The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport advises that INFOMAR will undertake a hydrographic and geographic survey operation in the Celtic Sea and Atlantic Ocean for six months from this April.

The massive operation will involve research vessels from Geological Survey Ireland (Keary, Geo, Lir, Gale and Mallet) and the Marine Institute (Celtic Voyager and Celtic Explorer) in a variety of surveys — along the South-West Coast from Roaringwater Bay to Kilkee, and offshore south of Mizen Head and between Kerry Head and the Aran Islands.

All vessels will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the survey, and will display appropriate lights and markers. The RVs Celtic Voyager and Celtic Explorer will also be towing a magnetometer sensor with a single cable up to 200m in length, and a moving vessel profiler cable of variable length up to 200m.

Full details of the surveys, including dates, maps and coordinates, can be found in Marine Notice No 10 of 2021, a PDF of which can be downloaded below.

Major expansion works were set to begin today (Thursday 4 March) for Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre at Dinish Wharf.

Works on the €23.5 million project, which had been due to begin in late 2018, will continue on the site until March 2022 and include, but are not limited to:

• Construction of a new quay structure approximately 216m at Dinish Island, including all associated infilling and land reclamation.
• Dredging of a berthing pocket adjacent to the new wharf extension by dredging to a depth of -8.0m Chart Datum.
• Dredging of a navigation channel to a depth of -6.5m Chart Datum.
• Construction of two new breakwater structures.
• Construction of a reclamation area to act as a quay/storage hinterland area.
• Provision of all water, electrical and fuels services.
• Heavy-duty pavement surfacing to new wharf/quay structure area.
• Ancillary marine facilities and services.
• Relocation of navigation lights.
• Revised security and access arrangements for quay facilities.

Civil engineering crews will operate from the adjacent lands, existing harbour infrastructure and from jack-up barges, pontoons, heavy civil engineering plant and machinery, work vessels and platforms. Divers are also employed on site.

For safety reasons, mariners are advised to proceed slowly and with caution in the approach channel to the inner harbour and within the inner harbour area and to give the works a clear berth. Wave-wash from vessels should also be avoided.

The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport advises that a survey to investigate the use of fibre-optic cables in site investigations will be carried out in the North Irish Sea next month.

This survey from 16-25 March is being carried out in support of ongoing research at the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG).

The equipment and techniques to be used include:

• Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) using fibre-optic cables: A 1000m length of fibre optic cable will be placed temporarily on the seabed in order to carry out the survey. The position of the cable will be marked using surface buoys.
• OBS deployment: Two ocean bottom seismometers will be deployed and will remain in position until retrieval at the end of the survey.
• Sparker seismic profiling: This will be carried out as mobile work towing a transducer a short distance behind the work vessel.

The survey will be conducted by the RV Celtic Voyager (Callsign EIQN) and Fionn Mac Cumhaill (Callsign EIDN2). The two vessels will work close by each other and the latter is assisting with marine mammal observer work.

The vessels will display appropriate lights and signals. Mariners should note that seismic surveying using DAS equipment will be performed during daylight hours.

Further details including relevant coordinates can be found in Marine Notice No 08 of 2021, a PDF of which can be downloaded below.

The Loughs Agency advises that it will carry out the SeaMonitor-EU Interreg Project (Survey CV21003) from Saturday 27 February to Friday 5 March.

The survey is being carried out in the North Channel in support of EU InterregVA project SeaMonitor.

A total of 108 Acoustic Listening Stations (ALS) are planned to be deployed at different locations covering a total of 63km between Malin Head in Co Donegal and Portnahaven on the Isle of Islay in western Scotland.

The first ALS on the Irish side is located 0.5 nautical miles from Inishtralhull Island at a depth of 20m. On the Scottish side, the first ALS is located 0.5nm from the shore at depths of 20-30m.

The survey will be conducted by the RV Celtic Voyager (Callsign EIQN) which will display appropriate lights and signals. Operations will be carried out during daylight hours to facilitate a safe deployment of acoustic receivers on the sea bed.

Further details including relevant coordinates can be found in Marine Notice No 07 of 2021, a PDF of which can be downloaded below.

