The latest Marine Notice from Department of Transport highlights the importance of planning seagoing voyages, especially those involved in fishing.

It follows a recommendation from the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) this summer in its report on the sinking of a West Cork fishing vessel in Ardglass, Co Down last year.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Dillon Owen was entering Ardglass harbour to land its catch and refuel on 23 October last when it grounded, lost power and then drifted onto rocks.

All five crew on board were uninjured and airlifted to safety, but the vessel could not be towed off the rocks at Phennick Point and sank over the following days.

The MCIB report noted that the crew lost valuable time to drop their primary anchor — which would likely have avoided the drift into the rocks in the shallow harbour — by instead focusing on attempts to release the trawl doors.

Also suggested in the report was a call on the Minister for Transport to issue a Marine Notice for fishing vessel owners and operators to develop contingency plans and drills for such incidents.

Full details are available in Marine Notice No 41 of 2020, a PDF of which is available to download below.

Mariners in the vicinity of the Corrib Gas Field are advised of electrical fault-finding works at the field’s subsea infrastructure set for later this month.

Works conducted from the Edda Sun (callsign LARF7) will begin on or around next Friday 18 September and will last for up to 10 days. The work vessel will be listening on VHF channel 16 throughout the project.

Details of co-ordinates of the search and repair area are included in Marine Notice No 39 of 2020, which is attached below.

A call for applications has been launched for the latest three-year panel of radio surveyors.

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

Interested parties can access the tender information, and must submit their application, via the eTenders portal before 3pm on Monday 28 September.

More details are available in Marine Notice No 40 of 2020 which is attached below.

A new survey from the Irish Maritime Administration (IMA) of the Department of Transport encourages feedback regarding its communication with stakeholders and service users.

Marine Notices are one method used to communicate important information by the IMA and its divisions, which include the Marine Survey Office, Maritime Transport Division, Maritime Safety Policy Division, Marine Mercantile Office, Maritime Service Division and the Irish Coast Guard.

“The survey is an opportunity for you to provide helpful feedback and will assist the IMA to improve how communicate sand engages with its many and varied stakeholders and service users,” the administration says.

The IMA survey can be found HERE.

Survey works for a proposed new submarine communications cable between Ireland and Iceland will be conducted from next week.

The hydrographic survey is due to take place from next Thursday 10 September and will be completed by early November.

Works during the 24/7 cable route survey will involve the stern deployment of a sonar towfish, tethered with steel cable at varying water depths, to collect geophysical/bathymetric mapping data for the proposed undersea telecommunications cable along a 540km route.

The survey will be conducted from the RV Ridley Thomas (Callsign V7JK2), which will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre.

All other vessels, including fishing vessels, are requested to maintain distance of at least one nautical mile at all times.

Co-ordinates of the search area as well as relevant contact details are included in Marine Notice No 37 of 2020, which is available to download below.

The Irish Coast Guard has proposed a series of changes to its VHF working channels later this year.

The move follows amendments to transmitting frequencies in order to harmonise the VHF maritime mobile band internationally, which also require the coastguard to upgrade its radio equipment at a number of sites.

These upgrades are expected to take place between Monday 5 October and mid December, with dates for the channel changeovers yet to be confirmed. The affected remote sites are listed below:

The remaining sites of Carlingford, Wicklow, Mizen Head, Galway, Clew Bay, Donegal Bay, Galley Head, Lough Ree and Lough Derg will retain their currently assigned channel.

Channel 16 will remain available at each remote site for distress, safety and calling and will not be affected by these changes. Channel 67is also available when required but may not be actively monitored at all times.

As the upgrade work progresses, the Irish Coast Guard will inform the public that a channel has changed by the following means:

• By broadcasting on the channel that will be changing in the days leading up to the switchover
• The Irish Coast Guard’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
• Updated information on the gov.ie website and the Safety on the Water website.

Further queries are directed to the coastguard at [email protected]

The Port of Cork reminds mariners that maintenance dredging will be taking place in Cork Harbour on all main shipping channels and berths from this Wednesday 19 August.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the dredging campaign by the TSHD Taccola will progress 24 hours a day until late September.

It follows a prior survey conducted last week, and bed levelling operations which began yesterday, Sunday 16 August.

Mariners are requested to navigate with caution when in the vicinity of the work craft, to pass by as wide a margin as possible and proceed with minimum wash and speed.

The latest Marine Notice from the Irish Maritime Administration compiles links to a series of updated notices from the European Commission on the legal and practical implications arising at the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December this year.

The seven readiness notices comprise the following:

• Getting ready for changes: Communication on readiness at the end of the transition period between the European Union and the United Kingdom, published on 9 July 2020
• Notice to stakeholders in the field of maritime transport, published on 4 June 2020 (replacing the Commission notices dated 27 February 2018 (maritime transport) and 11 October 2019 (seafarer qualifications, Rev 1)
• Notice to stakeholders on EU rules in the field of ship recycling, published on 8 June 2020 (replacing the Commission notice dated 28 March 2018)
• Notice to stakeholders in the field of industrial products, published on 13 March 2020 (replacing the Commission notice dated 22 January 2018 and the Q&A document dated 1 February 2019) — The products covered by this notice include recreational craft and personal watercraft and marine equipment as listed in the annex
• Notice to stakeholders in the field of recreational craft and personal watercraft, published on 25 June 2020 (replacing the Commission notice dated 5 April 2019)
• Notice to stakeholders in the field of aviation security and maritime security, published on 28 April 2020 (replacing the Commission notice dated 23 October 2018)
• Notice to stakeholders on EU rules on the monitoring and verification of CO2 emissions from maritime transport, published on 16 July 2020 (replacing the Commission notice dated 19 December 2018)

The Commission Communication of 9 July 2020 highlights the importance for stakeholders of ensuring their readiness for the automatic changes arising following the end of the transition period as of 1 January 2021.

These Commission-published notices are intended to facilitate preparation by EU-27 member states and by wider stakeholders in the areas concerned for the end of the UK’s transition period on 31 December 2020.

Maintenance dredging of all main navigation channels and berths within the Port of Cork is set to begin, with various stages between now and late September.

A survey of the harbour by the vessel Norse is scheduled to commence this Thursday 13 August, which will be followed by bed levelling operations by the Afon Liigwy from next Sunday 16 August.

The main dredging campaign by the TSHD Taccola will then progress from Wednesday 19 August over the following six weeks, as per the port's marine notice (available to download below).

Operations will continue 24 hours a day. When engaged in dredging, the vessels will display all required lights and shapes.

Mariners are requested to navigate with caution when in the vicinity of the work craft, to pass by as wide a margin as possible and proceed with minimum wash and speed.

Port operations and the aforementioned vessels may be contacted on VHF channel 12 to obtain further details pertaining to the dredging operations for the duration of the campaign.

Following the recent deployment of Metocean devices to provide data for the development of the Arklow Bank Wind Park, a geotechnical survey will take place in the same areas of the Irish sea off the Wicklow coast in the coming weeks.

The survey will start in late August or early September, weather depending, and will continue to November. Survey activity will involve drilling around 15 boreholes in the area detailed in Marine Notice No 33 of 2020, available to download below.

Survey works will be conducted by contractor Geoquip Marine using the Geoquip Saentis (Callsign C6UM8), an 80m dynamically positioned specialist survey vessel.

The Geoquip Saentis will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre during its 24/7 survey operations, and other vessels in the are are requested to leave a wide berth.