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TechWorks Marine plans to deploy four trawl-resistant bottom mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) frames in Castlemaine and Valentia off the coast of Co Kerry from this Monday 7 February.

Weather permitting, the Ocean Navigator (callsign EI018) will deploy the four trawl-resistant, bottom-mounted ADCPs frames — each of around one square metre in area — on the seabed for a minimum of one month and a maximum of two months, between this week and Monday 21 February.

They will be used to carry out water quality sampling surveys as well as vessel-mounted ADCP surveys at the same time as the deployments and these are tide and weather dependent and may cause a slight delay in the recovery of the seabed frames.

The ADCPs will be measuring currents through the water column at each location over the course of their month-long deployment. This data will be used to validate a hydrodynamic model being developed of the area for Irish Water.

There will be no surface marker during the extent of deployment so vessel traffic will not need to avoid the area but should be aware of its presence. Throughout operations, the Ocean Navigator will be displaying appropriate lights and shapes.

Details of the exact locations of the ADCP frames and other information for mariners are included in Marine Notice No 08 of 2022, which can be downloaded below.

Published in News Update

The deployment of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) sub-surface installation by University College Dublin, which was scheduled to take place between 15 - 21 October 2020 as Afloat previously reported, will now take place on 7 November 2020.

The deployment will occur approximately 0.60 Nautical Miles from Rock Island lighthouse in a direction of 235° (see Appendix 1). The exact location co-ordinates are as follows:

Latitude: 53°08' 57.4"N
Longitude: 009°52' 23.4"W

The deployment will be carried out by the 'MV Chateau-Thierry'

Yellow spherical marker buoys, 40 cm in diameter will be used. They will flash yellow every 5 seconds.

An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) is a hydroacoustic current meter similar to a sonar, used to measure water current velocities over a depth range using the Doppler effect of sound waves scattered back from particles within the water column.

The UCD Highwave Project aims to use statistics and fluid mechanics to explore fundamental questions in wave breaking.

Published in Marine Warning
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University College Dublin have been set to deploy an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) off Inis Mór in the Aran Islands between today, Thursday 15 October, and next Wednesday 21 October as part of the Highwave project.

The university previously deployed an ADCP in February as par of the same ocean wave data modelling project.

Thos latest deployment, from the MV Chateau-Thierry (callsign EIHK6), will be some 0.6 nautical miles from Rock Island lighthouse — at 53°08’57.4” N, 009°52’23.4” W. The vessel will display appropriate lights and signals.

Map showing the area of the ADCP deployment off Inis Mór

Navigational warnings will be issued by radio when the deployment of the marker buoys takes place. These buoys will be yellow spherical markers, 40cm in diameter and flashing yellow every five seconds.

Published in Coastal Notes

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport advises that University College Dublin intends to deploy an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) sub-surface installation off the Aran Islands this Friday 28 February, weather permitting.

The deployment will occur around 0.6 nautical miles from Eeragh Lighthouse on Rock Island, off Inishmore, in a direction of 235°. The exact location co-ordinates are 53° 08' 34.437" N, 9° 52' 14.040" W.

The one-day deployment will be carried out by the MV Madelen (Callsign: EI4990). The vessel will display appropriate lights and signals.

Navigational warnings will be issued by radio when the marker buoy deployment takes place. Yellow, spherical marker buoys, 40cm in diameter, will be used. They will flash amber every five seconds.

For more information on this deployment visit www.highwave-project.eu

Published in Coastal Notes

Marine Notice No 25 of 2019 from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport advises that there will be a deployment of ADCP current meters on the sea floor in Castletownbere, Co Cork from tomorrow, Thursday 25 July.

Current meters will be mounted in a stainless-steel frame at two locations: Lat 51°38'33.06”N, Long 009°54'42.00"W and Lat 51°38'33.00”N, Long 009°53'43.68”W.

The stainless-steel frame will be deployed from vessel An tOileanach (Callsign EI5930) for 14 days from tomorrow, subject to weather.

Surface spar-style buoys will be used to mark locations. Buoys will be a 700mm diameter yellow buoy of height approximately 1m above the water line.

The buoys will be fitted with a flashing LED light with a range of 2-3 nautical miles. The light will be set to flash 3 times every 10 seconds (duration of flash 0.3 seconds).

Published in Irish Harbours

TechWorks Marine Ltd is deploying trawl-resistant bottom mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) frames in Waterford Harbour this week.

It is anticipated that the ADCPs will be deployed between today, Monday 8 July, and this Friday 12 July, depending on the weather. If the deployment is delayed due to the weather, it will be carried out on the next viable tide and weather window. Update: the ADCPs will now be deployed on or after Thursday 18 July.

