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Displaying items by tag: St Michael's

#Rowing: Cork clubs had a set of good results in the first session of Sunday finals at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre.

Cork Boat Club's junior women's pair started the ball rolling, while Skibbereen then took their second title of Championships as Aodhan Burns proved a strong winner of the lightweight single sculls.

Margaret Cremen of UCC had a huge win in the lightweight single sculls, and Lee added the junior men's double to the junior quadruple title they had won on Saturday.

The tighest finish came in the men's club coxed four. NUIG made a tremendous effort to catch St Michael's of Limerick but they fell short by just .329 of a second.

Commercial of Dublin and Fermanagh's Enniskillen Royal Boat Club are having a good reatta. Enniskillen won the men's intermediate pair, while Commercial won the womens intermediate coxed four.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: St Michael’s of Limerick had an excellent day at the National Schools Regatta at Dorney Lake. Their Girls’ Championship Four took silver behind Henley, pushing the elite English crew right to the finish.

 Ryan Spelman of St Michael’s also featured in one of the prestigious finals – he took fifth in the A Final of the Championship Single.

 Earlier, Enniskillen’s Peter Murphy and Sam Balcombe took bronze in the Championship Pair and Enniskillen were just one place outside the medals in the Boys Championship Four.

 Coleraine Grammar School finished fifth in the Junior 16 Girls Double.

Published in Rowing
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#Rowing: Enniskillen’s Sam Balcombe and Peter Murphy took a fine third place in the men’s Championship Pair at the National Schools Regatta at Dorney Lake today.

 On Saturday, Enniskillen had won gold in the Junior 16 Girls coxed four by a big margin.

 Ryan Spelman of St Michael’s took his place in the A Final of the Championship Single Sculls, and finished well to challenge the leaders. He took fifth.

 Coleraine Grammar School also took fifth in the final of the Junior 16 Girls Double.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The St Michael’s Head of the River, scheduled for Saturday, March 16th, has been cancelled. The weather forecast for Limerick changed, and the organisers felt they could not be certain of running a safe event. Monday was considered for a rescheduled event, but some clubs could not change their plans.   

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Rory O’Neill and James O’Donovan of Castleconnell shared top billing in the men’s junior 18 rankings after the concluding stage of the Dirty Dozen Challenge. Eabha Benson of St Michael’s won the women’s junior 18 series. There were four rounds, beginning in October (three kilometres) and running through November (5k) and December and January (6k).  