Mariners have been given notice of a series of geophysical surveys for the Dublin Array Wind Farm taking place between next week and early May.

The Dublin Array is a project on the Kish and Bray banks some 10 km off the east coast of Ireland, immediately south of Dublin.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the proposed Irish-German venture could see as many as 100 wind turbines generate power for more than half a million homes.

Fugro GB Marine Limited has been contracted for the geophysical surveys to characterise the offshore array and export cable search area, including exploring possible landfall options at Shanganagh Park and Poolbeg.

Operations across a total of four vessels are expected to begin next Tuesday 9 February and continue until Tuesday 11 May.

Details of the surveys and their coordinates are included in Fugro’s notice to mariners, which can be downloaded below.

A collision involving a yacht and a tanker in August 2019 has prompted a reminder for boaters to brush up on the “rules of the road” for seafarers in the Department of Transport’s latest Marine Notice.

The 38ft yacht Medi Mode sustained extensive damage following the collision with the 88m chemical tanker off Greystones on the night of 23 August 2019. No one was injured in the incident.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) report into the collision called on the Minister for Transport to alert recreational sailors and motorboat users to the need for “appropriate training” and compliance with international regulations on prevention of collisions at sea.

However, the two airline pilots who were sailing the yacht disputed the MCIB report’s criticism of their experience despite their lack of formal navigation qualifications.

Marine Notice No 05 of 2021 is available to download below.

The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport brings the attention of fishing boat owners, skippers and crew to the safety provisions of the Code of Practice for fishing vessels less than 15m length overall.

It follows the publication last month of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board’s (MCIB) report into an incident on the FV Kayleigh off Sheep’s Head in West Cork in March last year.

The vessel sank after a fire broke out in its engine compartment on the night of 3 March 2020.

Two crew with burn injuries caused by a fireball were recovered from a life raft at the scene and the vessel was abandoned, presumed to have sunk the following day.

In its analysis of the incident, the MCIB found that the crew’s injuries “may have been avoided if [they] had remembered to carry out the procedures for entering a compartment known to contain a fire”.

Marine Notice No 04 of 2021 outlines pertinent information for fishing vessel owners, skippers and crew including firefighting training requirements, and guidelines for fire detection and alarm systems on board.

The full notice is available to download below.

The first and second legs of the annual Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey (IAMS 2021) will be carried out from Monday 8 February to Thursday 4 March.

As with previous years, IAMS 2021 is a demersal trawl survey consisting of approximately 110 otter trawls (60 minutes) in ICES areas 7b, 7c, 7g, 7h, 7j and 7k off the West, South West and South Coasts of Ireland by the Marine Institute in fulfilment of Ireland’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) obligations.

The survey will be conducted by the RV Celtic Explorer (Callsign: EIGB) which will be towing a Jackson demersal trawl during fishing operations and will display appropriate lights and signals.

Commercial fishing and other marine operators are requested to keep a three-nautical-mile radius area around the tow points (indicated below) clear of any gear or apparatus during the survey period outlined above.

Further details of the survey, including co-ordinates of the survey stations, are included in Marine Notice No 03 of 2021, a PDF of which is available to download below.

The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport draws attention to the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship) Rules 2020 which were made law by Statutory Instrument on 15 December.

This new legislation provides a national regulatory regime for passenger ships of less than 24 metres in length and constructed of steel or aluminium on or after 1 July 1998 and engaged on domestic voyages.

Exempted from these rules are high-speed passenger craft, to which the European Union (Passenger Ships) Regulations 2019 (SI No 676 of 2019) apply.

The rules maintain an appropriate safety regime for such passenger ships following changes that took effect in 2019 in associated European Union legislation. They include safety standards and requirements in relation to ship construction, fire protection, life-saving appliances and radio communications.

A full briefing on the new rules is included in Marine Notice No 02 of 2021, a PDF of which is available to download below.

The Department of Transport has re-established a panel of surveyors to conduct surveys of small fishing vessels of less than 15m for compliance with the relevant Code of Practice, which was recently under review.

The panel was established three weeks ago on Wednesday 23 December and will continue until 22 December 2023. Contact details for all six panelists are included in Marine Notice No 01 of 2021, a PDF of which is available to download below.