The frames will be deployed from the vessel James (callsign EITT2). The frames will be on the seafloor for a minimum period of one calendar month and a maximum period of two months (weather permitting).

The ADCPs will be measuring currents through the water column at each location over the deployment. This data will be used to validate a hydrodynamic model of the area being developed for Irish Water.

Each frame will have one ADCP sensor, an acoustic pinger, an acoustic release and a rigid recovery buoy.

The frames are approximately 1m2 and will remain on the seafloor for a period of up to 30 days, after which the frame will be retrieved using the acoustic release and recovery buoy.

There will be no surface marker during the extent of deployment so vessel traffic will not need to avoid the area but should be aware of its presence.

Details of the relevant co-ordinates are included in Marine Notice No 22 of 2019, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Meanwhile, planned cable survey works on the EirGrid East West Interconnector are being carried out by the vessel Deep Helder (callsign PBYU) until this Thursday 11 July. During this survey, the vessel will be deploying underwater survey equipment along a thin 50m corridor.

Fishermen are advised not to leave any static fishing equipment in the vicinity of the survey route (250 metres) and keep a safe distance of at least one nautical mile from the survey vessels that will be operating with towed equipment and will have restricted manoeuvrability.

In addition, the survey vessel Ping will carry out operations in the near-shore waters off Rush, Co Dublin from next Monday 15 July. Near-shore survey operations will take place between beach HW mark and the 10m water depth contour.

Details of co-ordinates and survey contacts are included in Marine Notice No 21 of 2019, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that TechWorks Marine has deployed four trawl-resistant, bottom-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) frames throughout Lough Swilly.

The frames deployed on Wednesday 20 February will be on the seafloor for a minimum period of one calendar month and a maximum period of two months (weather permitting).

Water sampling surveys are required to be carried out at the same time as the deployments and these are tide and weather dependent, and may cause a slight delay in recovery, hence the two-month deployment period.

The ADCPs will be measuring currents through the water column at each location over the month-long deployment. This data will be used to validate a hydrodynamic model of the area being developed for Irish Water.

The deployment locations as noted in Marine Notice No 5 of 2019 are (degrees, minutes, seconds) WGS84 as follows:

  • ADCP 1: 55° 12' 59.5" N, 7° 34' 37.2" W
  • ADCP 2: 55° 06' 51.9" N, 7° 29' 02.7" W
  • ADCP 3: 55° 03' 52.4" N, 7° 32' 11.3" W
  • ADCP 4: 55° 01' 17.5" N, 7° 32' 55.4" W

Each frame will have an ADCP sensor (for waves and currents), acoustic release, rigid recovery buoy, acoustic pinger and grapple line. The frames are approximately 1m2 and will remain on the seafloor for a period of up to 30 days, after which the frame will be retrieved by the acoustic release by the retrieval team of a pop-up buoy allowing for its recovery or by a grapple line recovery method.

During the extent of the deployment, ADCP frames 1, 2 and 3 will have a surface marker. The ADCP 1 and 2 will have a red in colour surface buoy and ADCP 3 will have a yellow in colour surface buoy. There will be no surface marker for ADCP 4 so vessel traffic will not need to avoid its location but should be aware of its presence.

Published in Marine Warning

Marine Notice No 12 of 2018 advises that the Marine Institute was scheduled to deploy a bottom-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on the Aran prawn ground today, Monday 26 March.

The ADCP will be recovered in May and will remain in place for the duration. The purpose of this deployment is to measure water current speed over a depth range using the Doppler effect of sound waves scattered from particles within the water column.

The ADCP was set to be deployed at Latitude 53°46.133 N and Longitude 9°47.4 W by the RV Celtic Voyager (Callsign EIQN) listening on VHF Channel 16.

As this is sensitive scientific equipment, it is requested that fishermen and marine operators engaged in such activities as bottom trawling or laying of static gear avoid the location concerned to avoid damaging the equipment or damaging fishing gear.

Published in Marine Science

#MarineNotice - TechWorks Marine are deploying three trawl-resistant bottom mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) frames at three locations in Donegal Bay from this week.

The frames, which will be on the sea floor between now and June, are being deployed as part of the oceanographic monitoring programme for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Scheduled for deployment earlier this week on Monday 27 March, the frames will be left in the water for a minimum of one month before being retrieved.