CategoryShellRower(-s)Bow #PlaceCourse time
W J161XC. Leahy112100:14:50
W J161XJ. O'Brien (CCBC)110200:14:51
W J161XR. Hickey (Shannon Rowing Club)114300:15:00
W J161XC. Kiely (Castleconnell)1094th00:15:02
W J161XG. Fitzgerald (CCBC)1135th00:15:29
W J161XC. Ni Dhonabhain (SRC)111DNF
W J181X�. Benson (SMRC)76100:28:45
W J181XN. Kiely (Castleconnell BC)74200:29:04
W J181XC. KIRWAN (SMRC)75300:29:58
W J181XS. Gilmore (CCBC)774th00:30:00
W J181XS. Fitzgerald (TRC)785th00:31:05
W J181XC. Storan (SMRC)826th00:31:42
W J181XC. Kelly (Castleconnell BC)797th00:33:37
W J181XA. King (SMRC)818th00:33:48
W J181XH. Bradshaw (CCBC)809th00:34:12
W J181XO. Murphy (St Michaels)8410th00:34:47
W J181X�. Phillips (SMRC)8311th00:37:41
W J181XL. O'Brien (Castleconnell Boat Club)73DNF
W OPEN1XE. Redlichova (SMRC)85DNF
W U211XC. O'Brien (Castleconnell boat club)86100:28:37
W U231XS. Murphy (SMRC)87100:32:03
W U23 Lt Wt1XN. Hartney (SMRC)88100:29:34
W J162-F. Gleeson (Shannon rowing club)
A. Curtin (shannon rowing club)116100:13:38
W J162-E. McMahon (CCBC)
T. Mulready (Ccbc)117200:14:04
W J162-C. Gleeson (Shannon rowing club)
A. Caffrey (Shannon)115DNF
W J182-S. Byrnes (CCBC)
N. Silke (Castleconnell boat club)92100:27:44
W J182-E. Mcinerney (Smrc)
E. Murphy (SMRC)89200:28:15
W J182-A. Mckeon (Smrc)
M. O'Byrne (SMRC)93300:29:10
W J182-N. Jones (SMRC)
K. McGann (SMRC)944th00:30:51
W J182-S. Broggy (Athlunkard Boat Club)
M. Malone (Athlunkard Boat Club)905th00:31:08
M J161XP. Mcinerney (Smrc)105100:13:11
M J161XD. Foley (SMRC)103200:13:12
M J161XG. O'Donoghue (Shannon Rowing Club)97300:13:21
M J161XJ. Cunningham (Castleconnell)964th00:13:41
M J161XT. Byrne995th00:13:44
M J161XI. Byrne Delimata (Castleconnell)986th00:13:49
M J161XD. De Brun (SMRC)1047th00:13:59
M J161XN. Larkin Damm (Tralee Rowing CLUB)1028th00:14:47
M J161XS. Cunningham (CCBC)100DNF
M J161XC. Oconnell (Waterville lake rowing cl...)101DNF
M J181XR. O'Neill (Castleconnell)59100:25:39
M J181XJ. O Donovan (CCBC)57100:25:39
M J181XM. English (St Michaels Rowing Club)58300:26:59
M J181XJ. Scanlon France (ABC)604th00:32:50
M J18 Lt Wt1XB. France (St. Michaels)61100:28:22
M J18 Lt Wt1XC. Bowen (Castleconnell boat club)62200:29:03
M Master B1XR. Egan (Ccbc)63100:27:01
M Master C1Xc. Byrne (CCBC)64100:28:32
M OPEN1XD. O'Connor (St. Michael's Rowing...)50100:24:45
M U211XR. Spelman (Smrc)51100:25:23
M U211XC. Mulready (Castleconnel)52200:26:53
M U211XJ. Desmond (Caslteconnell)53300:28:16
M U211XA. King (Athlunkard Boat Club)54DNF
M U231XA. Lennon (St Michaels Rowing Club)55DNF
M J152-R. Lyons (Castleconnell)
A. SWEENEY (Ccbc)106100:13:22
M J162-E. Gilmartin (CCBC)
J. McGrath (CCBC)107100:12:48
M J162-P. Mcinerney (Smrc)
D. Hartney (SMRC)108200:13:28
M J182-R. O Gorman (St.Michaels Rowing Club)
D. Hartney (SMRC)69100:25:36
M J18 Lt Wt2-S. Fitzgerald (CCBC)
C. Nolan (Castleconnell)70100:26:50
M J18 Lt Wt2-C. Foster (SMRC)
C. Kemp (SMRC)72200:27:46
M J18 Lt Wt2-A. McFerran (CCBC)
E. Healy (Castleconnell Boat Club)71300:28:09
M Master B2-P. Williams (CCBC)
E. Meskell (CCBC)65100:26:05
M Master C2-k. mc donald
M. O'Callaghan (Shannon rowing club)66DNF
M U212-J. O Brien (Castleconnel Boat Club)
C. Feely (Castleconnel rowing club)67DNF
M U232-T. McKeon (St. Michael's rowing...)
J. Cuddy (SMRC)68100:24:31
Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Workmen’s junior women’s double took a silver at the National Schools’ Regatta at Dorney Lake in England today. In the Championship Doubles, Annie O’Donoghue and Ciara Browne finished one and a half lengths down on Latymer Upper School. Ciara Moynihan of Workmen’s finished seventh in the A Final of the Championship Singles, while Molly Curry of Coleraine Grammar School took control of the B Final and won.

