The Department of Transport has been advised that the North Irish Sea Array (NISA) intends to undertake a geotechnical site investigation campaign on the proposed offshore wind farm area and cable corridor, off the coast of north Co Dublin, Meath and Louth.

This campaign will be undertaken by N-Sea and Geoquip Marine and will involve the deployment of seabed borehole drilling, cone penetration testing (CPT) and vibrocores from survey vessels at specific locations within the NISA OWF and cable corridor area detailed below.

The campaign will start on Wednesday 1 November and will run for a period of four weeks, subject to weather and operational constraints.

Surveys will be confined to distinct locations within the proposed wind farm array and cable corridor area, a total area of approximately 125 sq km. This wider area forms an irregular shape spanning approximately 16km north-south and 25km east-west at its widest points. The survey area extends to landfall near Bremore. All operations will be within the 12-nautical-mile limit.

The survey area is bounded by points listed and set out in the map included in Marine Notice No 69 of 2023, which is available to download below.

Surveys will be conducted by the Noordhoek Pathfinder (callsign PBYN) and Geoquip Seehorn (callsign 5BSW5) on a 24-hour basis. As the survey vessels will be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre when surveying, due to the deployment of the seabed sampling equipment for the duration of the survey activities, other vessels are kindly requested to keep a wide berth.

The survey vessels will display appropriate lights and signals. Mariners are advised to keep continuous watch on VHF Channel 16 when navigating the area.

Further details, including contact information, can be found in the Marine Notice attached below.

The annual Irish Groundfish Survey (IGFS) for 2023 will be carried out by the Marine Institute off the North West, West and South Coasts of Ireland from Tuesday 31 October to Saturday 16 December.

The IGFS is a demersal trawl survey consisting of approximately 170 fishing hauls of 30-minute duration each in ICES areas VIa, VIIb, VIIg and VIIj.

Fishing will take place within a two-nautical-mile radius of the positions indicated in the appendices to Marine Notice No 68 of 2023, which can be downloaded below.

The survey will be conducted by the RV Celtic Explorer (callsign EIGB) which will display appropriate lights and signals. The vessel will be towing a high headline GOV 36/47 demersal trawl during fishing operations.

The Marine Institute requests that commercial fishing and other marine operators keep a two-nautical-mile area around the tow mid-points clear of any gear or apparatus during the survey period outlined above.

Further details can be found in the Marine Notice attached below.

The Department of Transport has been advised of the deployment of a metocean data buoy by University College Dublin west of Inishmaan, some 6.6 nautical miles off Eeragh Lighthouse on Rock Island.

This deployment is scheduled to take place from Sunday 22 October for a period of up to seven days, subject to weather and operational constraints.

It will be carried out by the MV Chateau-Thierry (callsign EIHK6) which will display appropriate lights and signals.

Navigational warnings will be issued by radio when the marker buoy deployment takes place. A yellow special mark plastic buoy, IALA category 3 and 2.5m in diameter, will be used with a navigation light flashing white every 20 seconds at 4.1 meters above the surface.

Coordinates and a map of the deployment area, as well as contact details, can be found in Marine Notice No 65 of 2023, attached below.

A recent Marine Notice from the Department of Transport draws attention to the recent report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) on an incident involving a fishing vessel in Dingle last year.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, it was found that an incorrectly designed electrical system on the French-registered FV Bikain was the main cause of a serious collision with a pontoon in Dingle Harbour which caused extensive damage on 25 November 2022.

It was established that the design of the electrical system necessitated that emergency batteries were required to be in use at all times for the operation of the vessel, but emergency batteries should only be used for emergency situations when the main power supply fails.

The MCIB has made the following recommendations to owners:

• A list of critical systems should be carried onboard vessels with a maintenance and testing schedule included for each critical system or piece of equipment.
• Records of test and maintenance should be retained onboard.
• Sufficient spares should be carried onboard to enable repair of a vessel’s critical systems in the event of failure.
• Any failure of critical systems should be reported immediately, and a thorough investigation carried out to identify the root cause.

The Department of Transport has been advised by Iarnród Éireann that it intends to undertake a marine benthic ecology survey, geophysical survey and intrusive ground investigation on the proposed offshore renewable energy hub development area surrounding the existing Rosslare Europort, off the coast of Co Wexford.

These site investigation works is expected to be undertaken between this Thursday 5 October and 5 January next year, subject to weather and operational constraints.

The geophysical survey work will involve the deployment of hull-mounted (multibeam echo sounder and high-frequency sub-bottom profiler) and towed geophysical sensors (side-scan sonar, magnetometer and medium-frequency sub-bottom profiler) from a survey vessel. These survey works are anticipated to take place between 5-11 October, subject to weather and operational constraints.

The marine benthic and ecology surveys will involve up to 80nr drop-frame camera survey and, where suitable, grab samples will be obtained. The marine benthic ecology surveys are expected to be completed between this Saturday 7 October and 5 January next year.

