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Coastal Development in Ireland
The TSHD Taccola will conduct dredging of berths and navigation channels in the Port of Cork from next week
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…
A sightseeing customer on board the Ballycotton based marine leisure tour operator's boat while offshore of the so called 'ghost' ship Alta that ran aground to become the wreck. AFLOAT also adds the 2,295 gross tonnage cargoship built at a Norwegian shioyard in 1976 as Tananger served firstly as a pallet-carrier along the fjords. During a 40 year plus career the small cargoship was renamed six times.
On the Cork coast a marine leisure company has been blown away by the demand from sightseers to catch a glimpse of the ghost ship which ran ashore six months ago, while there are now renewed calls for authorities to…
Want to know more about the rich maritime heritage of Derry/Londonderry? We got you covered! Check out the north-west city's museum with its vast maritime archive listings online - see & click the link below
In Derry~Londonderry the Tower Museum recently released some fascinating new 'online' collections celebrating the north-west city-port and district’s rich maritime heritage. Detailed diaries from transatlantic journeys and lists of the museum’s archive collection are among the information being made public…
The Fingal Coastal Way will connect Donabate with the Dublin-Meath county boundary between Balbriggan and Drogheda
Fingal County Council has welcomed the allocation of €200,000 towards the Fingal Coastal Way, a 32km recreational walking and cycling route stretching from Newbridge Demesne in Donabate to the county boundary between Balbriggan and Drogheda. Awarded under the Carbon Tax…
Oarweed found in Britain and Ireland is distinct from two other genetic groups in the North Atlantic, with closer relation to high Arctic kelp
Kelp found on the coast of Ireland may have survived some 16,000 years since the last ice age, scientists have discovered — and it could be crucial to understanding how marine plants deal with climate change long-term. According to AOL…
White Strand at Miltown Malbay, Co Clare
Clare County Council has confirmed that boats can be launched from the slipway at White Strand in Miltown Malbay following confusion over alleged changes to area bye-laws. Local boaters had contacted Afloat.ie to express concern over claims that the slipway…
Waterford estuary – permission has been quashed to dredge for razor shells
Coastwatch has welcomed a High Court decision closing the Waterford estuary to razor shell dredging without proper environmental assessment. The ruling has implications for fishing activity on marine sites which are designated as Natura 2000 locations, Coastwatch director Karin Dubksy…
Plastic litter on rocks at Ardglass beach in Co Down
Discarded plastic is the predominant form of litter on Northern Ireland’s beaches, according to a new survey by a local environmental group. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, the survey by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful estimates that plastic — most of…
Kevin Baird (Bangor Marina Manager and Harbour Master) with the Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Trevor Cummings
The Ards and North Down coastal area has done well by winning awards for excellence in facilities, environmental management, environmental education, accessibility and safety. Bangor Marina has been awarded the internationally renowned Blue Flag for the 2020 season. The Blue…
Online Survey To Help Classify Ireland’s Seascapes
A new online survey aims to deepen our understanding of Ireland’s ‘seascapes’. Commissioned by the Marine Institute, the survey seeks responses from the public that will help identify classify and describe Ireland’s the essential character of Ireland’s coastal areas and…
Dun Laoghaire Baths project in Scotsman's Bay
Shoreward photography taken at the weekend of the new Dun Laoghaire Baths shows that significant progress has been made in all areas of but overall progress is slower than anticipated meaning the project that began two years ago will not…
Aerial view of Ballyliffin Golf Club
A golf links which hosted the the Irish Open in 2018 is one of a number of amenities on the Inishowen Peninsula that faces threat from coastal erosion. As RTÉ News reports, local communities fear that it may only take…
Shellfish Pickers Warned Over Toxicity Levels
The public has been warned against against recreational gathering of shellfish such as mussels, clams, cockles or oysters over increased levels of illness-causing toxins. Routine shellfish monitoring by the Marine Institute along South West and West coasts detected increased levels…
File image of Dún Mór Head on the Dingle Peninsula
RTÉ News is reporting that a body has been found in the search for a missing man on the Dingle Peninsula. As previously noted on Afloat.ie, was last seen early on Saturday, 20 June, and locals believed he may have…
The Baltimore Ferry to Sherkin Island in West Cork
Coastal Communities are the focus this week on the Marine Institute’s Oceans of Learning series. The Marine Institute and partners are celebrating our world’s shared ocean and our connection to the sea in a 10-week series, sharing news and offering…
The Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare
In Ireland, 1.9 million people live within 5km of the coast and many communities along the Irish coast depend on industries such as tourism, fishing and aquaculture. Furthermore, there is now mounting evidence that the ocean plays a key role…

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.