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Coastal Development in Ireland
Silting has filled up Sligo Port but dredging not viable says report. The scene above AFLOAT adds is taken from the bridge of Ceg Cosmos, a general cargo when on the approaches to the north-west harbour which is the only port located between Galway and Derry.  The digger on the hold deck hatch cover is used for handling cargoes such as round timber (logs).
There are fears for the future of Sligo harbour (a commercial port) after it was revealed on Monday that it is full of sludge which would cost millions of euro to clear, money that’s not available and dredging is not…
RCC Faire
Revenue’s plans to acquire two new patrol vessels will boost the State’s coastal and offshore search-and-rescue capabilities, it’s been claimed. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the two new ships will replace Revenue’s existing cutters and new used to expand its…
Boats alongside the Old Pier at Keelbeg in Union Hall, West Cork
Following recommendations from an independent inspection of the Old Pier at Keelbeg in Union Hall, Cork County Council says that “in order to improve safety” it is obliged to close the pier to public access. The move has been met…
The Sand Quay refurbishment at Monkstown Bay is a work in progress and there has been a thumbs up for the new surface that replaces the grass. 
Monkstown Bay boaters in Cork Harbour got a pre-season boost with a general tidying up of the town's Sand Quay and boat park extensively used by Monkstown Bay Sailing Club (MBSC). The improvements come as the Cork Lower Harbour Main…
Diver video is recorded to monitor the seagrass condition around the entire circumference of new eco-friendly moorings on Strangford Lough
At the end of March, the Strangford and Lecale Partnership started a new pilot study of Advanced Mooring Systems in Strangford Lough. It is the first study of its kind in Northern Ireland, and these eco-friendly moorings will avoid or…
Waves crash into the Dun Laoghaire shoreline in a winter storm on Dublin Bay
East Cork, Waterford, Galway and the Shannon Estuary will be the first to bear the brunt of an “alarming and startling” rise in sea levels, a TD has warned. As the Irish Examiner reports, David Stanton (Cork East) expressed his…
Corncrake
Coastal and island locations in and off Donegal, Mayo and Galway will be involved in the Government’s new €5.9m EU-funded LIFE project aimed at saving the corncrake. The project, which is overseen by the Department of Housing, Local Government and…
File image of the fishing fleet at Howth Harbour in Co Dublin
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue has announced a new Brexit mitigation scheme to promote the blue economy and to be delivered through the seven Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs). Announcing the scheme in his opening address at the Irish Skipper Expo…
The SOS Bearna delegation handing in a petition to Galway County Hall
When former president Mary Robinson was speaking about the horrific invasion of Ukraine on RTE’s Late Late Show last week, she reminded us that climate change hasn’t gone away. SOS Bearna is the name of a community group in Galway…
The Alta's bow and stern sections completely separated, with other large pieces of its hull strewn across the rocks nearby. The freighter had grounded in Ballyandreane in Ballycotton,  east Cork on February 16, 2020.
On the Cork coastline a modern-day "ghost ship" which washed up on rocks in 2020, has split in two after being repeatedly battered during successive storm periods this year. The MV Alta was grounded in Ballyandreane in Ballycotton, east Cork,…
Ireland’s water environment is in crisis. Water quality is declining and water pollution is rising at an unprecedented rate says the Environmental Network SWAN
The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) has hit out at the Government’s draft plan for managing Ireland’s inland and coastal waters. The network of 25 environmental organisations says the River Basin Management Plan is “completely lacking in the strong ambition, measures…
Isle of Man: An "isolated" amount of the fuel was found by Douglas breakwater on Sunday
Residents of the Isle of Man's capital reported a strong smell of fuel which was likely caused by a recent oil spill, harbour authorities have said. As BBC News reported, checks were made across the island's east coast after oil…
New patrol boats (cutters) for the Revenue Commissioners 'maritime' unit. Above an existing patrol cutter, RCC Faire in Dingle Harbour, Co. Kerry
Two new patrol boats are set to be purchased by the Revenue Commissioners. The new vessels will be used, in part, to expand the service’s ability to tackle drug smuggling and other seaborne criminal activities. The patrol vessels, which sources believe…
Paddy Conaghan
A Donegal octogenarian has completed his marathon effort to swim at as many spots around the Irish coast as possible — raising more than €100,000 for charity in the process. As the Sunday World reports, Paddy Conaghan skipped Christmas and…
Barge Cliodna in Bangor Harbour
County Wexford based company Marine Specialists Ltd completed mobilising their new 26-metre barge Cliodna in Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough on Monday, February 7th. Over the coming weeks, it will be inspected by the Maritime Coastguard Agency and prepared for…
Ballybunion Buoy being unhooked from crane in Dun Laoghaire, ready to be towed to Irish Lights ship ILV Granuaile
Met Éireann and Irish Lights are pleased to announce a joint collaboration that will enhance our understanding of Irish Coastal Waters, with the aim of improving safety for coastal inhabitants and mariners. Safety of the mariner and the public has…

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.