The vessel Dulra na Mara (Callsign EIFS6) will be used for both deployment and collection of the frames. The vessel will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

The frames are 2m by 1m and will remain on the seafloor for a period of up to 90 days, after which each frame will be retrieved by the acoustic release of a pop-up buoy allowing for its recovery.

There will be no surface marker during the extent of deployment so vessel traffic will not need to avoid the area but should be aware of its presence.

A map and co-ordinates of the frame placement points are included in Marine Notice No 14 of 2017, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Science

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that marine scientists from the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS) are deploying a tsunameter close to the new location of the M4 weather buoy off the Donegal coast.

In addition to the tsunameter, they will also deploy a sub-surface buoy with an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) mounted on it, as well as pressure sensors clamped to a moored string to measure pressure variations at depth. This system will be deployed in proximity to the tsunameter location but not too close to avoid tangling.

The tsunameter and system used for the ADCP and the pressure string sensors is scheduled to be be deployed imminently from the RV Celtic Voyager (Callsign: EIQN) at latitude 54°59.892 N, longitude 009°58.14 W, at a depth of 119m adjacent to M4 weather buoy.

As this is sensitive scientific equipment, it is requested that fisherman and marine operators engaged in such activities as bottom trawling or laying of static gear avoid the locations concerned to avoid damaging the equipment or damaging fishing gear.

Published in Marine Warning

Irish Fishing industry 

The Irish Commercial Fishing Industry employs around 11,000 people in fishing, processing and ancillary services such as sales and marketing. The industry is worth about €1.22 billion annually to the Irish economy. Irish fisheries products are exported all over the world as far as Africa, Japan and China.

FAQs

Over 16,000 people are employed directly or indirectly around the coast, working on over 2,000 registered fishing vessels, in over 160 seafood processing businesses and in 278 aquaculture production units, according to the State's sea fisheries development body Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM).

All activities that are concerned with growing, catching, processing or transporting fish are part of the commercial fishing industry, the development of which is overseen by BIM. Recreational fishing, as in angling at sea or inland, is the responsibility of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

The Irish fishing industry is valued at 1.22 billion euro in gross domestic product (GDP), according to 2019 figures issued by BIM. Only 179 of Ireland's 2,000 vessels are over 18 metres in length. Where does Irish commercially caught fish come from? Irish fish and shellfish is caught or cultivated within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but Irish fishing grounds are part of the common EU "blue" pond. Commercial fishing is regulated under the terms of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983 and with ten-yearly reviews.

The total value of seafood landed into Irish ports was 424 million euro in 2019, according to BIM. High value landings identified in 2019 were haddock, hake, monkfish and megrim. Irish vessels also land into foreign ports, while non-Irish vessels land into Irish ports, principally Castletownbere, Co Cork, and Killybegs, Co Donegal.

There are a number of different methods for catching fish, with technological advances meaning skippers have detailed real time information at their disposal. Fisheries are classified as inshore, midwater, pelagic or deep water. Inshore targets species close to shore and in depths of up to 200 metres, and may include trawling and gillnetting and long-lining. Trawling is regarded as "active", while "passive" or less environmentally harmful fishing methods include use of gill nets, long lines, traps and pots. Pelagic fisheries focus on species which swim close to the surface and up to depths of 200 metres, including migratory mackerel, and tuna, and methods for catching include pair trawling, purse seining, trolling and longlining. Midwater fisheries target species at depths of around 200 metres, using trawling, longlining and jigging. Deepwater fisheries mainly use trawling for species which are found at depths of over 600 metres.

There are several segments for different catching methods in the registered Irish fleet – the largest segment being polyvalent or multi-purpose vessels using several types of gear which may be active and passive. The polyvalent segment ranges from small inshore vessels engaged in netting and potting to medium and larger vessels targeting whitefish, pelagic (herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting) species and bivalve molluscs. The refrigerated seawater (RSW) pelagic segment is engaged mainly in fishing for herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting only. The beam trawling segment focuses on flatfish such as sole and plaice. The aquaculture segment is exclusively for managing, developing and servicing fish farming areas and can collect spat from wild mussel stocks.

The top 20 species landed by value in 2019 were mackerel (78 million euro); Dublin Bay prawn (59 million euro); horse mackerel (17 million euro); monkfish (17 million euro); brown crab (16 million euro); hake (11 million euro); blue whiting (10 million euro); megrim (10 million euro); haddock (9 million euro); tuna (7 million euro); scallop (6 million euro); whelk (5 million euro); whiting (4 million euro); sprat (3 million euro); herring (3 million euro); lobster (2 million euro); turbot (2 million euro); cod (2 million euro); boarfish (2 million euro).

