Deep-sea mining for scarce minerals and trace elements may have a “catastrophic impact” on the ocean floor, a study by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group warns.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), which Ireland is a member of, “lacks transparency”, and “appears committed to development of deep-sea mining, on which its existence and revenue depends”, the report says.

The report says that deep-sea habitats are “currently largely unexplored by man and far removed from all human settlements”, and it is “difficult for many people to appreciate what impacts deep sea mining might have on marine habitats and resources”.

The increasing demand for scarce minerals and trace elements used in technologies such as smart phones, electric cars and green energy is “putting greater demand on existing land-based sources of these minerals”, it points out.

As a result, “attention is being turned to opportunities in the deep seas (>200 m), where mineral deposits can be retrieved from the sea floor,” it says.

“Ireland has an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with rich and diverse marine ecosystems, including poorly studied deep water ecosystems and species”, and “could experience emerging deep-sea mining interests in the coming decades”, it warns.

With an estimated value of $15.3 billion dollars by 2030, the development of deep-sea mining would be some of the largest planned mining operations in history, the IWDG report says.

“ Current exploration licences cover an area of 1.5 million km alone, which, if mined commercially to entirety, would be the equivalent to mining the combined area of France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany,” it says.

Exploration companies are required to submit reports to the ISA secretariat, but these reports are not disclosed to the public, and there has been no action taken against companies for breaches of exploration conditions, it contends.

“Any threat to deep-sea ecosystems should be considered as a threat to marine life, and ultimately humanity,” the report says.

“ At this point, without an independent environmental regulator and sufficient knowledge of deep-sea ecosystems and how they impact on the global environment, we are not in a position to responsibly proceed with commercial deep-sea mining, both on the high seas and within national jurisdictions,” it concludes.

It says that Ireland as a member of the ISA and various international treaties, “has a right and a duty to protect the marine environment on the high seas and within Ireland’s EEZ from transboundary effects”.

The full report is HERE

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group are planning major modifications to their flagship, Celtic Mist.

This is the former yacht of Charlie Haughey, which was donated to the Group by the Haughey family in his memory.

The 56-foot motor sailing vessel “has been working hard as a research and training platform since we first received her in 2011,” says the Group. “She is a great platform to survey whales and dolphins on and has given many of our members new or refreshed sea legs.”

However, there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

“In a confused sea, she can turn anyone's stomach. In order to make her a more effective survey platform and more comfortable for sailing we wish to add bilge keels, employed in pairs, one for each side of the ship.”

IWDG Chief Executive, Dr. Simon Berrow, says in a newsletter to members that the work is planned to be done at Leonard’s Shipyard in Howth, Co.Dublin.

It needs support to help fund the cost.

“IWDG must raise up to 40% of the estimated €10,000 cost in order to make these much-needed improvements a reality.”

So it is seeking support.

“If you are in a position to support this fundraiser, we would greatly appreciate it,” says Dr. Berrow.

Ten years ago the family of Charlie Haughey offloaded their yacht, Celtic Mist, to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.

It took most of a year to refurbish it and the cost was put at around €80,000.

The yacht was getting "old and tired and needed rejuvenation," it was stated.

The family said they had great memories of good times aboard, but it was too big for them anymore.

I was invited to do the 'honours' at the relaunch of Celtic Mist at Kilrush Marina on the Shannon Estuary.

Most of the "rejuvenation work" had been done in Kilrush by a mix of volunteers and professionals. I agonised over what to say. For a journalist, there were obvious difficulties, so I approached the event from a predominantly maritime viewpoint – the restoration to a working life of a boat in her proper location – in the water.

Charlie Haughey onboard Celtic Mist

I did have reasonably good relations with Mr Haughey when I became a marine correspondent, as different to my former journalistic incarnation as a news reporter. In the context of our mutual maritime interest, we had discussed the marine sphere, and I was the recipient of friendly Christmas cards. However, it was still an occasion to be treated with great care. In fact, the main interest amongst the public attendance seemed to be to get the opportunity to go aboard and see whether there was, as had been widely reported, a bath attached to Charlie's cabin. In fact, it had been removed during the refurbishment!

Celtic Mist in her new livery

Since that event, I've been bound with an interest in the voyages of Celtic Mist and am impressed by her new livery in which she has emerged from her latest treatment at Howth Boatyard. She has been on 'shakedown survey work' prior to her annual hosting of members of the IWDG who will be doing more marine wildlife surveys.

The Group's Chief Executive has been telling me about the current state of the yacht and the plans for this year as my guest on this week's Podcast.

Listen to the Podcast here.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has recommended that a single body should handle all mitigation measures to reduce impact of offshore wind farms on marine mammals.

A policy document published by the NGO includes recommendations to ensure offshore wind farms have “only minimal and not significant impacts” on whales, dolphins and porpoises and their habitats. 

