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Displaying items by tag: Emily Hegarty

#Rowing: Ireland's ambitions of booking a slot for a fifth boat at Tokyo 2020 came up short. The Ireland four of Tara Hanlon, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty had the difficult task of taking a top-two place in their B Final. They found their pace coming up to the line, but Britain, in lane five, and Canada in lane six took the crucial spots, with Ireland finishing fourth behind third-placed China.

The crosswind was a problem during the race and immediately afterwards the authorities redrew the lanes to acknowledge that lanes five and six were favoured.

World Rowing Championshiops, Linz-Ottensheim, Day Seven (Irish interest)

Women

Four - B Final (First Two book Olympic places for boat): 1 Britain 6:55.08, 2 Canada 6:56.99; 3 China 7:02.28, 4 Ireland Ireland (T Hanlon, E Lambe, A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:02.71.

Pair - B Final (First Five book Olympic places for boat): 1 Romania 7:18.88, 2 Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:20.68.

Lightweight Double Sculls - C Final (Places 13 to 18) 1 China 7:00.82; 5 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:10.52.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland women’s four gave a good account of themselves on their first competitive outing together, just missing out on direct qualification from their heat of the World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria.

 Tara Hanlon, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty came up against Australia, who were dominant, and the United States, who overcame a poor start to take the second available semi-final spot. The Ireland crew pushed them right to line, with just 1.89 seconds between them at the finish.  

World Rowing Championships, Linz, Austria, Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat One (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 6 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:50.51.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Three to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (F McCarthy, P O’Donovan) 6:28.02

Women

Four – Heat One (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 3 Ireland (T Hanlon, E Lambe, A Keogh, E Hegarty) 6:44.72.

Pair – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 2 Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:13.30

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 4 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:25.62.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland women’s four which took silver at the World Under-23 Championships in Florida are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for July.

 It was a month of outstanding achievements for Ireland rowers. The men’s double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne and the lightweight double of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy both took silver medals at the World Cup regatta in Rotterdam – Paul O’Donovan fishing a stroke coach from the water and immediately getting back to racing. Gary O’Donovan took bronze in the lightweight single sculls.

 The Irish Championships was the biggest ever, featuring the emergence of new young crews such as junior single sculls champion Holly Davis, and capped off with wins in the women’s senior eight for NUIG/Castleconnell and the men’s senior eight for UCD. Davis (14) went on to win gold in the junior single sculls the Home International Regatta, and the men’s junior eight, pair and quadruple also won gold.

 Three Irish crews – UCD, Commercial and Skibbereen’s Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Dricoll – reached semi-finals at Henley Royal Regatta.  

 The World Under-23 Championships in Sarasota Bradenton saw the men’s coxed four take seventh, the lightweight women’s double fourth, and the lightweight men’s quadruple take a bronze medal.

 The achievement of the women’s under-23 four of Claire Feerick (Neptune), Eimear Lambe (UCD), Tara Hanlon (UCC) and Emily Hegarty (UCC) was historic. They became the first Ireland women’s crew in a sweep event to take a medal at a World Championships.  

  They are the Afloat Rowers of the Month.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2019 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowing: Ireland took a silver medal at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships today through the women’s four of Claire Feerick, Eimear Lambe, Tara Hanlon and Emily Hegarty, who swapped into the stroke seat for Lambe.

 Britain and Ireland swept into the lead early and were clear of the rest in the final quarter. Britain found just enough to beat Ireland by 1.46 seconds.

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota Bradenton, Florida (Irish interest)

Women

Four – A Final: 1 Britain 6:34.22, 2 Ireland (C Feerick, E Lambe, T Hanlon, E Hegarty) 6:35.68, 3 United States 6:39.89.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland took third place in a fast heat of the women’s four at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton in Florida.

 The winner alone went directly through to the A Final. The United States claimed this spot, with Britain and Ireland closing fast coming to the line. This was much the faster of the two heats.

 The Ireland crew of Claire Feerick, Emily Hegarty, Tara Hanlon and Eimear Lambe would hope to qualify through their repechage on Thursday.

 

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota-Bradenton, United States (Irish interest)

Men

Four, coxed – Heat Two (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Australia 6:11.99; 4 Ireland (B O’Rourke, R Corrigan, D Lynch, J Quinlan; cox: E Finnegan) 6:18.79.

Women

Four – Heat One (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechages): 1 United States 6:32.15; 2 Britain 6:32.96, 3 Ireland (C Feerick, E Hegarty, T Hanlon, E Lambe) 6:33.10.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland women’s four are set for a B Final on Sunday after finishing sixth in their semi-final at the World Cup Regatta in Poznan. Australia beat the United States One crew after an exciting contest in this semi-final, with China producing good finish speed to take third – and a place in the A Final – from New Zealand.

