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Displaying items by tag: Storm Brendan

Courtown’s sanctuary for rescued seals has something of a ‘local celebrity’ among its number, as the Irish Mirror reports.

Bottlebrush — one of 10 young seals recovered during Storm Brendan that are currently in the care of Seal Rescue Ireland — won the hearts of Hook Lighthouse staff who discovered the pup next to the iconic light a week ago.

It’s thought that Bottlebrush became separated from his mother during last week’s stormy conditions, and was found in poorly condition — suffering from congestion and a “deep painful cough”, according to Seal Rescue Ireland’s Sam Brittain.

Bottlebrush at Hook Lighthouse (via Facebook)

Along with three other new patients at the marine wildlife sanctuary, grey seal Bottlebrush has been named after Australian flora to raise awareness of efforts to help Australians affected by the recent bushfires.

While not very story at Seal Rescue Ireland is a happy one, as the centre recently lost little Heath who was suffering from a severe abscess on his shoulder, one with a more positive turn as of late is Cloudberry — the Arctic ringed seal found earlier this month in Co Kerry.

It’s still not known how the pup wound up hundreds of miles south of her home region, but it’s suspected that record high temperatures in northern Russia this winter have been forcing female Arctic seals to seek shelter in unusual spots.

Published in Marine Wildlife

The newest Stena Line ferry is expected to begin sailing the Dublin to Holyhead route on the Irish Sea today.

The 215m (705ft) Stena Estrid, writes Independent.ie, is described as "one of the most advanced vessels in operation", with space to carry 120 cars and 1,000 passengers.

The ship's official maiden voyage, a 8.55am sailing from Holyhead to Dublin, has been delayed due to adverse weather coinciding with Storm Brendan, but a 2.50pm departure from Dublin remains on schedule as we publish.

For more click the newspaper here in addition to Welsh coverage from the NorthWalesLive. 

In an update, Afloat adds that the corresponding sailing from the Irish capital has been delayed this afternoon. According to the Stena Line website, the 'new generation' ropax ferry has been delayed approximately by an hour due adverse weather conditions.  

Published in Ferry

Marine Institute Research Vessel Tom Crean

Ireland’s new marine research vessel will be named the RV Tom Crean after the renowned County Kerry seaman and explorer who undertook three major groundbreaking expeditions to the Antarctic in the early years of the 20th Century which sought to increase scientific knowledge and to explore unreached areas of the world, at that time.

Ireland's new multi-purpose marine research vessel RV Tom Crean, was delivered in July 2022 and will be used by the Marine Institute and other State agencies and universities to undertake fisheries research, oceanographic and environmental research, seabed mapping surveys; as well as maintaining and deploying weather buoys, observational infrastructure and Remotely Operated Vehicles.

The RV Tom Crean will also enable the Marine Institute to continue to lead and support high-quality scientific surveys that contribute to Ireland's position as a leader in marine science. The research vessel is a modern, multipurpose, silent vessel (designed to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research), capable of operating in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Tom Crean is able to go to sea for at least 21 days at a time and is designed to operate in harsh sea conditions.

RV Tom Crean Specification Overview

  • Length Overall: 52.8 m
  • Beam 14m
  • Draft 5.2M 

Power

  • Main Propulsion Motor 2000 kw
  • Bow Thruster 780 kw
  • Tunnel thruster 400 kw

Other

  • Endurance  21 Days
  • Range of 8,000 nautical miles
  • DP1 Dynamic Positioning
  • Capacity for 3 x 20ft Containers

Irish Marine Research activities

The new state-of-the-art multi-purpose marine research vessel will carry out a wide range of marine research activities, including vital fisheries, climate change-related research, seabed mapping and oceanography.

The new 52.8-metre modern research vessel, which will replace the 31-metre RV Celtic Voyager, has been commissioned with funding provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine approved by the Government of Ireland.

According to Aodhán FitzGerald, Research Vessel Manager of the MI, the RV Tom Crean will feature an articulated boom crane aft (6t@ 10m, 3T@ 15m), located on the aft-gantry. This will be largely used for loading science equipment and net and equipment handling offshore.

Mounted at the stern is a 10T A-frame aft which can articulate through 170 degrees which are for deploying and recovering large science equipment such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV’s), towed sleds and for fishing operations.

In addition the fitting of an 8 Ton starboard side T Frame for deploying grabs and corers to 4000m which is the same depth applicable to when the vessel is heaving but is compensated by a CTD system consisting of a winch and frame during such operations.

The vessel will have the regulation MOB boat on a dedicated davit and the facility to carry a 6.5m Rigid Inflatable tender on the port side.

Also at the aft deck is where the 'Holland 1' Work class ROV and the University of Limericks 'Etain' sub-Atlantic ROV will be positioned. In addition up to 3 x 20’ (TEU) containers can be carried.

The newbuild has been engineered to endure increasing harsher conditions and the punishing weather systems encountered in the North-East Atlantic where deployments of RV Tom Crean on surveys spent up to 21 days duration.

In addition, RV Tom Crean will be able to operate in an ultra silent-mode, which is crucial to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research purposes.

The classification of the newbuild as been appointed to Lloyds and below is a list of the main capabilities and duties to be tasked by RV Tom Crean:

  • Oceanographic surveys, incl. CTD water sampling
  • Fishery research operations
  • Acoustic research operations
  • Environmental research and sampling operation incl. coring
  • ROV and AUV/ASV Surveys
  • Buoy/Mooring operations