#ROWING: Coastal rowers are invited to take part in the 2015 Boyne Boat Race, over the 14 kilometre coastal, estuary and river course from Clogherhead beach to Drogheda Port on Sunday, June 21st. The Boyne Boat Race 2014 was a great success, with clubs coming from Donegal, Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin. All sorts of vessels participated, including All-Ireland craft, Pembrokeshire longboats, Slaney cots, Skiffs and Currachs to race alongside the host club’s hybrid Skiff/Australian surf boat, Bean Threasa. Craig Wolfe, the over-60s open water single scull world champion, came from Boston to row in the event. The race starts at Clogherhead beach at noon and the course runs out along the coast through the mouth of the River Boyne and winds its way up to Drogheda Port. The race time is approximately 90 minutes to two hours. The race is being held as part of Drogheda’s Maritime Festival, which runs from the 19th to 21st June.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, today announced the full details of a €17.8m Capital Investment Package for the ongoing development of Ireland's publicly owned fishery harbours and local harbour network .
In announcing the initiative the Minister said "I am delighted to announce the full details of my Departments €17.8m Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Capital Programme for 2015. I have set aside €14.9m towards safety, maintenance and new development works at the six Fishery Harbour Centres at Howth, Dunmore East, Castletownbere, Dingle, Rossaveel and Killybegs, in addition to the completion of infrastructural improvement and storm damage repair works at North Harbour, Cape Clear which is also owned by my Department."
Flagship projects in the 2015 Capital Programme (see table1) include major dredging works at Dunmore East, the provision of small craft harbours and pontoons in Howth, Rossaveal and Killybegs, electrical upgrading in Castletownbere, and necessary remedial works to the main pier in Dingle. In addition, the Bull Nose Development and the Duffy's Pier storm damage repair projects at North Harbour Cape Clear are to be completed.
The Minister went on to say "I have also allocated €1.5m for a Local Authority Harbour Development and Marine Leisure programme in 2015, and as an exceptional measure I am also providing in the region of €1.4m to facilitate the completion of a number of Local Authority Storm Damage projects which were approved in 2014 as part of the Governments response to the extreme weather conditions in late 2013 and early 2014, but not completed by the Local Authorities in 2014 due to time constraints and other issues. My Department will be contacting the Local authorities regarding these schemes shortly."
The Minister concluded by saying "This is a significant level of investment in Ireland's publicly owned fisheries and local harbour network. It will continue the implementation of the Governments strategy to develop and improve the facilities at our Fishery Harbour Centres and other public harbours around our coast, benefitting a broad cohort of stakeholders including the fishing industry, seafood processing sector, other ancillary marine industries, marine tourism and leisure and the wider rural coastal communities".

Table 1- Fishery Harbour & Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme 2015

#Maritime - Is Ireland a model to follow when it comes to maritime strategy?

It is according to Simon Mercieca of the University of Malta, who blogs on the Malta Independent website about the need for his country to take lessons from the Irish experience.

Citing his visit to a maritime history conference at University College Cork late last year, Dr Mercieca is full of praise for Marine Minister Simon Coveney and his department's focus on revitalising Ireland's ports and coastal areas.

That stands in stark contrast to the situation on Malta as Dr Mercieca would have it, describing a country where maritime "is today a non-entity in our political discussion".

"Despite the fact that Malta built its fortune on its geographical position in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the country now lacks a serious maritime vision."

The Malta Independent has more on the story HERE.

#Maritime - Ireland has been "sea-blind" for decades and needs a "strong maritime constituency" to make the most of our significant ocean and coastal resources, according to the nation's highest ranking naval officer.

Rear Admiral Mark Mellett DSM was speaking at the launch of a new book celebrating 25 years of RTÉ Radio's Seascapes programme at the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire last Monday 1 December.

Citing Ireland's mostly maritime jurisdiction - "three times the size of Germany, one million square kilometres, 92% of which is underwater... with trillions of euros of yet-to-be-found hydrocarbon and mineral resources" - he lamented that the nation had taken so long to embrace the sea.

"Over many decades, in my own view, in particular since the foundation of the State, we've been sea-blind. We haven't recognised our maritime heritage to the level that we should," said the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces.

"And that's why it's important that institutions like the Maritime Museum of Ireland have stood us in good stead by re-establishing our constituency, and more recently I'm delighted that Government from the centre, through Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth, is driving that maritime constituency."

In particular, Admiral Mellett hailed "initiatives like the Irish Maritime and Energy Resource Cluster... [that] aim to establish at least 3,000 jobs in the maritime sector" in the coming years.

"But good governance needs a strong maritime constituency," he added. "And it needs champions... But more than that, it needs thought leaders, thought leaders like Tom MacSweeney, thought leaders like Lorna Siggins [Irish Times Marine Corr – Ed] and thought leaders like Marcus Connaughton, people who define and set the agenda in the maritime."

WM Nixon has much more on the Sailing By book launch in his latest blog entry HERE.

#Seaside - Ireland might not boast the beautiful Victorian-era piers that make Britain's seaside resort towns such an attraction.

But as Tanya Sweeney writes in the Irish Independent, we've got our own coastal getaways that have maintained their appeal across the generations.

Sweeney's top 10 list begins in Tramore, the "perennially popular weekend destination" in Co Waterford where visitors can split their time between the Blue Flag beach and the old-school amusements.

Near the capital, Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow to the south and Skerries and Balbriggan to the north make the grade for the quality of their beaches and proximity to other sites of interest – the former found slap bang in the middle of the Garden of Ireland, while the latter are a short distance from Ardgillan Castle and the restored Skerries Mills.

