relates to the fishing industry, and how it can help the development of sectors like ocean energy.

Each student spent a week visiting the various Marine Institute facilities, learning about the different activities of the Institute. At the end of their experience, each student created a ‘story map’ and power-point presentation to show what they achieved during their placements.

Aoife Muldoon & Emily Egan of St Brigid’s Vocational School, Loughrea, explained they had learned more about what a career

Aoife Muldoon and Emily Egan St. Brigid’s Vocational School, Loughrea get to see the work that takes place on the RV Celtic Explorer in marine science means.

“It’s a hugely interesting area of science that we don’t learn about in school.

We especially enjoyed our visit to the research vessel RV Celtic Explorer, seeing its multibeam system; learning about seabed mapping and how this information improves the admiralty charts so that vessels and ships can safely visit ports.

We also learned how seabed mapping relates to the

fishing industry and helps sectors like ocean energy; this was of particular interest to us,” they explained.

Marine interlinks

The students also got to see how seabed mapping; fisheries; the laboratories and all the different areas interlink. “We now have a much better idea of what subjects to pick for Leaving Cert!”

Jack Lillis from Gort

Community School added he was particularly interested with the laboratory work.

“Everybody had something lined up for me to do so I was kept really busy, which was great. Over all I really enjoyed my week in the Marine Institute and I’m a glad I chose it for my first week of work experience.

“It was a good way to see a working environment but has also encouraged me to pursue a career in marine-related chemistry. Thanks so much to Tommy, Vera, the Advanced Mapping Services team and staff at the Marine Institute for taking time out of their busy day to facilitate me.”

The Marine Institute will run a transition year course placement for interested students, on a pilot basis, at the end of April. Places will be limited to 20 students.

For more information see our website www.marine.ie INFOMAR is Ireland’s national seabed mapping programme carried out jointly by the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute.

Galway Bay to become world–class test site for ocean energy

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his month, in a major enhancement of the Galway Bay Ocean Energy Test Site, a four kilometre power and data cable will be installed on the seabed, connecting the test site to the shore in Spiddal, Co Galway.

This is part of a programme to develop the Galway Bay Ocean Energy Test site which includes installation of sensors and environmental monitoring equipment on the seabed at the cable end, and a floating ‘sea station’ to provide additional power to and dissipate power from ocean energy converters and provide high-speed data transmission for real-time monitoring.

“Ireland has one of the best offshore renewable energy resources in the world and the opportunities to harness the power of the ocean are immense,” remarked Peter Heffernan,

CEO Marine Institute.

“The new facilities at the site will give companies and researchers working to capture and convert the immense power of the ocean a unique opportunity to test and validate innovate technology and get unlimited real-time data on their performance in the ocean.”

The cable will be floated ashore in April from the Celtic Explorer research vessel, marking a major milestone in the development of this important national research and development infrastructure.

A variety of instrument nodes and sensor packages will be installed at the Galway Bay Ocean Energy Test Site this summer. They are designed to contribute to marine sectors including aquaculture, environmental monitoring, shipping, security and education.

Extensive historical wave

and weather data has been available for this site since 2008 and is available to potential device developers.

The new research infrastructure will make Galway Bay a unique, world-class ocean energy test site and promote the creation of an indigenous cluster of research and industrial technology development and testing capabilities, and support the commercialisation of environmental technologies and marine renewable energy.

The project, funded by Science Foundation Ireland, is a collaboration between the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, the Marine Institute, the Marine Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) and SmartBay Ireland.

More information on the project will be available at www.marine.ie and www. oceanenergyireland.com

Spiddal New Pier located in Galway Test Site

Artist illustration of the Galway Bay Ocean Energy Test Site

20 inshore ireland April/May 2015

Crow’s Nest

Photos: Gary McMahon

Ireland’s last traditional sailing ship tacks ever closer to the sea Anthony Keane Order of St Benedict

P

lank by plank and celebration by celebration Ilen inches ever closer to the sea.