“The marine renewable energy industry in Ireland is set for explosive growth in the coming years with a production target of 5GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 and an ambition of 30GW by 2050,” the IWDG says. 

The policy document is due to be published today at the IWDG annual “WhaleTales” meeting which takes place online.

The NGO said it supports the decarbonisation of the Irish economy.

“We have looked at recent research and international best practice to inform this policy document, and present a series of recommendations to try and help guide offshore windfarm development over the coming years,” senior author Patrick Lyne said. 

“The aim is to mitigate or reduce our impact and to measure our impact such that future developments can be better planned, and existing ones perhaps improved,” he said. 

In the document, the IWDG have highlighted the need to protect areas identified as being important for whales and dolphins and has called for changes to mitigation practices.

It says passive acoustic monitoring is the only effective way to detect presence of the marine mammals and should form part of a 24-hour mitigation strategy.

It also says the use of acoustic deterrent technology should be reviewed according to species present and exact parameters of the device used, in order that it acts as an effective deterrent prior to operations. 

“ The amount of contact the IWDG have had with offshore windfarm companies in recent months is huge and we felt it was important to publish our thoughts about the development of this industry and its potential impacts on whales and dolphins,” IWDG chief executive officer Dr Simon Berrow states. 

“We are worried the state agencies involved in assessing planning applications and awarding licenses could be overwhelmed in the near future leading to bad decisions and delays”.

It recommends that “all mitigation procedures and the assessment of requirements should be coordinated by a single body to avoid differences in implementation by different regulators and that the current guidelines be now updated in line with best practice internationally”.

As Afloat reported earlier, more information is on the IWDG website, and the link to “WhaleTales” which takes place today is here

A new home education initiative from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group goes live on social media this morning (Friday 3 April) with its latest edition.

Join Sibéal Regan, Simon Berrow, and other marine mammal experts from 11am for Flukey Friday on Facebook Live, and learn all about the whales and dolphins that populate Irish waters.

The virtual classroom, which started last Friday 27 March, encourages viewers to contribute their whale stories or questions live in the comments — or by email to [email protected] before next week’s session.

It comes as the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School launched its own ‘Sailing School from Home’ remote learning programme, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Meanwhile, the IWDG has also launched a ‘Flukey Art’ competition for children ages 13 and under who are challenged to create marine wildlife-themed art in any medium of their choosing.

Details of how to enter are HERE and the winner will be announced in June.

For the past six years, the first few weeks of the year have seen an increase in the number of dolphins being washed up on the Irish coastline.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group is making a determined effort this year to try to establish the cause and has begun the first post-mortem examinations of dead dolphins by a veterinary laboratory.

In this week’s podcast, the Chief Scientific Officer of the IWDG tells me what is being done and says that fisheries by-catch is particularly being looked at.

If there is another increase this year in the number of stranded dolphins, the IWDG is hoping the post-mortem scheme will provide a definite insight towards the cause of dolphin deaths.

Irish Whale and Dolphin Group reports eight strandings since Jan 1 ....There were two on New Year’s Day, a common dolphin in Tralee Bay and a white-beaked dolphin at Ballyconneely in Co,Galway. There have been strandings since in Counties Wexford, Clare, Mayo, Waterford and two more in Kerry.

Listen to the Podcast below.

A Life on the Edge survey voyage is an attempt to log the abundance of life on Irelands’ southern shelf edge in September. Irish Whale & Dolphin Gropup's Patrick Lyne is issuing an invitation to join this survey to assist with sailing and logging of sightings and acoustics. This is the fifth year of operation and for the first time Lyne says he will visit the Whittard canyon and adjacent areas in what is one of Europe’s most remote and seldom studied offshore areas.

'We are sailing from Castletownbere in West Cork to Camaret in Brittany and have a few limited places to fill in the outward or return legs', Lyne told Afloat.ie

'We would normally expect to encounter large numbers of fin whale and would hope to encounter blue whales, humpbacks, sperm whales and many other species. It is an opportunity to see many species in a rather short time, in an undisturbed and natural setting' he says.

The vessel is Jessy a 37ft–yacht and all details of the trip and costs can be found here or for further information contact Patrick Lyne at [email protected] 

Voyages out as far as the edge of the Continental Shelf on the Atlantic Ocean has produced rare sightings for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and this August there is a chance to see the join the crew and see the whales again writes Patrick Lyne

Back in 2012 when the Celtic Mist became available to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group we were looking at ways the boat could be used to support the work the Group does and demonstrate to people in Ireland the wealth of life that exists in Irish waters. So for three years from 2012 to 2014 we took the Celtic Mist to the shelf edge in early September. Indeed we were blessed when first arriving on the shelf edge only to be greeted by two blue whales. It took several minutes in close proximity (200m) to the whales before we believed our eyes. We had expected large whales but not those to be waiting for us. They stayed around and passed either side of the boat moving from port to starboard for what seemed like an age, before moving further away. We could manage a top speed of maybe 8 knots while blue whales could travel at up to 25 knots approximately and there was no way we could keep pace with these animals if they decided to leave us behind.