 Enniskillen took silver in the Boys’ Non-Championship Eights, and their girls’ junior 16 coxed four matched them in their A Final. Ireland clubs placed second and third in the B Final of the Girls’ Championship/Non Championship Eights.

British National Schools’ Regatta, Dorney Lake (Selected Results; Irish interest)

 

Saturday

Boys

Championship/Non-Championship Eight – B Final: 3 Enniskillen RBC.

Girls

Championship/Non-Championship Eight – B Final: 2 Galway 7:35.72; 3 St Michael’s 7:45.46.

Junior 16 Four, coxed – A Final: 2 Enniskillen RBC 8:22.68.

Sculling, Double – Championship A Final: 2 Workmen’s (A O’Donoghue, C Browne) 8:06.37.

Single – Championship A Final: 7 Workmen’s (C Moynihan) 9:10.40. B Final: 1 Coleraine Grammar School (M Curry) 8:43.03.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Castleconnell Sprint Regatta had a huge entry and a good day for rowing. The host club, which had amassed a set of fine results at Ghent regatta, did so again at their home regatta. They won the junior 15 eights for boys and girls. St Michael’s won the girls’ junior 16 eight. Athlunkard won the final race of the day, beating St Michael’s in the final of the men’s club two coxed four.

Castleconnell Sprint Regatta, Saturday (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Jun 15: Castleconnell. Masters: Castleconnell.

Four – Club Two, coxed: Athlunkard. Jun 16, coxed: Castleconnell.

Sculling, Quadruple – Club Two, coxed: St Michael’s. Jun 18B, coxed: Muckross.  

Double – Club Two: Workmen’s. Jun 18B: Workmen’s A.

Single – Club Two: Shandon (Diffley). Jun 18A: Castleconnell (D Martin).

Women

Eight – Masters: Univ of Limerick. Jun 16: St Michael’s. Jun 15: Castleconnell.

Four – Jun 18B, coxed: Shannon.

 Sculling, Quadruple – Jun 18B, coxed: CRCC. Jun 16, coxed: Workmans.

Double – Club Two: Waterford. Jun 18B: CRCC.

 Single – Club Two: Workmen’s (M Fleming). Novice: Cappoquin (B O’Rourke). Jun 18B: Muckross. Masters: Offaly (Nolan). 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Tribesmen Head of the River, set for Lough Rynn on Saturday (February 10th) has had to be called off because of a forecast of rain and gale force gusts of wind. The organisers hope to hold a deferred event in March.

 The weather has caused a change in venue for another event. Flooding at O’Brien’s Bridge has forced the organisers of the St Michael’s Head of the River on February 24th to move it to the St Michael’s club on O’Callaghan’s Strand in Limerick.  

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Neptune won the men’s junior 18 eight and Commercial were second at the Ghent International May Regatta in Belgium. Commercial’s Gillian Crowe and Hazel O’Neill won the women’s senior pair.

Commercial crews finished 1-2-3 of the eight crews which competed in the junior women’s pair.

Aaron Keogh of Three Castles won the junior 16 single sculls – first of 39 competitors and Jack Butler of Neptune was third of 28 in the junior 18 singles.

Cork took second in the women’s junior eight, while New Ross were third in the women’s junior quadruple.

Ghent International May Regatta, Belgium (Irish interest; selected results, finals)

Men

Eight: 1 Neptune 6:04.89, 2 Commercial 6:07.61.

Four, coxed – Jun 18: 1 Commercial 7:00.29 (two crews).

Pair – Sen: 2 Commercial (D Joyce, M Maher) 6:57.08. Under-23: 1 St Michael’s (T McKeon, D O’Byrne) 7:14.20, 3 St Michael’s (B McKeon, C Garvey) 7:15.78. Jun 18: 3 St Michael’s (T McKeon, D O’Byrne) 7:11.18.

Sculling

Quadruple – Jun 18: 2 Three Castles 6:21.19.

Double – Jun: 3 Three Castles (R Quinn, O Clune) 6:48.19.