Built in Baltimore in 1926 and delivered to the Falklands by Conor O’Brien and Cadogans Denis and Con, she felt the Furious Fifties for seventy years, telling to the Southern Cross her sad tale of woes, until brought back to Ireland by Gary McMahon in 1997.

Regaining her strength and waxing fat in the Corn Store in Liam Hegarty’s boatyard in Oldcourt, her shivered oak frames replaced and newly planked with magnificent Bavarian larch fixed with bronze from Pete Langley’s Port Townsend Foundry, she moves again irresistibly to the sea.

Whiskey plank in place

The final bronze fastening was driven home, the final whiskey plank secured, and the deel sealed by marine minister Simon Coveney on February 16 2015. What lies between now and open water is finishing the deck.

In the meantime, in association with completing the work on Ilen, other smaller craft are born: a new fleet of nine Gandelowes for the Shannon Estuary and elsewhere, and a set of four newly-designed Limerick City 1 sailing dinghies already stir the waters.

of the stars at night: Some sailed to the sea in ships, to trade on the mighty waters; These men have seen the Lord’s deeds and the wonders He does in the deep, Tossing the waves up to Heaven and down into the deep.

The ships are moving there and the monsters he made to play with.

- Psalm 106 There is also the ongoing task and delight of developing and transmitting traditional ways of engaging with the sea, by building magic shaped shifting ships, by leading an essentially land creature like an oak tree to the water to transform it into a sea creature.

Watching a sailing ship, we live a Trinitarian moment of creation and form interplay that unites sun and air; sea and sky, and plays on the surface of the deep.

Thus the song of Amergin - one of Ireland’s early sea coming sailors - delighted in the deep constancy that lurks beneath the surface of constant change.

I am Wind on Sea...

Ocean Wave... Roar of Sea...Lake on Plain...

Voyages of discovery

The ongoing task, the on-going play, of giving expression in our own time to Ireland’s impressive remnants of boat building and boat

handling traditions, and of giving them contemporary forms that will endure into the future, continues.

The goal of rebuilding the cultural interface between the country and its marine environment comes, asymptotically ever nearer to realisation; the release of the magnificence and munificence of our natural and built navigational inheritance becomes ever more realisable.

Boats allow people to discover with piety the noble traditions of their forbearers, as well as opening them to the influence of the liberating and exhilarating elemental forces that surround us.

Indeed, at Hegarty’s in Old Court, we have stumbled on an ancient cult.

Working under the front of a commercial operation, Liam and John Hegarty, together with the brilliant Fachtna O’Sullivan, with blows swift sweet and true, transform dead materials into living beings, with all the delight and ease of those who have been here before and found the resonance of deep buried forces and powers of creation.

remake and re-enactment of the Book of Invasions – Leabhair Gabhala Eireann.

Ireland from the sea is so fatally beautiful that our noble ancestors fell for her, drawn by the magnetic fields of her shores. This is a beauty that Ilen hopes to share with many countless sailors, young and old, virtual and real, vicariously and directly, present and represented, at home and abroad.

The beauty of pre-Celtic and Celtic mythology, sung to the rhythm of tide and wave, stills the storms of the heart to a whisper till the roars of the sea are hushed.

We shall visit the kingdoms of Niamh and Oisin; find the fifty splendid maiden companions of Cesair,

the

crow's nest

granddaughter of Noah who arrived here with only three men between them, before two of those men died and the third fled in terror to Tonn Tinne near Loch Derg by Killaloe.

We shall hear the thunder of Inish Glora and the Maelstroms of Moyle, and visit the Tower of Broegan among the wonders of the earthly world. Which wonders? We shall raise her sails and let the winds blow as they will.

