Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Shannon Esturary

#MarineNotice - Shell E&P Ireland were scheduled to commence flowline installation works between two existing subsea wells at the Corrib gas field this week.

This work will be followed by placement of rock protection along the length of the exposed flowline between the two wells.

There may also be some additional rock placement along the pipeline corridor from the offshore field to the landfall at Broadhaven Bay.

The works, due to commence during this last week of July, are expected run for 30 to 40 days.

The first phase of works will all take place within the 500m Safety Zone surrounding the wells P2 and P5, and along the corridor between P2 and P5.

Carried out by the Skandi Neptune (callsign 2HMG8), the work involves the lay of a new flowline between the two wells followed by connection at each end and pressure testing.

Final seabed connections will be completed on the existing seabed control umbilical followed by the commissioning of the P2 well control system.

This work is expected to be completed by mid August, after whic the Nordnes (callsign PHOG) will commence the second-phase rock placements.

The guard vessel Glomar Arctic (callsign H09083) will be on location in the Corrib Field for the duration of the project. Radio warnings will be given to all marine traffic in the
immediate area. All the vessels will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

Details of co-ordinates of the relevant work areas are included in Marine Notice No 29 of 2016, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Meanwhile, TechWorks Marine were scheduled to deploy two temporary buoys in the Shannon Estuary on Friday 29 July.

The buoys are required for the placement of turbidity sensors before and during a dredge campaign, and will be in place for the next four weeks.

These data buoys, deployed on a single point mooring, are 1.2m wide, are yellow in colour and have a yellow navigation light with a 2nm range, with five flashes every 20 seconds.

Co-ordinates are included in Marine Notice No 30 of 2016, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

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!