Single: 3 S McKeown 7:25.96. Lightweight: 2 St Michael’s (D O’Connor) 7:21.71. Jun 18: 3 Neptune (J Butler) 7:42.19. Jun 16: 1 Three Castles (A Keogh) 7:38.98.

Women

Eight – Junior: 2 Cork 7:05.83, 3 Commercial 7:20.22.

Four – Jun: 2 Commercial 7:42.63.

Pair – Sen: 2 Commercial (G Crowe, H O’Neill) 7:50.48. Jun: 1 Commercial (A Keogh, S Maxwell) 8:14.43, 2 Commercial (G McNamara, K Dolan) 8:23.96, 3 Commercial (C Ryan, A O’Rourke) 8:39.88.

Sculling, Quadruple – Jun: 3 New Ross 7:22.57.

 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Irish clubs had some excellent placings on Saturday at the Ghent International May Regatta in Belgium. Commercial and Neptune finished first and second in the junior men’s eight and Commercial also finished second in the women’s junior eight and four, and second and third in the junior women’s pair. The Three Castles junior double of Rory Quinn and Oisin Clune took silver – second of 47 crews which competed. New Ross were the second-placed crew in the junior quadruple.

In the adult events, which generally had smaller entries, St Michael’s had wins through Declan O’Connor, Ben McKeon and Colm Garvey, while Skibbereen’s Orla Hayes won the lightweight women’s single. Sam McKeown of Queen’s University finished second to Dave Bell of Molesey in the senior single sculls.

Ghent International May Regatta, Belgium (Irish interest; selected results; Saturday)

Men

Eight – Junior: 1 Commercial 6:42.02, 2 Neptune 6:47.0.

Four – Junior: 2 Commercial 7:01.64. Four, coxed – Junior: 2 Neptune 7:13.78.

Pair – Senior: 1 Commercial (D Joyce, M Maher) 7:45.01 Under-23 (Two Crews): 1 St Michael’s (B McKeon, C Garvey) 8:22.06, 2 St Michael’s (T McKeon, D O’Byrne) 8:23.88. Lightweight Pair: 1 St Michael’s (B McKeon, C Garvey) 8:09.34. Junior: 2 St Michael’s (T McKeon, D O’Byrne) 7:36.89.

Quadruple – Junior: 2 Three Castles 6:48.14.

Double – Junior: 2 Three Castles (R Quinn, O Clune) 7:18.24.

Single – Senior: 2 Queen’s (S McKeown) 8:03.56. Lightweight: 1 St Michael’s (D O’Connor) 7:05.24. Under-23 Lightweight: 3 Queen’s (M Taylor) 8:13.94.

Women

Eight – Junior: 2 Commercial 7:52.67, 3 Cork BC 8:04.40.

Four – Junior: 2 Commercial 8:18.63, 3 New Ross 8:27.38.

Pair – Senior: 3 Commercial (H O’Neill, G Crowe) 9:06.60. Junior: 2 Commercial (A Keogh, S Maxwell) 8:57.17, 3 Commercial (G McNamara, K Dolan) 9:03.31.

Sculling – Quadruple – Junior: 2 New Ross 7:52.00.

Lightweight Single: 1 Skibbereen (O Hayes) 8:52.88.

Published in Rowing
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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - FAQS

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are geographically defined maritime areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources. In addition to conserving marine species and habitats, MPAs can support maritime economic activity and reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

MPAs can be found across a range of marine habitats, from the open ocean to coastal areas, intertidal zones, bays and estuaries. Marine protected areas are defined areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources.

The world's first MPA is said to have been the Fort Jefferson National Monument in Florida, North America, which covered 18,850 hectares of sea and 35 hectares of coastal land. This location was designated in 1935, but the main drive for MPAs came much later. The current global movement can be traced to the first World Congress on National Parks in 1962, and initiation in 1976 of a process to deliver exclusive rights to sovereign states over waters up to 200 nautical miles out then began to provide new focus

The Rio ‘Earth Summit’ on climate change in 1992 saw a global MPA area target of 10% by the 2010 deadline. When this was not met, an “Aichi target 11” was set requiring 10% coverage by 2020. There has been repeated efforts since then to tighten up MPA requirements.