The future

Fully restored, Ilen will again sail the seas. Having gone nine waves and more from the shore, it will return to rediscover Ireland, retaking her in a

All decked out’: Liam Hegarty, Minister Simon Coveney, Gary McMahon and Noel Harrington TD

Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track Was a flash of golden fire The task on hand, the on-going play, is a perennial one, that of celebrating the magnificence of the ocean and the beauty

Rear Admiral Mark Mellett DSM and Minister for Defence Simon Coveney secure the whiskey plank

Photo: Anne Minihane

inshore ireland April/May 2015 21

Coastline News

Seaweed cutters united in opposition to ‘exclusive’ harvesting in Clew Bay Gery Flynn

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ollowing its inaugural meeting in January, the local association formed to oppose the granting of exclusive seaweed harvesting rights in Clew Bay to BioAtlantis Ltd, pledged it would seek consensus among relevant stakeholders and government to secure their right to continue harvesting seaweed on a sustainable basis It also stated its aims and objectives would be: • to provide a co-ordinated group response to any application for rights to exclusively cut seaweed grown in Clew Bay • to assist cutters in making individual applications for Foreshore Licenses • to explore with government management systems and

strategies in order to achieve a sustainable harvesting plan for Ascophyllum nodosum and other seaweed varieties in the Clew Bay area.

Disquiet has been growing among traditional seaweed cutters on the west coast following the takeover last year of Arramara Teoranta by Acadian Seaplants of Canada, and the recent revelation that biotechnology company, BioAtlantis Ltd has applied for a ten-year exclusive licence to harvest Ascophyllum in Clew Bay. Newport-based press relations officer for the Clew Bay Seaweed Association, John Loftus, told Inshore Ireland it was “the injustice of selective implementation of licensing legislation” which was at the heart of his members’ concern for the seaweed resource of the west coast.

“Longstanding unlicensed harvesting activity has resulted in the development of a traditional industry that now has no rights.

Unlicensed seaweed harvesting is on a significant scale. The

simultaneous consideration of a major, exclusive licence, to one operator compounds this injustice, and we believe it will carry unacceptable risks to public order when the applicant’s employees try to enforce new licensed rights on traditional cutters.”

John Lambe, chairperson of the Clew Bay Seaweed Association added it was “the exclusivity aspect” of this approach to a sustainable natural resource that the members found most offensive.

Lambe however described as “productive” a meeting in February between CBSA and Ministers Michael Ring and Paudie Coffey and Deputy Sean Kyne TD. “Our aim was to make these politicians and their officials aware of the traditional practices regarding seaweed cutting in Clew Bay and in South Connemara. As a result, we now feel they are well aware that people have been cutting seaweed

for generations in areas where others are now applying to be allowed harvest it exclusively.”

As to the legality of folios and traditional rights of harvesting, John Lambe said that issues about entitlement had been resolved at the meeting.

“That was very significant because there were some doubts as to whether harvesting entitlements attached to folios were in fact valid. If it’s on your folio then that fact will be recognised by the minister. That’s the way it was put to us.

“I would take it from that they may not have to apply for a licence in that particular area, but of course that would have to be confirmed by the department.

The minister and his staff were quite surprised at the level of activity we could demonstrate in Clew Bay. If we succeeded in getting that message across, then that was a successful outcome as far as we’re concerned,” Lambe explained.

John Loftus added it would

be “an unacceptable risk to the wellbeing of Clew Bay and the surrounding community” if licensing of the total seaweed resource was applied to a single entity that had no proven record of managing a natural resource of such a large size.

“The reference made by the applicant to existing commercial and leisure activities in Clew Bay is inaccurate. In fact, measurement of the existing resource by the applicant appears to have been made on the basis of a brief boat trip around the bay.

“We also believe that the total resource is not as extensive as they have claimed, and they make no reference either to the methodology regarding the movement of large volumes of weed through the bay and the associated risks of such movements.

“Neither do they make reference to the potential impact on the existing shore facilities of an annual seaweed harvest of 1,200 tonnes,” he concluded.