Ireland’s crew of Tara Hanlon, Monika Dukarska, Aileen Crowley and Emily Hegarty were fifth at halfway, over a length off the top-four, and finished behind Britain Two, who took fifth.

World Cup Regatta, Poznan, Poland – Day Two (Irish interest)

Women

Four – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Australia 6:54.54, 2 United States One 6:55.52, 3 China 6:55.87; 6 Ireland (T Hanlon, M Dukarska, A Crowley, E Hegarty) 7:08.16.

Pair – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 New Zealand 7:32.18, 2 Italy One 7:35.99, 3 China One 7:36.43; 6 Ireland (C Feerick, E Lambe) 7:51.17.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s women’s four joined the women’s pair in the semi-finals of the World Cup regatta in Poland. The top three crews from the fours repechage qualified, but Ireland sat fifth at halfway. Canada moved away and opened a small lead; Ireland sat fourth with 500 metres to go. Croatia, Ireland and Britain Two finished best to take the top three places.  

World Cup Regatta, Poznan, Poland, Day One (Irish interest)

Women

Four

Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Australia 6:32.50, 2 United States Two 6:33.57, 3 Britain 6:35.69; 4 Ireland (T Hanlon, M Dukarska, A Crowley, E Hegarty) 6:38.44. Repechage (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C Final):

1 Croatia 6:47.12, 2 Ireland 6:47.49, 3 Britain Two 6:48.19.

Pair

Heat Two (Winner to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Italy Two 7:07.10; 2 China Two 7:09.55, 3 Ireland (E Lambe, C Feerick) 7:10.31. Repechage One (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; next two to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 United States One 7:15.35, 2 Ireland 7:19.33; 3 Canada One 7:26.52.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland women’s four took fourth in their heat, missing out on direct qualification for the semi-final, at the World Cup Regatta in Poland this morning. The crew of Tara Hanlon, Monika Dukarska, Aileen Crowley and Emily Hegarty will compete in a repechage later today.

 Australia and the United States Two fought it out for the win, with Australia taking top spot. Ireland and Britain battled for the third and final qualification spot, which Britain took.

World Cup Regatta, Poznan, Poland, Day One (Irish interest)

Women

Four

Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Australia 6:32.50, 2 United States Two 6:33.57, 3 Britain 6:35.69; 4 Ireland (T Hanlon, M Dukarska, A Crowley, E Hegarty) 6:38.44.

Pair

Heat Two (Winner to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Italy Two 7:07.10; 2 China Two 7:09.55, 3 Ireland (E Lambe, C Feerick) 7:10.31.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s gold medallists at the World Championships, Paul and Gary O’Donovan and Sanita Puspure, are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for September.

 The whole Ireland team performed with merit at the regatta in Plovdiv in Bulgaria and there were a number of outstanding placings. The men’s lightweight quadruple reached their A Final, while Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne finished ninth overall in the men’s double sculls.

Gary Paul podium Plovdiv with Italy and BelgiumGary and Paul on the podium in Plovdiv with Italy and Belgium Photo: Liam Gorman

 The women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty swept into the A Final, one of the real shocks of the Championships. They took sixth.

 The O’Donovan brothers had to battle through a terrible lane draw on the Wednesday to reach Thursday’s semi-final. It left them tired and they made it through to the final by taking the third qualification place in the semi-final with just 1.52 seconds to spare over Poland. Come the final it was a step up; a step into history. They made light of their outside lane with a sweet and powerful row they deemed their best ever as a lightweight double. Italy could not live with it and Ireland had won their first ever gold medal in an Olympic event at a World Championships.

Sanita Podium Plovdiv relievedSanita Puspure on the podium in Plovdiv Photo: Liam Gorman

 The women’s single sculls has been a fascinating event for years. Australia’s Kim Crow (now Brennan) was the star who shone all the way to a golden show in Rio in 2016; latterly Switzerland’s Jeannine Gmelin has been a winner. And now the time had come for Ireland’s Sanita Puspure. She won the heat and the semi-finals with elan, as if impatient to take on and beat Gmelin. She did this despite having to deal with choppy conditions in the final and she clipped a buoy. However, Puspure was never headed from early on, and she won with over two lengths to spare. For seven minutes and 20.12 seconds she was, indeed, dominant.

 Congratulations to all the Ireland teams this season and to the Afloat Rowers of the Month, Sanita Puspure and Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan.   

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2018 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowing: Ireland finished sixth in the A Final of the women’s pair at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. New Zealand and Canada covered the first 500 metres best, but Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty passed through that mark at the back of the field. The pattern of the race developed in the same way: Canada came through New Zealand by the finish, and the two took gold and silver. Spain won a battle with Italy to take bronze. Keogh and Hegarty skirmished with China coming into the closing stages but eventually took the final spot.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Seven (Irish interest):

Women

Pair – A Final: 1 Canada 6:50.67, 2 New Zealand 6:52.96, 3 Spain 7:04.60; 6 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:15.70.