The intrusive ground investigation will involve up to 40nr over-water nearshore marine boreholes, up to 40nr over-water nearshore marine cone penetration tests with pore water measurement and up to 60nr over-water nearshore marine gravity corers (vibrocores) carried out from a jack-up barge.

The site investigation shall also comprise relevant in-situ testing. These works are expected to be completed between 30 October and 5 January, subject to weather and operational constraints.

For further details of the survey vessels, relevant maps, coordinates and contact information, see Marine Notice No 66 of 2023 attached below.

The Department of Transport has launched its call for applications for the latest three-year panel of radio surveyors, which will be active from Saturday 21 October.

As with previous iterations, the panel will carry out statutory radio surveys on Irish seagoing vessels, including fishing vessels greater than 15m LOA, for compliance with the relevant requirements.

More details are available in Marine Notice No 63 of 2023, attached below.

The Department of Transport has been advised by Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water) that it will carry out a benthic survey from Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 September, subject to weather and operational constraints.

The survey will take place in the vicinity of the proposed Greater Dublin Drainage (GDD) outfall route and diffuser location, east of Portmarnock Beach and north of Ireland’s Eye.

Survey operations will be undertaken at eight sampling locations using the local work vessel Ros Áine (callsign EIZG5). The vessel will mobilise the scientific equipment from Howth and will operate onsite daily during daylight hours only.

Each sample site will be subjected to a seabed investigation where a sampler or dropdown camera will be in momentary contact with the seabed. Neither the equipment nor the vessel will be anchored to the seabed at any time.

The work vessel will display appropriate shapes and lights during operations and can be contacted via VHF Channel 16. All other marine traffic is requested to maintain a wide berth whilst operations are under way.

Coordinates and a map of the survey areas as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 56 of 2023, attached below.

The Department of Transport has been advised by Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) that the Marine Institute will undertake site investigation survey works at the Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site (AMETS) in Co Mayo.

The survey is expected to be completed over a 10-day period from Sunday 17 September, subject to weather and operational constraints.

Geophysical and geotechnical survey work and benthic sampling will be carried out at Test Area A, 16km from Belderra Strand, and Test Area B, 6km from Belderra Strand on the Erris Peninsula. Benthic sampling will be carried out along the proposed cable corridor at AMETS.

The survey vessel RV Celtic Explorer (callsign EIGB) will carry out the site investigation works. Throughout operations, the vessel will be displaying appropriate lights and shapes, and will also be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre.

Other vessels operating in the AMETS area are requested to give the survey vessel a wide berth during survey operations. Mariners are also advised to keep continuous watch on VHF Channel 16 when navigating the survey area at AMETS.

Coordinates and a map of the survey areas as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 55 of 2023, attached below.

The Department of Transport advises that Hydromaster will undertake a geophysical survey campaign in relation to the Clogherhead Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Co Louth.

The survey is expected to run from Monday 11 September to Saturday 18 November, subject to operational and weather constraints.

Works will be conducted by the Ros Áine (callsign EIZG5) using multi-beam echo sounders, sub-bottom profilers, side-scan sonars, magnetometers and ultra-high-resolution survey equipment.

Geophysical equipment will be both hull-mounted and towed. Typically, the towed cable lengths will be approximately four times the water depth that the vessel is working in while acquiring survey data.

The work will be conducted during daylight hours only. Throughout operations, the vessel will display the appropriate lights and shapes and will also be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre. Therefore, passing vessels are requested to leave a wide berth.

Radio transmissions will be conducted with other seafarers to notify them of ongoing operations. Mariners are advised to keep continuous watch on VHF radio channel 16 when navigating the area. The survey vessel shall monitor this channel continuously for safety purposes.

Coordinates and a map of the survey area as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 57 of 2023, attached below.

The Department of Transport has been advised by Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta (FST) that a geophysical seabed survey will take place in the Western Coastal Area (Connemara/Outer Galway Bay/Atlantic Ocean) between Tuesday 5 September and the end of October, subject to weather and operational constraints.

The work follows previously scheduled geotechnical and benthic surveys for the proposed Sceirde Rocks Windfarm in north Galway Bay off southwestern Connemara.

Surveying will be conducted by two vessels: the semi-SWATH catamaran Roman Rebel (callsign 2ICA5), and the Lady Kathleen (callsign EIXT2), a catamaran. Both vessels will conduct 24-hour operations and will display appropriate lights and signals.

During operations, the vessels will be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre. Radio transmissions will be conducted with other seafarers to notify them of the operations. All other vessels are requested to leave a wide berth during the surveys due to the nature of the operations and the work vessels’ limited manoeuvrability. Both vessels will be monitoring VHF Channel 16 at all times for safety purposes.

Coordinates of the survey locations as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 54 of 2023, attached below.