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Displaying items by tag: Tyrella Beach

10th September 2019

Dead Minke Whale Washed Ashore In Co Down

Fishing net around the minke whale’s tail on Tyrella beach

The public has been urged to “stay clear” of a minke whale carcass found washed up on Tyrella beach in Co Down yesterday morning (Monday 9 September).

According to ITV News, the 27ft marine wildlife giant was found with what appeared to be a piece of fishing gear wrapped around its tail — suggesting that it may have been caught up in a net off the coast.

Newcastle Coastguard attended the “distressing scene” on request by NI Fisheries Protection, said BBC News, which also noted that a similar whale carcass stranded in a Donegal estuary on Lough Swilly a month ago.

Published in Marine Wildlife

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago