#MARINE WILDLIFE - Northern Ireland faces a whopping £8 million (€9.6 million) fine from the EU over its failure to protect horse mussels. According to BBC News, "little has been done" to protect horse mussel reefs in Strangford Lough despite…

#COASTAL NOTES - Providence Resources has struck big off the south coast of Cork with an oil flow that could be worth billions of euro to the beleaguered Irish economy. According to the Guardian, the Dublin-based company announced yesterday that…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - The rate of cetacean strandings on the Irish coast remains unusually high, according to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG). The group's Cetacean Stranding Scheme recorded 162 strandings in 2011 which, while numbers do vary from…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - A Sligo-based surfer has relived the moment when he was attacked by a shark in his native New Zealand. As the Otago Daily Times reports, 42-year-old Peter Garrett was surfing off Taranaki on North Island on Tuesday…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - The Limerick branch of Birdwatch Ireland is seeking volunteers to assist in rescuing birds from oil spillages in the Shannon Estuary. A report in the Limerick Post recounts a recent meeting at Shannon Rowing Club, where Birdwatch…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - Newstalk reports that gardaí are investigaing the shooting of seals on a Waterford beach. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, fears are mounting of an illegal cull of marine wildlife in the area after a seal and a…

#COASTAL NOTES - Northern Irish director Terry George has returned to a hero's welcome in his native Co Down following his Oscar win for short film The Shore, the Irish Echo reports. The film, which was set on Coney Island…

#MARINE – The Marine Institute has welcomed the launch by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr Richard Bruton, T.D., of the Government's plan to target the majority of the Government's core research budget on areas with the greatest…

#COASTAL NOTES - Northern Ireland's only aquarium could be privatised, according to the News Letter. Ards Borough Council is reportedly considering its options for the future of Exploris, the aquarium and seal sanctuary in Portaferry that celebrates its 25th anniversary…

#MARINE WILDLIFE – A team of twenty scientists and students from Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland are currently onboard  the Marine Institute's RV Celtic Explorer carrying out a multidisciplinary study of cetaceans, megafauna and birdlife around the areas of the…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has announced another series of its popular whale watching courses on Cape Clear in West Cork this summer. The courses cater for adults keen to learn more about whales and…

#ISLANDS – The recently established West Cork Islands Community Council was formally launched by the Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Tim Lombard at a meeting of Cork County Council in County Hall (Monday 27th February 2012). Mr Syd Cheatle, a…

#COASTAL NOTES - Providence Resources has found light out with its first appraisal well off the south coast of Ireland, Offshore reports. The company's semi-submersible GSF Arctic III drilled a well in 100m water to a depth of more than…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has recorded another first for the North Atlantic, with evidence showing that killer whales are feeding on ocean sunfish. Mark Holmes of the Natural History Museum confirmed the presence of…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - Fears are growing of an illegal cull of marine wildlife after a seal and dolphin were discovered dead on a Waterford beach - just hours after two seals were found dying from bullet wounds in the same…

#MARINE WILDLIFE - Newly-elected Irish President Michael D Higgins has agreed to be the sole patron of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG). President Higgins has a long history of supporting environmental causes. In his inaugural speech he referred…