Shortly afterwards the Irish Air Corps Casa (C253) appeared and called on the radio and managed to get some excellent shots of both the Celtic Mist and the blue whales.

Two blue whales in the Porcupine Seabight 60 miles off the Irish coast (Photo coutesy of Irish Air Corps)

In 2013 had some remarkable sightings of beaked whales again in the Porcupine Seabight and while unable to confirm that the animals that passed close to the vessel in 2013, were True’s beaked whales, it seems highly probable that they were. Beaked whales are particularly difficult to study being adverse to noise and spending large periods of time underwater. The Cuvier’s beaked whale holds the record for the longest recorded dive of any cetacean of 2 hours 17 minutes while attaining a depth of 2,992m. These animals are rarely seen close to shore and when they are, they often end up stranding and dying. The deep ocean off the shelf edge is their natural habitat.

Each year has produced it’s own spectcular moments and the humpback whales off Dingle have become more and more reliable and are a feature of our trips every year. Last year we were treated to one beautiful day on the shelf edge with calm weather. It is this calm weather that always produces the best results. While whales numbers wer not spectacular they were considerable and most if not all animals were engaged in feeding. We simply allowed the boat to drift while fin whales fed in close proimity to the boat and we could see the huge jaws opening to envelope the krill underwater.

Last year we changed vessels to Jessy of Adrigole a 37 ft–yacht, the Celtic Mist being unavailable and this year we have decided to continue using Jessy but for a longer trip. We propose starting in Castletownbere and sailing to Camaret in Brittany along the shelf edge. The shelf edge between here and Brittany is some of the most dramatic in the world with drop offs from 200m down to nearly 4000m. The EEZ of the UK is slowly squeezed such that French and Irish waters will eventually meet as boundaries extend.

It is more important than ever to record the variety and abundance of Ireland’s offshore environment. While oil exploration will suffer from the current over supply, exploration rights has been granted to both Russia and France by the International Seabed Authority (ISA – not the Irish Sailing Association but a UN body based in Jamaica) in the mid-Atlantic Ridge in the North Atlantic. The marine environment is constantly under greater and greater pressure. Protection for cetaceans is critical to mainting the entire marine habitat. Reduction in large whale numbers in the Southern Ocean due to whaling did not result in an increase in their favourite prey, krill, but rather reduced krill abundance. Whale faeces enriches the ocean with iron, producing plankton blooms which start the food chain and absorb excess carbon from the atmosphere. The South West in particualr sees large numbers of tuna arrive in August and September, follwoed by French and Spanish and Irish fishing vessel as well as whales. It is important for the whales that they are able to build blubber reserves at this time, especially for the females as without sufficient reserves to sustain them during pregnancy of 11 or 12 months, the whale will abort. Recovery rates are slow with these large whales and even with protection it will be manay many decades before fin and blue whale numbers reach pre-whaling levels.

Fin whale feeding Porcupine Seabight (Photo – Patrick Lyne IWDG)

In August we will embark again to try and find calm weather on the shelf edge and hope to add significantly to the picture of cetaceans in Irish waters in a time when they are at their most abundant. It is a unique opportunity for people to become involved with our marine mega fauna in a way not available elsewhere and to add to knowledge of the area. The charge to crew of €1310 allows the work to take place and is an enriching experience and an education. If interested contact Patrick Lyne by email ([email protected]).

It seems to me that, without dedicated volunteers, there would be a lot of work not done in the marine sphere, so I like when possible, to highlight what dedicated people are doing. Publicity can help them to raise funding they need by drawing public attention to what they ae doing and achieving support. So in the current edition of THIS ISLAND NATION, the Whale and Dolphin Group takes us on an aerial survey over the Kerry coast as they survey whales in Irish waters.

