Clare Water Safety is holding a “public engagement” tonight, Monday July 6th, on the use of a device to protect participants in its lifesaving programme from Dusty the resident dolphin.
As Afloat has reported, Dusty is a solitary dolphin which has been resident on the Clare coast for more than 25 years, and has also been spotted around the Aran Islands.
Unlike Fungi, the bottlenose dolphin which frequented Dingle harbour in Kerry for 37 years until it disappeared in 2020, Dusty has had occasional aggressive encounters with swimmers.
Clare Water Safety says it has secured a licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to use a “single sound emitting device” in the shallow waters of the bay during Nipper lifesaving training only.
The “pinger”, as the device is also known, was used during lifesaving training in the area last year, when concerns were expressed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group about adequate authorisation with the NPWS.
Acoustic sonar use by the military at sea has been linked to mass strandings of marine mammals.
Clare Water Safety says in a post on social media advertising the public meeting that the use of the device is to “deter Dusty from coming into the shallow waters while we have over 100 younger lifesavers in the water”.
“The transmission of this device is up to a maximum of 200 metres”, it says, and will only be in the water for “less than 3 per cent of any given week in July and August”.
It says it has a license to use it from the NPWS under “strict conditions”.
Clare Water Safety says the public are welcome to come and “engage” at the meeting in the Whitestrand Lifesaving Centre on Monday at 7pm.
