The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport advises of “serious safety risks” for vessels” around plans by the Russian military to conduct live-fire exercises off the Cork coast from next week.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, concerns have been raised over what’s been termed as a “major” military exercise by the Russian navy and air force in international waters in the Atlantic, some 240km off Co Cork but within Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Marine Notice No 06 of 2022 — which is attached below — provides coordinates of the area where the naval manoeuvres will be conducted between next Thursday 3 and Tuesday 8 February.

“The Russian Federation has indicated that the exercises will include the use of naval artillery and launching of rockets,” the notice emphasises.

“Given the nature of the planned exercises and the presence of naval forces, vessels and crew are advised of serious safety risks in the operational area. Masters should navigate their vessel to ensure safety at all times.”

The notice comes as the Irish fishing fleet have been assured that their fishing grounds will not be affected by the military exercise.

As the Irish Examiner reports, fishing industry representatives met Russian ambassador Yury Filatov upon his invitation to discuss the planned naval and air force drills and it was agreed that there will be a “buffer zone” in place between Russian vessels and fishing trawlers, pending approval from Moscow.

Brendan Byrne of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association said following the meeting: “It has been a very good day for the Irish fishing industry.”

Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation chief Patrick Murphy added that it was up to individual fishing trawlers as to whether they will fish the affected grounds, which open on 1 February.

Concerns have also been expressed about the potential impact on marine wildlife in the area, including vulnerable deep-water whale species. Afloat.ie has more HERE.

Survey operations conducted by an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) are taking place in Dundalk Bay this week.

The remotely piloted X-09 — from Greenore-based Xocean — was scheduled to launch from Clogherhead, Co Louth today, Tuesday 25 January, for the weeklong survey.

It will be engaged in survey activities supporting environmental research in the area. The survey will utilise multibeam echosounder to characterise the seabed across the site.

The USV sends real-time images and situational awareness data over satellite to a team of operators keeping watch and controlling the vessel remotely 24/7.

A Radio Navigation Warning will be in place during operations, and the USV has been made conspicuous to other marine traffic via its yellow superstructure, AIS, navigation lights and sound signal, and active radar reflector.

Coordinates and maps of the survey area are included in Marine Notice No 05 of 2022, attached below.

All other vessels operating within this area are requested to avoid contact with the USV and be aware of the operational area during this period.

The first and second legs of this year’s Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (IAMS 2022) will be carried out from next Saturday 5 February to Tuesday 1 March.

Surveys will be conducted to the West, Southwest and South Coasts of Ireland by the Marine Institute in fulfilment of Ireland’s obligations under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

IAMS is a demersal trawl survey consisting of approximately 110 otter trawls, each of 60 minutes duration, in ICES areas 7b, 7c, 7g, 7h, 7j and 7k.

Fishing in 2022 will take place within a three-nautical-mile radius of the positions indicated in Appendices 1 and 2 of Marine Notice No 04 of 2022, a PDF of which is attached 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 Jackson demersal trawl during fishing operations.

The Marine Institute requests that commercial fishing and other marine operators keep a 3nm radius area around the tow points clear of any gear or apparatus during the survey period.

Further details are included in the Marine Notice below.

Marine data company Partrac is planning to deploy Metocean instrumentation at the North Ireland Sea Area (NISA) over a two-day period from tomorrow, Monday 17 January.

The survey campaign covers two sites in NISA off North Co Dublin, Meath and Louth. Site A instruments will remain deployed for 12 months, while Site B instruments will be deployed for six months.

Both sites will have an accompanying guard buoy and wave buoy. The guard buoys are Poseidon 1750 Ocean Buoys, which have a hull diameter of 1.75m and height above water level of 2.6m. Both will be yellow in colour and display St Andrew’s Cross day shapes.

They will be fitted with a radar reflector and a navigation light with a 3nm range, flashing sequence: Fl (5) Y 20s. The guard buoy deployed at Site A will also be fitted with AIS.

The wave buoys are yellow spherical buoys with a diameter of approximately 1.1m, fitted with a yellow navigation light with a 3nm range, flashing sequence: Fl (5) Y 20s.

A Damen Shoalbuster 2409 versatile multi-purpose and shallow draft tug named AMS Retriever (Callsign MEHI8) will carry out the work.

During operations the vessel will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre. Other vessels are requested to leave a wide berth during the deployment operations. Radio transmissions will be conducted with other seafarers to notify them of the operations.

Coordinates of the deployments, a map of the array area and contact details are included in Marine Notice No 03 of 2022, attached below.