Minke Whale Pictured Off Seven Heads Photo by Oisin Macsweeney

Years ago we would never have thought that whales would be seen off Ireland, but it has happened and this Summer when sailing along the West Cork coastline off the Seven Heads two minke whales came within a few hundred yards of my Sigma 33, Scribbler II. My 11-year-old grandson, Oisin, was quickest to fetch a camera from the saloon and get a picture. The excitement of seeing whales so close was huge for him, his younger brother of 9 years, Rowan, even their experienced seafarer father, Cormac and myself. The sight of whales, which followed on dolphins playing around the boat for a while, was a reminder of how the sea has many aspects and that protecting it and its inhabitants is a responsibility on all of us. Later in the week’s cruise, for which we were blessed with one of the best weeks of the season, the sight of plastic debris floating along and sea grass despoiling the lovely village environs of Courtmacsherry, was another reminder – of how humans are damaging the marine environment.
Also in the programme this week we hear about the plans by Waterways Ireland for the years ahead and the valuable marine reserve asset which Bull Island in Dublin Bay is for the capital city. What is impressive about what is happening there, in my view, is the joint community and public authority efforts to protect it, about which Dublin Council tells us, outlining what combined, joint effort at this level through communities can achieve.
And I hope you’ll get a smile from the tale which Valentia Island native, Dick Robinson, tells us about going to school every day to the mainland, journeying across the bay on the island ferries and how there was learning, not only at school but also aboard and what it taught youngsters about the benefits, believe it or not, of storms hitting the island.

“We were invited into schools in the North Wall and while all the children had grandparents who were dockers, not one of them knew what a docker was, because all of that tradition is gone….”
Amidst the current controversy over where Dublin Port and Dun Laoghaire Harbour will dump what they intend to dredge up in their plans to provide deeper access channels for the larger cruise ships which they both covet and which business they are fighting for, that comment, made to me on the edge of Dublin Bay by a man dedicated to preserving the maritime traditions of the port, should give cause for thought about where all the commercial development has taken the communities which once bounded in Dublin Port and lived from the jobs it provided.
Alan Martin of the Dublin Dock Workers’ Preservation Society was speaking to me, as we sat on the edge of Dublin Bay, for the current edition of my maritime programme, THIS ISLAND NATION. We could hear the sound of seagulls wheeling in the sky, the rumble of noise emanating from the docks, ships passed in and out, as we talked and he had a reality check for me. He told me that 40,000 jobs have gone from the capital’s port since the time when dock labour sustained viable communities.
“Why do the people of Dublin seem to know so little about the place of the docks in the history of Liffeyside and how their role was once the heart-and-soul of Dublin Port, its shipping and its commerce?”
There are many voluntary organisations doing great work in the marine sphere, without whom much of the maritime culture, history and tradition would be lost. The Dublin Port and Dock Workers’ Preservation Society, set up to preserve the history of Dublin Port, is definitely one such. The interview Alan Martin gave me is revealing. They have encountered many obstacles in their self-imposed task.
He surprised me with his revelations about the extent of the maritime-associated jobs that have been lost and the port-side communities which have suffered in the drive towards modernity. He made strong points about how Dublin’s marine traditions can be preserved and turned into a modern, vibrant, beneficial culture for the benefit of the city.
This offers a bridge from the past to the future, effectively a conveyance of pride in past experience to benefit modern life. Other port communities could, with benefit, replicate the commitment of the Dublin Dock Workers’ Preservation Society.
It was an interview I enjoyed doing and I think you will enjoy listening to. I am fortunate to work as a marine journalist and to meet exceptional people in the ports and maritime communities. So it is good to report in this programme, a positive attitude amongst young people in coastal areas, many of whom are joining the lifeboat service. Also featured in this edition of the programme is the delight of a coastal town when it gets a new lifeboat, as I found in Youghal in East Cork.
And there is always something interesting and unusual about the sea to report, such as the 467 million years old sea scorpion found in a river in Iowa in the USA.

Listen to the programme by clicking at the top of the page

#MarineWildlife - A humpback whale new to Irish waters has been confirmed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).

Photos of the humpback's fluke and dorsal fin captured by Nick Massett off Clogher and Sybil Heads in West Kerry at the weekend were examined by the IWDG's catalogue experts who have determined that the whale is a new arrival - and one with a fluke colouring that's rarely seen in Irish waters.

Details have since been sent to Allied Whale in the US state of Maine - which curates the North Atlantic humpback whale catalogue - to see if a match can be made among its database of more than 7,000 fluke images.

Meanwhile, Wildlife Extra reports that sailors in the Irish Sea are urged to keep a lookout for a large group of minke whales.

The group includes three juveniles and a calf previously spotted some 19 miles east of Ireland's Eye near Howth.

"Although sightings of Minke whale are to be expected in these waters, such a large group is a rare occurrence," said Danielle Gibas, sightings officer with the UK's Sea Watch Foundation, which is organising Britain's annual National Whale and Dolphin Watch this week till 3 August.

And in other cetacean news, scientists claim that dolphins call each other by name, calling back to the sound of their signature whistle but ignoring whistles that aren't theirs.

Herald.ie reports on the findings by marine scientists at the University of St Andrews, who studied a bottlenose dolphin group off the east coast of Scotland.

Using underwater speakers, they played synthesised versions of dolphin whistles they'd identified with particular dolphins to determine their reactions.

They were surprised to find that individuals called back after hearing their own 'name' but ignored others, whether they were for dolphins in the same group or strangers.