Independent.ie has much more on the story HERE.

#Islands - Sea kayaking enthusiast David Walsh has published a second edition of Oileáin, his popular pictorial guide to Ireland's coastal islands, as TheJournal.ie reports.

Now featuring some 574 islands - 503 of which the author has personally landed upon - the book's selection runs from the easily accessible, such as Ireland's Eye off Howth, to the rugged and remote, like the infamous Fastnet Rock south of the Cork coast.

While Walsh provides practical advice for how readers can themselves lands on even the most challenging of these islands, the book has equal appeal to anyone curious about the many islands, big and small, that stud the Irish coastline.

TheJournal.ie has more on the story HERE.

#stormfund – Clare County Council last night (Thursday, 27 February 2014) received confirmation from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government of its decision to provide €16,205,637 to undertake repair works to local authority managed infrastructure damaged during the recent period of severe weather.

The funding has been allocated in response to submissions made to Government by Clare County Council outlining details of the structural damage caused to infrastructure along Clare's Atlantic coastline and at some locations along the Shannon Estuary.

The funding has been earmarked for a programme of repair works to roads, piers and harbours, coastal protection repairs, tourism infrastructure and other facilities which are in the charge of Clare County Council.

Meanwhile, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has also made a once-off allocation of €608,878 to the local authority to recoup the costs associated with its response to storms during January.

Welcoming the news, Mayor of Clare Cllr. Joe Arkins said: "This is a very positive announcement for Clare and the people who live and work in the areas affected by the recent storms. I am delighted that Government has responded to the Council's detailed submissions with such a substantial funding allocation, which will help to alleviate the fears of many people who have expressed concern over what effect the storm damage would have on their communities and tourism infrastructure."

"Clare is a tourism county and is a key part of the Government tourism flagship project, the Wild Atlantic Way, and it is vitally important that our tourism product is accessible and usable. This allocation enables the Council to immediately prepare and submit a programme of works," added Mayor Arkins.

Clare County Manager Tom Coughlan has also warmly welcomed the announcement, adding: "Clare County Council is cogently aware of the importance of undertaking repair works to damaged infrastructure and has already invested a considerable amount of its own resources in undertaking interim remedial works to ensure that the impact of the storm damage on local communities has been minimised."

He continued: "In light of this extremely positive announcement, the Council will now begin a process of engagement with the relevant funding Departments and Agencies with a view to proceeding with vitally important infrastructure repair works along Clare coastline. We would hope that further funding allocations will be made but the level of this allocation enables very significant works to be progressed. Due to the extensive disruption to community life along the Clare coastline and in light of the upcoming summer tourist season, the local authority is committed to progressing the planning and delivery of repair works as quickly as possible."

The combined funding of €16,814,515 is in addition to the €6m already allocated by Government for the construction of a new harbour development, including a pier and flood defence works, at Doolin.

#Photos - National Geographic has compiled a gallery of some of its readers impressive photographs of Ireland's world-renowned scenery, with coastal and inland waterfront shots making up the bulk of the collection.

From the rough and tumble of surf-lashed Kinard to the tranquil still waters of Killarney National Park, the welcoming wildlife of Donegal Bay and so much more between, the wealth of vistas on our little island is truly astounding.

Click HERE to view the gallery on the NatGeo website.

#Coasts - Increasing coastal erosion and weathering will soon force Ireland to make hard decisions about what parts of the coastline are too expensive to protect, according to a university professor.

As The Irish Times reports, Prof Robert Devoy of University College Cork says that with erosion rates threatening to jump far beyond the current average of up to 1 metre a year, Ireland's coastal counties would have to look "very clinically" at what parts are most worth concentrating their engineering efforts - expensive measures that simply cannot be afforded for all coastal areas.

The senior lecturer in the UCC Department of Geography says: "We need to assess which bits of the coast are most vulnerable to flooding and erosion and which bits of coast from a heritage viewpoint are important to retain and protect."

This sobering warning comes after Lorna Siggins' commentary on the state of Ireland's coastal marine environment, as six new marine protected areas are set to be enacted in law.

The six sites around the coast earmarked for designation as Special Areas of Conservation were proposed by Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan more than a year ago

But as Siggins states: "There’s turbulence ahead, if the State’s approach to fulfilling the habitats directive on land is anything to go by."

Aside from the "inconsistencies, poor communication and lack of stakeholder engagement" of the likes that have undermined bog conservation efforts, there's also the "survival of the fittest" attitude among the fishing fleet engendered by uneven implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy to contend with.

And according to Siggins, even the reformed CFP spearheaded by Marine Minister Simon Coveney will do "little to protect sensitive spawning grounds".

The Irish Times has much more on the story HERE.

#Photos - Amateur snapper Carl Cutland has collected a top photography award for his image of children enjoying this year's surprise sunny summer on Galway Bay.

As the Irish Independent reports, Cutland's 'Diving Fun' took the lead in the 'People and the Coast' category in the Clean Coasts Photography Competition.

The contest is part of An Taisce's Clean Coasts programme to get communities involved in caring for Ireland's coastal areas.

And according to the organisers, entries spanned the whole coastline of the island of Ireland, capturing moments the year round.

Other prize-winning entries included this stunning shot by Jakub Walutek of Astrid, the ill-fated tall ship that ran around on the Cork coast this summer:

In other photography news, the Irish Air Corps recently published images that perfectly capture the rugged beauty of the Skellig Islands.

According to TheJournal.ie, they were taken by Sgt Damian Faulkner while on a routine maritime patrol in Kerry earlier this month.