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'Ireland's Deep Atlantic' A New Documentary Series Begins This Weekend

21st April 2018
'Ireland’s Deep Atlantic' the first of a new series begins tomorrow, Sunday, 22nd April at 9.30pm on RTÉ One 'Ireland’s Deep Atlantic' the first of a new series begins tomorrow, Sunday, 22nd April at 9.30pm on RTÉ One Credit: Marine Institute

#MarineWildlife - Ireland's Deep Atlantic is a new documentary series that airs on RTÉ One this weekend.

Ireland’s Deep Atlantic sees underwater cameraman Ken O’Sullivan embark on a series of voyages out into the open North Atlantic in search of large whales, sharks and cold water coral reefs 3,000 down on Ireland’s deep sea bed.The two-part series explores many of Ireland's sea creatures for the first time, documenting their behaviour, in addition to investigating the health of our deep Atlantic waters.

The Marine Institute was delighted to assist Ken with his expedition to capture this footage.

Speaking about the new series and working with the Marine Institute Ken O’Sullivan said:

" For me as a film maker, and some of the amazing people I’ve been lucky to work with, our ideal is simply to document and create awareness of our incredibly rich oceanic world in Ireland and all around the North Atlantic. By braving the open Atlantic again and again, in ships, sail boats and an open RIB boat, we slowly but eventually encountered some amazing sea life. An enormous group of basking sharks behaving in a way never before documented globally, blue fin tuna feeding alongside dolphins and enormous migrating whales, while in the deep ocean, research scientists brought us and our cameras 3,000 metres down to the sea bed where we documented coral reefs every bit as beautiful and rich in surrounding life as their tropical relatives, all in Ireland. And much more. Irish national research vessel, Celtic Explorer with its ROV submersible in the water.”

Ireland’s Deep Atlantic begins on Sunday, 22nd April at 9.30pm on RTÉ One for more info click this LINK.

Two days later, the Marine Institute is also delighted to welcome Ken O’Sullivan to the Marine Institute's Auditoriumin in Oranmore, Galway on Tuesday 24th April (1.15-2.15pm) for a special screening of the first episode of Ireland’s Deep Atlantic.

Published in Marine Wildlife
Jehan Ashmore

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Jehan Ashmore

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Jehan Ashmore is a marine correspondent, researcher and photographer, specialising in Irish ports, shipping and the ferry sector serving the UK and directly to mainland Europe. Jehan also occasionally writes a column, 'Maritime' Dalkey for the (Dalkey Community Council Newsletter) in addition to contributing to UK marine periodicals. 

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Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!