Published in Rowing
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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - FAQS

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are geographically defined maritime areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources. In addition to conserving marine species and habitats, MPAs can support maritime economic activity and reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

MPAs can be found across a range of marine habitats, from the open ocean to coastal areas, intertidal zones, bays and estuaries. Marine protected areas are defined areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources.

The world's first MPA is said to have been the Fort Jefferson National Monument in Florida, North America, which covered 18,850 hectares of sea and 35 hectares of coastal land. This location was designated in 1935, but the main drive for MPAs came much later. The current global movement can be traced to the first World Congress on National Parks in 1962, and initiation in 1976 of a process to deliver exclusive rights to sovereign states over waters up to 200 nautical miles out then began to provide new focus

The Rio ‘Earth Summit’ on climate change in 1992 saw a global MPA area target of 10% by the 2010 deadline. When this was not met, an “Aichi target 11” was set requiring 10% coverage by 2020. There has been repeated efforts since then to tighten up MPA requirements.

Marae Moana is a multiple-use marine protected area created on July 13th 2017 by the government of the Cook islands in the south Pacific, north- east of New Zealand. The area extends across over 1.9 million square kilometres. However, In September 2019, Jacqueline Evans, a prominent marine biologist and Goldman environmental award winner who was openly critical of the government's plans for seabed mining, was replaced as director of the park by the Cook Islands prime minister’s office. The move attracted local media criticism, as Evans was responsible for developing the Marae Moana policy and the Marae Moana Act, She had worked on raising funding for the park, expanding policy and regulations and developing a plan that designates permitted areas for industrial activities.

Criteria for identifying and selecting MPAs depends on the overall objective or direction of the programme identified by the coastal state. For example, if the objective is to safeguard ecological habitats, the criteria will emphasise habitat diversity and the unique nature of the particular area.

Permanence of MPAs can vary internationally. Some are established under legislative action or under a different regulatory mechanism to exist permanently into the future. Others are intended to last only a few months or years.

Yes, Ireland has MPA cover in about 2.13 per cent of our waters. Although much of Ireland’s marine environment is regarded as in “generally good condition”, according to an expert group report for Government published in January 2021, it says that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are of “wide concern due to increasing pressures such as overexploitation, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change”.

The Government has set a target of 30 per cent MPA coverage by 2030, and moves are already being made in that direction. However, environmentalists are dubious, pointing out that a previous target of ten per cent by 2020 was not met.

Conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment has been mandated by a number of international agreements and legal obligations, as an expert group report to government has pointed out. There are specific requirements for area-based protection in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the OSPAR Convention, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Yes, the Marine Strategy Framework directive (2008/56/EC) required member states to put measures in place to achieve or maintain good environmental status in their waters by 2020. Under the directive a coherent and representative network of MPAs had to be created by 2016.

Ireland was about halfway up the EU table in designating protected areas under existing habitats and bird directives in a comparison published by the European Commission in 2009. However, the Fair Seas campaign, an environmental coalition formed in 2022, points out that Ireland is “lagging behind “ even our closest neighbours, such as Scotland which has 37 per cent. The Fair Seas campaign wants at least 10 per cent of Irish waters to be designated as “fully protected” by 2025, and “at least” 30 per cent by 2030.

Nearly a quarter of Britain’s territorial waters are covered by MPAs, set up to protect vital ecosystems and species. However, a conservation NGO, Oceana, said that analysis of fishing vessel tracking data published in The Guardian in October 2020 found that more than 97% of British MPAs created to safeguard ocean habitats, are being dredged and bottom trawled. 

There’s the rub. Currently, there is no definition of an MPA in Irish law, and environment protections under the Wildlife Acts only apply to the foreshore.

Current protection in marine areas beyond 12 nautical miles is limited to measures taken under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives or the OSPAR Convention. This means that habitats and species that are not listed in the EU Directives, but which may be locally, nationally or internationally important, cannot currently be afforded the necessary protection

Yes. In late March 2022, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said that the Government had begun developing “stand-alone legislation” to enable identification, designation and management of MPAs to meet Ireland’s national and international commitments.

Yes. Environmental groups are not happy, as they have pointed out that legislation on marine planning took precedence over legislation on MPAs, due to the push to develop offshore renewable energy.

No, but some activities may be banned or restricted. Extraction is the main activity affected as in oil and gas activities; mining; dumping; and bottom trawling

The Government’s expert group report noted that MPA designations are likely to have the greatest influence on the “capture fisheries, marine tourism and aquaculture sectors”. It said research suggests that the net impacts on fisheries could ultimately be either positive or negative and will depend on the type of fishery involved and a wide array of other factors.

The same report noted that marine tourism and recreation sector can substantially benefit from MPA designation. However, it said that the “magnitude of the benefits” will depend to a large extent on the location of the MPA sites within the network and the management measures put in place.

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