22 inshore ireland April/May 2015

Outside Ireland

A constant struggle - Chile’s artisanal fishers’ movement Brian O’Riordan, ICSF

T

he history of Chile’s artisanal fishery social movement and its heritage is the subject of a new book: Movimiento Social de Pescadores Artesanales de Chile; Historia y organización de la defensa del mar chileno (The Chilean Artisanal Fishers’ Social Movement: the story and organization of the defence of the Chilean sea).

The book traces the development of the artisanal fisheries organisational movement from the 1950s to 2010, highlighting its social and political importance as told through the voices of those who were part of it.

The book describes how the movement has become formalised and structured over the last four decades, into local, regional and national level organisations - actively engaged in fisheries management; sitting at the negotiating with the ‘traditional enemy’; the industrial sector, and incorporated into formal policy-decision, taking structures, such as the Zonal, Regional and National Fisheries Councils.

Nowhere would it seem are artisanal fishers more organised than in Chile.

According to the Artisanal Fishery Register compiled

by Chile’s National Fishery Service – SERNAPESCA ― as of December 31, 2014, were 1,131 artisanal fishery organisations, with 46,521 members, 8,753 women and 37,768 men.

Official register

The AFR also notes a total of 91,632 registered fishers; 21,232 fisherwomen and 70,400 fishermen, highlighting that just over 50% of registered artisanal fishers belong to recognised artisanal fishing organisations.

And nowhere are fishery activities so diverse, with fishers categorised as seaweed harvesters (algueros); divers (buzos) – mainly for shellfish; vessel owners (armadores) or fishers (pescadores).

Organisations include those established along trade union lines – the ‘sindicatos’; associations or guilds (‘gremial associations’); cooperatives and companies (limited liability or joint stock). These in turn are associated into regional federations and national confederations.

Today there are at least

three organisations purporting to represent Chile’s highly diverse array of artisanal fishers at national level.

Artisanal fishermen are also organised at ‘caleta’ level ― the caleta being a recognised artisanal fishery landing area, which may include such port infrastructures as wharfs; markets; ice plants; cold stores and road transport connections.

There are 467 officially recognised caletas from the Arica and Parinacota Region in the North to the Magellanes Region in the South, and on the Oceanic Islands (Easter Island, Juan Fernandez Islands etc.)

Group organisations At local level, fishers also organise themselves into groups to engage in the AMERBs – Management Areas for Bentonic Resources ― where selected groups of fishers are given exclusive access to manage and harvest shellfish and seaweed production in designated areas close to the coast – a kind of ‘TURF’ that privileges particular groups and excluding others.

Describing the origins of the artisanal fishers’ movement, the importance of leaders associated with the Communist party in the 1940s and 1950s, is underlined. The Communist party was declared illegal in 1948 and those associated with it persecuted – often jailed and tortured.

Fishermen leaders travelled the entire length of Chile’s coast mobilising fishermen to unite and organise to defend their rights as workers and citizens. The first autonomous organizations were independent workers unions or ‘sindicatos’.

In parallel with these autonomous organisations, the Chilean State ― often with the support of the Catholic Church ―intervened to organise productive sectors, including the fisheries sector, to industrialise and to form cooperatives.

Following the military coup in 1973 and the establishment of the dictatorship under General Pinochet, it became difficult and dangerous to organise along trade union lines.

‘People were gunned down in every caleta. It was a time when people feared for their lives,’ notes one leader.

Training & finance

The Dictatorship also tried to enforce a different kind of organisation, less political

and more commercially oriented. These fishing guilds or gremial associations aimed to encourage producers to organise along small enterprise lines, by providing training and financial support.

Encouragement was also provided at gunpoint: ‘When the coup came, we found ourselves having to organize our meetings with the rifles and the machine guns of the police sticking in our ribs.’

With the lifting of restrictions in the 1980s, and motivated by the historic Rome Conference of 1984 of Fishworkers and their Supporters, which produced the first World Charter on Artisanal Fisheries, Chilean artisanal fishery leaders initiated a process to organise at national level.