Marae Moana is a multiple-use marine protected area created on July 13th 2017 by the government of the Cook islands in the south Pacific, north- east of New Zealand. The area extends across over 1.9 million square kilometres. However, In September 2019, Jacqueline Evans, a prominent marine biologist and Goldman environmental award winner who was openly critical of the government's plans for seabed mining, was replaced as director of the park by the Cook Islands prime minister’s office. The move attracted local media criticism, as Evans was responsible for developing the Marae Moana policy and the Marae Moana Act, She had worked on raising funding for the park, expanding policy and regulations and developing a plan that designates permitted areas for industrial activities.

Criteria for identifying and selecting MPAs depends on the overall objective or direction of the programme identified by the coastal state. For example, if the objective is to safeguard ecological habitats, the criteria will emphasise habitat diversity and the unique nature of the particular area.

Permanence of MPAs can vary internationally. Some are established under legislative action or under a different regulatory mechanism to exist permanently into the future. Others are intended to last only a few months or years.

Yes, Ireland has MPA cover in about 2.13 per cent of our waters. Although much of Ireland’s marine environment is regarded as in “generally good condition”, according to an expert group report for Government published in January 2021, it says that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are of “wide concern due to increasing pressures such as overexploitation, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change”.

The Government has set a target of 30 per cent MPA coverage by 2030, and moves are already being made in that direction. However, environmentalists are dubious, pointing out that a previous target of ten per cent by 2020 was not met.

Conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment has been mandated by a number of international agreements and legal obligations, as an expert group report to government has pointed out. There are specific requirements for area-based protection in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the OSPAR Convention, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Yes, the Marine Strategy Framework directive (2008/56/EC) required member states to put measures in place to achieve or maintain good environmental status in their waters by 2020. Under the directive a coherent and representative network of MPAs had to be created by 2016.

Ireland was about halfway up the EU table in designating protected areas under existing habitats and bird directives in a comparison published by the European Commission in 2009. However, the Fair Seas campaign, an environmental coalition formed in 2022, points out that Ireland is “lagging behind “ even our closest neighbours, such as Scotland which has 37 per cent. The Fair Seas campaign wants at least 10 per cent of Irish waters to be designated as “fully protected” by 2025, and “at least” 30 per cent by 2030.

Nearly a quarter of Britain’s territorial waters are covered by MPAs, set up to protect vital ecosystems and species. However, a conservation NGO, Oceana, said that analysis of fishing vessel tracking data published in The Guardian in October 2020 found that more than 97% of British MPAs created to safeguard ocean habitats, are being dredged and bottom trawled. 

There’s the rub. Currently, there is no definition of an MPA in Irish law, and environment protections under the Wildlife Acts only apply to the foreshore.

Current protection in marine areas beyond 12 nautical miles is limited to measures taken under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives or the OSPAR Convention. This means that habitats and species that are not listed in the EU Directives, but which may be locally, nationally or internationally important, cannot currently be afforded the necessary protection

Yes. In late March 2022, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said that the Government had begun developing “stand-alone legislation” to enable identification, designation and management of MPAs to meet Ireland’s national and international commitments.

Yes. Environmental groups are not happy, as they have pointed out that legislation on marine planning took precedence over legislation on MPAs, due to the push to develop offshore renewable energy.

No, but some activities may be banned or restricted. Extraction is the main activity affected as in oil and gas activities; mining; dumping; and bottom trawling

The Government’s expert group report noted that MPA designations are likely to have the greatest influence on the “capture fisheries, marine tourism and aquaculture sectors”. It said research suggests that the net impacts on fisheries could ultimately be either positive or negative and will depend on the type of fishery involved and a wide array of other factors.

The same report noted that marine tourism and recreation sector can substantially benefit from MPA designation. However, it said that the “magnitude of the benefits” will depend to a large extent on the location of the MPA sites within the network and the management measures put in place.

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