Ireland has approximately 220 million acres of marine territory, rich in marine biodiversity. A marine biodiversity scheme under Ireland's operational programme, which is co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Government, aims to reduce the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on the marine environment, including avoidance and reduction of unwanted catch.

EU fisheries ministers hold an annual pre-Christmas council in Brussels to decide on total allowable catches and quotas for the following year. This is based on advice from scientific bodies such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. In Ireland's case, the State's Marine Institute publishes an annual "stock book" which provides the most up to date stock status and scientific advice on over 60 fish stocks exploited by the Irish fleet. Total allowable catches are supplemented by various technical measures to control effort, such as the size of net mesh for various species.

The west Cork harbour of Castletownbere is Ireland's biggest whitefish port. Killybegs, Co Donegal is the most important port for pelagic (herring, mackerel, blue whiting) landings. Fish are also landed into Dingle, Co Kerry, Rossaveal, Co Galway, Howth, Co Dublin and Dunmore East, Co Waterford, Union Hall, Co Cork, Greencastle, Co Donegal, and Clogherhead, Co Louth. The busiest Northern Irish ports are Portavogie, Ardglass and Kilkeel, Co Down.

Yes, EU quotas are allocated to other fleets within the Irish EEZ, and Ireland has long been a transhipment point for fish caught by the Spanish whitefish fleet in particular. Dingle, Co Kerry has seen an increase in foreign landings, as has Castletownbere. The west Cork port recorded foreign landings of 36 million euro or 48 per cent in 2019, and has long been nicknamed the "peseta" port, due to the presence of Spanish-owned transhipment plant, Eiranova, on Dinish island.

Most fish and shellfish caught or cultivated in Irish waters is for the export market, and this was hit hard from the early stages of this year's Covid-19 pandemic. The EU, Asia and Britain are the main export markets, while the middle Eastern market is also developing and the African market has seen a fall in value and volume, according to figures for 2019 issued by BIM.

Fish was once a penitential food, eaten for religious reasons every Friday. BIM has worked hard over several decades to develop its appeal. Ireland is not like Spain – our land is too good to transform us into a nation of fish eaters, but the obvious health benefits are seeing a growth in demand. Seafood retail sales rose by one per cent in 2019 to 300 million euro. Salmon and cod remain the most popular species, while BIM reports an increase in sales of haddock, trout and the pangasius or freshwater catfish which is cultivated primarily in Vietnam and Cambodia and imported by supermarkets here.

The EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983, pooled marine resources – with Ireland having some of the richest grounds and one of the largest sea areas at the time, but only receiving four per cent of allocated catch by a quota system. A system known as the "Hague Preferences" did recognise the need to safeguard the particular needs of regions where local populations are especially dependent on fisheries and related activities. The State's Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, based in Clonakilty, Co Cork, works with the Naval Service on administering the EU CFP. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and Department of Transport regulate licensing and training requirements, while the Marine Survey Office is responsible for the implementation of all national and international legislation in relation to safety of shipping and the prevention of pollution.

Yes, a range of certificates of competency are required for skippers and crew. Training is the remit of BIM, which runs two national fisheries colleges at Greencastle, Co Donegal and Castletownbere, Co Cork. There have been calls for the colleges to be incorporated into the third-level structure of education, with qualifications recognised as such.

Safety is always an issue, in spite of technological improvements, as fishing is a hazardous occupation and climate change is having its impact on the severity of storms at sea. Fishing skippers and crews are required to hold a number of certificates of competency, including safety and navigation, and wearing of personal flotation devices is a legal requirement. Accidents come under the remit of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, and the Health and Safety Authority. The MCIB does not find fault or blame, but will make recommendations to the Minister for Transport to avoid a recurrence of incidents.

Fish are part of a marine ecosystem and an integral part of the marine food web. Changing climate is having a negative impact on the health of the oceans, and there have been more frequent reports of warmer water species being caught further and further north in Irish waters.

Brexit, Covid 19, EU policies and safety – Britain is a key market for Irish seafood, and 38 per cent of the Irish catch is taken from the waters around its coast. Ireland's top two species – mackerel and prawns - are 60 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively, dependent on British waters. Also, there are serious fears within the Irish industry about the impact of EU vessels, should they be expelled from British waters, opting to focus even more efforts on Ireland's rich marine resource. Covid-19 has forced closure of international seafood markets, with high value fish sold to restaurants taking a large hit. A temporary tie-up support scheme for whitefish vessels introduced for the summer of 2020 was condemned by industry organisations as "designed to fail".

Sources: Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Marine Institute, Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Department of Transport © Afloat 2020