The Heritage Council of Ireland has a diverse range of marine topics that can be downloaded from their website through the Marine publications section. There are publications, reports and presentations available from this area of interest and can be accessed…

The National Road's Authority (NRA) are expecting shipments of emergency salt from Egypt and Morocco to arrive next week, according to a report in the Irish Independent.  Two vessels, the CSL Prospect and Olivia are heading for the Port of…

Mayo County Council has advised it will not be possible for boats to pass through Achill Sound until further notice.  The announcement came in a Marine Notice issued on December 10th. This is due to on-going works connected with the…

Proposals for ten potential conservation zones in the Irish Sea are earmarked in a second report released from the Irish Sea Conservation Zones project. The area include the inshore waters of Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria and offshore waters of the…

The cost of removing 33 whales which washed ashore on Rutland Island, Co. Donegal in mid-November is to cost Donegal County Council €10,000, according to a report posted last week in the Donegal Democrat. The pod, which had been observed…

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) reports that a newborn bottlenose dolphin calf was washed up in Doolin, Co Clare last week (photos here). http://www.iwdg.ie/article.asp?id=2426 Measuring 1.2m in length and weighing 21kg, the IWDG said it was "by far…

Liverpool's Merseyside Maritime Museum (MMM) is holding the exhibition: 'Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure' which tells the epic story of the Irish born Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 polar expedition. The exhibition also pays homage to photographer Frank Hurley who dove into icy waters to…

Last week saw the Irish Seal Sanctuary celebrate the release of Debbie, the first grey seal to receive care at the group's Courtown Harbour facility. Photos of the release in Tramore are available HERE at the Irish Seal Sanctuary's website.…

Rescuers were sadly unable to save an 18ft juvenile minke whale found stranded at Blackwater Pier, near Kenmare, Co Kerry last Friday. The Irish Independent reports that despite the best efforts of local people and the National Parks and Wildlife…

New figures to be released this week point to a whopping 25% increase in whale and dolphin strandings in the UK and Ireland. BBC News reports that data collected by the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) show reported strandings…

The Marine Institute's specialist research library, Oceanus with has over 5,000 books relating to marine, natural and life sciences is now open online. The institute's extensive collection of scientific literature relating to marine and freshwater resources is available to browse…

A new pontoon intended to refloat beached whales and dolphins along the Atlantic seaboard was demonstrated at the weekend ahead of the Galway Science & Technology Festival. The Irish Times reports that divers, scientists and local volunteers were among those…

Communiations on the ocean could be vastly improved by a surprising method straight out of the sci-fi books - antennas made out of seawater (SEE VIDEO BELOW). The US Navy is already engineering a revolutionary scheme to replace its bulky…

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) is running a new course for marine wildlife tour operators in Galway on 27-28 November. The two-day course - at the campus of the Galway-Mayo Institue of Technology in Letterfrack - is intended…

Ireland's first dedicated weather news and long range forecast website, Irish Weather Online has been launched. The independently run website has already been profiled on The Weather Channel in the US since it went live last week. Described as a website…

Writing in the Irish Times regarding marine animals Lorna Siggins says Irish waters many be home to a large proportion of the world's basking shark population following a conference in Galway that says thousands of the species frequent this coastline.…