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Coastal Development in Ireland
Drone with camera mount at flight with a forest background
The use of drones could play a key role in sustainable coastal fisheries in Ireland, according to a new study. As the Irish Examiner reports, researchers at University College Cork (UCC) evaluated a wide range of applications for drones on…
The Coastal Atlas of Ireland involves the work of over 140 contributors
The Coastal Atlas of Ireland is one of seven titles nominated for An Post’s Best Irish Published Book of the Year. The atlas published by Cork University Press involves the work of over 140 contributors ranging in expertise from archaeology…
Two Irish environmental coalitions are calling on the Government to ensure the necessary Dáil Committee time is given to debating the new Maritime Area Planning Bill. The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) and the Environmental Pillar say that Ireland is “marching…
Regional authorities and tourism agencies should provide supports for marine tourism, the study says
A new study of the Wild Atlantic Way recommends development of “niche marine tourism” options along the coastal route. Visitors taking part in marine-related activities tend to spend more and stay longer than average, and so regional authorities and tourism…
The first Coastal Atlas of Ireland is ambitious and multidisciplinary
What weighs almost five kilos and ranges in subjects from archaeology to zoology, with Atlantic tsunamis, Viking raids and the Irish coast’s role in cinema in between? The first Coastal Atlas of Ireland is ambitious and multidisciplinary. Between its 893…
Fungie the dolphin pictured in Dingle Harbour in the summer of 2019
Dingle will host a special commemoration for Fungie the dolphin this month, as the Irish Independent reports. Fungie took up residence in the Co Kerry harbour in 1983 and over the decades since formed the backbone of the town’s tourism-based…
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue TD has welcomed the publication of today's revised National Development Plan. The NDP will set the Department’s new five-year rolling capital allocations. It will support economic, social and environmental development across the country. ‘As we emerge…
Young Coastwatch volunteers surveying the seashore on the Beara Peninsula
Coastwatch has welcomed the promise of greater protections for sensitive maritime areas in the Marine Spatial Planning Bill as it continues its annual shoreline survey. As reported in The Irish Times, the environmental group’s coordinator Karin Dubsky said “public participation…
La Palma lava flows into the sea
A cascade of lava spilling into the Atlantic ocean from the Spanish island of La Palma has been photographed by the European Space Agency (ESA). The lava from the volcanic eruption extends the size of the coastline and covered about…
International maritime lawyer Michael Kingston
Relatives of the 50 people who died in the Whiddy island Betelegeuse tanker explosion 42 years ago are seeking an apology from the Government for “appalling failures “ The call has been made in a new RTE Documentary on One…
Graphic for Explorers Education Programme outreach in schools and classes
The Explorers Education Programme has been expanded to deliver modules to primary schools in all of Ireland’s coastal counties. Established in Galway over 15 years ago and funded by the Marine Institute, the Explorers programme now reaches schools all around the…
File image of Ballyconnell Bridge on the Shannon-Erne Waterway in Co Cavan
Waterways Ireland advises masters of vessels that dredging operations are taking place on the Shannon-Erne Waterway in Co Cavan until next Thursday 30 September. Dredging works are in the vicinity of Lock 1 at Corraquil, Lock 2 at Ballydonnell and…
File image of Dingle Harbour
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue has continued his series of visits to some of Ireland’s main fishing ports, spending yesterday and today (Thursday 16 and Friday 17 September) in Co Kerry. The minister met with fishers, fishing organisations and other stakeholders…
The Cliffs of Moher in North Clare
The most popular location in Ireland for taking selfies is … the Cliffs of Moher. That’s according to a new roundup of the 25 most popular selfie spots compiled by travel website EnjoyTravel. The breathtaking North Clare coastal cliffs round…
According to CoastWatch, Seagrass is on the decline in many protected areas around the Irish coast. More needs to be done to halt further losses, properly protect inshore ecosystems and find areas to restore carbon and biodiversity-rich seagrass beds
A natural marine resource more important than the rain forests is in danger of dying out unless funding is provided to help protect it. Zostera Marina is a type of seagrass which grows in the inshore areas of south Wexford,…
The aircraft flew south over the beach’s main carpark from Ballyheigue in the direction of Barrow in County Kerry - see video below
Eyewitnesses to an incident where a helicopter cruised at low level in thick fog across a popular Kerry beach have questioned why the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is not pursuing it further. Video footage of the incident shows the helicopter…

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.