This led to the establishment of the National Council of Chilean Artisanal Fishermen - CONAPACH - in 1986. 116 delegates from 74 artisanal fishers’ organisations from the entire country participated in the first meeting, uniting 43,600 fishermen from 215 ‘caletas’.

With the restoration of democracy in 1990, artisanal fishermen were able to organise openly, and their representatives became actively involved in drafting and implementation of the 1991 Fisheries Law which was a major step forward for artisanal fisheries in Chile.

Fishing limits

As well as defining smallscale fisheries and categorising different actors and activities, the law reserved the inshore waters out to five miles for artisanal fishery activities.

It also reserved Chile’s extensive internal waters for artisanal fishing, while allowing industrial fishing activities in areas where there was no relevant artisanal fishery activity.

With the advent of democracy, however, the political pressures and administrative demands increased, and organisational requirements changed.

In 1998, the government proposed to introduce a system of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) as a way to provide stability for the industrial fishery sector.

Although it was argued that ITQs would have no impact on artisanal fishing quotas, the debate gave rise to differences of opinion and stance among the leaders. Some leaders were against the idea of ITQs in principle, seeing the system as a privatisation of the seas; others argued that without a

strong system for monitoring, control and enforcement, the system would be a disaster; yet others argued that the former system of management was no longer viable, and fishermen had to move with the times or lose out.

These pressures and differences led to divisions among the leaders and their constituents, and a new national confederation was subsequently formed.

The original national organisation CONAPACH took up a contrary stand to the Government proposals for introducing ITQs and a separate artisanal fishing regime, and the new confederation, CONFEPACH, aligned itself with the government and reaped benefits of funding, training, and modernisation projects.

Future focus

Looking forward, several key themes emerge. One fundamental issue is that in many ways the struggles of the past bear little resemblance to the struggles of today. A different kind of leadership is required.

The sector has become increasingly diverse and segmented, with huge inequalities emerging between different actors.

The kinds of organisations required and the skills that leaders need have totally changed; organisations and leaders more able to engage in commercial activities, as well as in trade and political negotiations are required.

The book notes that ‘The times, the people and the circumstances have changed: in general terms it is not so much from rags to riches, but things are less of a struggle than they were... compared to the 1980s, there has been a complete change in terms of image, role played, way of doing things, and capacity.’

The issue of leadership requirements today, especially

Movimiento Social de Pescadores Artesanales de Chile; Historia y organización de la defensa del mar chileno. By Irene Escribano Veloso Published by Ocho Libros in Spanish.

ISBN 978-956335-222-1.

the need to train up young people to enter the fishery and take on leadership roles, is also given much attention.

It can also be questioned to what extent the national level organisations that were founded in the 1980s and 1990s represent and otherwise cater to the interests of the majority of artisanal fishermen and fisherwomen in Chile today. To a large extent the men and women who work as fishing crews, seaweed harvesters and shellfish divers have been alienated by the policy processes that have led to the concentration of Chile’s fisheries wealth in the hands of a few.

The Chilean Fisheries Sub-Secretary, Raúl Súnico, referred to the outcome of this process as, “A battle that took place two years ago, which resulted in a new fisheries law. This produced some winners, some losers and some who neither lost nor gained.”

The battle described is one in which the lion’s share of Chile’s fisheries wealth, quotas with an estimated value of around $745 million in terms of the annual rent generated, was grabbed by a privileged few – in a large part by four familyowned large corporations.

But, the majority of Chile’s fishery workers, including the most marginalised and vulnerable, were not consulted, and are not taken account of in the new law.

It is vital that their interests are given due consideration, in particular by applying the provisions of the FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small Scale Fisheries in the context of food security and poverty eradication.

Achieving this will require strong organisations and able leaders. The lessons of history as described in this book show that Chile’s artisanal fishing community has considerable capacity to produce both.

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