Further to previous installation works on the Havhingsten fibre optic telecommunication cable system in the Irish Sea, post-lay inspection and burial (PLIB) of the cable is planned to begin later this week.

Works outside Irish and Isle of Man territorial waters are will start on Friday 14 January and continue until next Thursday 20 January, subject to weather.

It is advised that extra care is taken when vessels are operating near this area and that no vessel should trawl within 500m.

Installation will be via industry-standard burial tools including water jetting with remote operated vehicle (ROV). The target cable burial depth is 1.5m below seabed level in the region.

There will be two locations where PLIB will be performed: at Final Splice (FS) location outside Irish territorial waters, and at Branching Unit (BU) location outside of Isle of Man territorial waters.

The operations will be conducted by the cable installation vessel CS Ile d’Aix (callsign FICI) which will be working on a 24-hour basis, and will display appropriate day shapes and lights during reduced visibility and night operations.

All vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

For more information, including coordinates and contact details, see Marine Notice No 01 of 2022 attached below.

Following a review of current circumstances locally and internationally by the HSE and Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), it has been decided to stand down the health reporting requirements around COVID-19 set out in Marine Notice No 06 of 2020.

As of Monday 10 January, there is no longer a requirement for every vessel arriving in Ireland from outside the island of Ireland to issue a Maritime Declaration of Health (MDOH).

In line with the requirements of the Infectious Diseases (Shipping) Regulations 2008 (SI No 4 of 2008), a vessel need only submit a MDOH when:

1. There is a case, or a suspected case, of an infectious disease on board and this has resulted in illness or death, or
2. upon a request to do so as part of a local arrangement with local port health authorities.

Further queries relating to the submission of MDOHs may be directed to the Environmental Health Service at [email protected]. Additional guidance on COVID-19 in Ireland is available from the HSE.

The Department of Transport adds that Marine Notice No 06 of 2020 is hereby withdrawn.

The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport advises that the Informing and Mapping the Offshore Renewable Environment (I-MORE) Survey will be carried out in the North Irish Sea from early in the New Year.

From 4-13 January 2022, the RV Celtic Explorer (callsign EIGB) will carry out the survey on a 24-hour schedule using the Manta–200 Seabed Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) system.

The aim of this survey is to gather critical seabed data to feed into existing postdoc and group research across a range of disciplines, including marine geotechnics and physical geology, to better understand the geology and engineering properties of the sediment in this area and to identify potential geohazards to infrastructure development.

Map of the proposed iMORE survey area

Coodinates of the survey area and other details can be found in Marine Notice No 66 of 2021, available to download below.

Further to last week’s Marine Notice advising of the latest works on the Havhingsten fibre optic telecommunication cable system this month, rock placement activities in the Irish Sea are also planned from this weekend.

There are four crossing locations in the Irish Sea where rock placement will be installed from this Saturday 11 December, but only one will be within the Irish EEZ, at the offshore extent.

Rock placement will be via industry standard, and activity at each site will last for up to 15 hours.

The operations will be conducted by the cable installation vessel Stornes (callsign PCKX), which will operate on a 24-hour basis and display appropriate day shapes and lights during reduced visibility and night operations.

All vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Further details, including relevant coordinates and contact information, can be found in Marine Notice No 65 of 2021 which is available to download below.

Installation of the Havhingsten fibre optic telecommunication cable system in the Irish Sea inside of the Irish 12-nautical-mile zone is planned for this month.

It follows works this past autumn in the Irish Sea outside of territorial waters, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Works are planned to start on Monday 13 December, subject to weather and full execution of the foreshore licence.

The latest operations on the cable route for the western Irish Sea region, which lands at Loughshinny, will be conducted by the cable installation vessel CS Île de Batz (callsign FOSU).

It will be working on a 24-hour basis and will display appropriate day shapes and lights during reduced visibility and night operations.

All other vessels operating within its work area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Details of the coordinates of the work area and contact information can be found in Marine Notice No 64 of 2021, which can be downloaded below.

The second leg of the MOVE 2 survey of the mobility of sediment waves and sand banks will be carried out in the Irish Sea off Wicklow and Wexford from next weekend.

As noted previously on Afloat.ie, reporting on the survey in March this year, it will involve the use of multi-beam echo sounders and sub-bottom profilers at various sites, and sediment grabs samples will also be taken.

Survey operations will be carried out on a 24-hour schedule between Saturday 4 and Monday 13 December by the RV Celtic Voyager (callsign EIQN), which will be displaying appropriate lights and signals.

This survey is being carried out in support of ongoing research at the SFI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research and innovation (MaREI) and the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG).

More on the survey including coordinates and contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 63 of 2021, a PDF of which is available to download below.