#NORWAY DROWNING - An Irishman has died in a kayaking accident in Norway, as The Irish Times reports.

UCC student and keen kayaker Colm Johnson, from Bandon in Co Cork, was paddling with four Irish friends on the "popular but challenging" Sjoa river in central Norway on Monday when he got into difficuly going over six-metre drop.

The rest of the group threw ropes from the shore to where the 25-year-old went under the surface but were unable to rescue him.

A rescue helicopter was dispatched to the scene less within an hour but was also unable to recover him, citing the operation as "very difficult" due to the narrowness of the ravine.

Johnson's body was later recovered downstream, and police in Norway are currently awaiting postmortem results.

He is survived by his parents, brother and two sisters. The Department of Foreign Affairs has offered consular assistance to the family.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#FISHING - The licence application for a proposed new deep-sea fish farm in the Aran Islands is expected to be lodged in January.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Bord Iascaigh Mhara's (BIM) planned 15,000-tonne organic salmon farm off Inis Oírr would be the largest of its kind in Europe, and would create hundreds of jobs in the area.

Commenting on the plans, Galway West Senator Fidelma Healy Eames said it was "a major opportunity for Galway and would represent a very significant economic boost for our coastal communities."

She added: "Deep sea fish farming has proven to be very economically beneficial in countries such as Norway, Chile and Scotland. It is timely that Ireland would capitalise on our fantastic marine resources as these countries have."

According to Healy Eames, the project is expected to "meet all environmental standards and will be barely visible from 2km away and effectively not visible from land.

"It would take up a negligible amount of inshore fisheries ground in the bay (0.22%) and would not interfere with existing fishing routes or Galway Bay ferry routes."

#TALL SHIPS - Eighteen vessels are on the entry list for the 2012 Tall Ships Races which are set to conclude in Dublin Port next August.

The list is dominated by British entries, with all nine UK tall ships expected to sail the third and final leg from A Coruña in northern Spain to Dublin.

Tall ships from Russia, Poland, France, Ecuador, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia and Belgium will also be in the fray when Ireland's capital hosts the final port of call for the 2012 races, presented by Szczecin in Poland and organised by Sail Training International - a charity established to harness sail training to develop and educate young people regardless of nationality, culture, religion, gender or social background.

The first leg of the 2012 races kicks off in Saint-Malo, France on 7 July with ships racing to Lisbon in Portugal (till 21 July); Cádiz in southern Spain (21-28 July) and A Coruña (28 July-12 August) before the final leg.

Dublin will be hosting the Tall Ships Races for the first time since 1998. Earlier this year Eamonn O’Reilly, CEO of Dublin Port Company, said he was “delighted to welcome the Tall Ships Races to Dublin Port" in 2012.

Since the announcement the port has already played host to the British tall ship Tenacious and the Norwegian vessel S/S Statsraad Lehmkuhl.

From Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 August 2012 as many as 100 ships are expected to arrive in the port and Docklands area for an event that includes a four-day festival programme of music, food and fashion showcases, markets, street theatre, water sport and water-based activities. 

The weekend will also feature activities unique to the races including a crew parade, prize-giving event and a parade of sail.

Are you looking to get involved in Dublin's hosting of the Tall Ships Races? Check out the following links:

Become a trainee www.dublintallships.ie/trainees/

Take part as a volunteer www.dublintallships.ie/volunteers/

For further information see www.dublintallships.ie or e-mail [email protected]

Entry List for the Tall Ships Races 2012:

Akela (Russia)

Black Diamond Of Durham (UK)

Dar Mlodziezy (Poland)

Etoile Polaire (France)

Guayas (Ecuador)

Johanna Lucretia (UK)

John Laing (UK)

Kaliakra (Bulgaria)

Lord Nelson (UK)

Maybe (UK)

Moosk (UK)

Pelican Of London (UK)

Pogoria (Poland)

Rona II (UK)

Spaniel (Latvia)

St Iv (Estonia)

Thermopylae Clipper (UK)

Tomidi (Belgium)

An air and sea search operation is underway for a yacht missing en route from Bermuda to Ireland, The Irish Times reports.

The Golden Eagle has been out of contact since leaving port on 21 August. It was due to arrive with its two-man crew - a 69-year-old Norwegian and a 60-year-old New Zealander - at Crookhaven in West Cork last Thursday.

The Irish Coast Guard told the Press Association said that the Naval Service and Air Corps are involved in the search off the south west coast, and ships in the mid-Atlantic have also been asked to try to contact the yacht.

The yacht is described as being 9.8m (32ft) long, white and with a blue trim on the side.

Ireland has the largest maritime area-to-land mass in the European Union, but derives only 1% of GDP from the maritime sector. At a time when the economy needs every benefit it can get this figure is startling, particularly when compared to countries with other extensive coastlines, such as Norway where the figure is 20%, Denmark where it is 11% and even the UK which has increased its figure to 5%.

Despite being an island nation with a strong dependency on the sea, the Irish maritime economy is still in its infancy, both in terms of investment and of recognition.

Once again the importance of the sea was shown in the pre-Christmas weather problems. When air transport again failed the public, the ferries continued to operate. When road transport needed salt for gritting to keep roads open, it was ships which brought the salt to Ireland.

How many times do I have to challenge the ignorance and stupidity of the State, of Government, towards the sea? How many times do I have to remind the public of how dependent we are on the sea as an island nation?

Though still considered a low priority by Government, the maritime sector is worth €3 billion to the nation and supports 440,000 direct and indirect jobs. According to the Marine Institute in the "SeaChange Programme," this could be increased by at least 50%.

In Cork the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre which is part of UCC's Environmental Research Institute and has been working out of the Naval Base on Haulbowline Island has changed its name and is planning to move to a new maritime research facility. It has become the "Coastal and Marine Research Centre".

For over ten years the CMRC has been promoting the use of integrated coastal zone management as a means of achieving sustainable development in the use of coastal and marine resources, including marine ecology, seabed mapping, coastal processes, remote sensing, geology and geomatics.

A new maritime research facility is planned at Ringaskiddy, adjacent to the National Maritime College, part of the announced intention to establish a Maritime and Energy Research Campus and Commercial Cluster. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Bord Gais and the UCC Glucksman Foundation contributed funding, together with €7.5m. from the Higher Education Authority. As part of the National Ocean Energy Strategy, it will "bring together on one site the people, their ideas and the infrastructure to support the development of ocean energy," according to MERC Chairman, Peter Coyle. "Our aim is to produce innovative technical solutions to support the development of the Irish maritime sector."

This will include ocean energy opportunities, such as wave power where Irish companies have been leading the way. Shipping, logistics and maritime transport, marine recreation, maritime security research and maritime space applications are amongst other aspects of research work to be undertaken in Ringaskiddy.

Valerie Cummins, who led the Coastal Marine Resources Centre over past years has been appointed Director of MERC and is being replaced as Director at the newly re-named Coastal and Marine Research Centre by Jeremy Gault.

This article is reprinted by permission of the EVENING ECHO newspaper, Cork, where Tom MacSweeney writes maritime columns twice weekly. Evening Echo website: www.eecho.ie