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Displaying items by tag: University of Limerick

Research survey TC22017 will be carried out in the Irish Sea in the vicinity of the Kish Bank Lighthouse by the University of Limerick (UL) in collaboration with the Marine Institute from this Sunday 11 to Friday 16 December, subject to weather and operational constraints.

The aim of this survey the testing and development of UL’s underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) system and automation platforms.

Ship-time will be focused on trialling comprehensive multi-disciplinary control and inspection methods, utilising new technologies to enable automated offshore asset inspection.

The primary outcome of the trials is to work towards the development of a framework and technique for the inspection of offshore assets remotely.

The survey will be conducted by the RV Tom Crean (callsign EIYX3) which will display appropriate lights and signals. The operations will take place between 7am and 7pm daily. The vessel will mainly run in DP mode while the ROV operates close to Kish Bank Lighthouse.

A map and coordinates of the survey area as well as contact details and a list of equipment used can be found in Marine Notice No 84 of 2022, attached below.

Published in Marine Science

#Rowing: Commercial finished second to Leander in the men’s Championship Eights at London Metropolitan Regattta at Dorney Lake today. It was one of a string of good results for Irish clubs. NUIG and Tribesmen shone and teamed up to win the women’s Championship coxed four. UCC – who took second in the Championship single sculls through Ronan Byrne – also excelled. Trinity, the University of Limerick, Shandon and Castleconnell also had wins. 

London Metropolitan Regatta, Dorney Lake (Irish interest; selected results, winners unless stated)

Men

Eight – Championship: 1 Leander 5:49.90, 2 Commercial 5:52.74.

Four – Championship: 3 Commercial 6:12.20. Tier Two: Shandon.

Four, coxed – Tier Three: Tribesmen 6:32.26. Academic, Tier Two: NUIG.

Pair – Tier Two: UCC 7:14.93.

Double Sculls – Championship: 2 UCC (R Byrne, H Sutton) 6:32.50. Tier Two: Castleconnell 6:42.50.

Single Sculls – Championship: 2 UCC (R Byrne) 7:03.99. Tier Two: Univ of Limerick (K Mannix) 7:18.36. Tier Three: St Michael’s (D O’Connor).

Women

Eight – Club, Tier Two: NUIG/Tribesmen 6:50.64. Academic, Tier Two: Trinity 6:57.77.

Four – Academic, Tier Two: Trinity 7:08.62.

Four, coxed – Championship: NUIG/Tribesmen 7:20.88. Tier Four: Univ of Limerick.

Pair – Championship: 2 Commercial (H O’Neill, R Morris) 7:46.57. Tier Two: NUIG 7:39.84.

Double Sculls – Championship: 3 London/Skibbereen (M Jackson, N Long) 7:28.48.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Kealan Mannix won both the senior and intermediate single sculls at Limerick Regatta today. The Skibbereen man was competing for University of Limerick, who also won in the senior fours. Muckross were the top men’s club eight, while Galway won the women’s intermediate and junior eights. Castleconnell were the top men’s junior 18 eight.

Limerick Regatta, Saturday (Selected Results):

Men

Eight – Club: Muckross. Junior 18: Castleconnell. Jun 16: Col Iognaid.

Four – Sen: University of Limerick. Inter, coxed: Clonmel. Jun 18A, coxed: Castleconnell.

Pair – Sen: Portadown.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: Univ of Limerick. Jun 18A: CRCC.

Double – Inter: St Michael’s B.

Single – Sen: Univ of Limerick (K Mannix). Inter: University of Limerick (K Mannix). Jun 18A: St Michael’s (R Spelman).  

Women

Eight – Inter: Galway. Jun 18: Galway. Jun 16: Commercial. Masters: University of Limerick.

Four – Inter, coxed: Fermoy. Jun 18: Shandon.  

Pair – Jun 18: CRCC.

Sculling, Quadruple – Jun 18: Castleconnell. Jun 16, coxed: Commercial A.

Double – Inter: St Michael’s.

Single – Inter: Castleconnell (C O’Brien). Jun 18A: Castleconnell (O’Brien).

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The fastest crew at the Castleconnell head of the river on Saturday was the composite men’s senior eight of the host club and the University of Limerick, who set a time of 10 minutes and 25 seconds. The fastest women’s crew, Castleconnell’s intermediate eight, came home 18th overall in a big field.

Castleconnell Head of the River, Saturday (Selected Results):

Overall: 1 Castleconnell/Univ of Limerick men’s senior eight 10:25, 2 Castleconnell men’s jun 18A quadruple 10:48, 3 Muckross men’s masters eight 11:03, 4 St Michael’s men’s senior four 11:04, 5 St Michael’s men’s masters eight 11:04, 6 Castleconnell/Killorglin men’s senior double sculls 11:08; 18 Castleconnell women’s inter eight 11:47.

Men

Eight – Intermediate: Shannon 12:04. Masters: Muckross A 11:03.

Four – Inter, coxed: Shannon A 11:25. Jun 18A, coxed: Waterford 11:52.

Pair – Senior: St Michael’s B 11:53. Jun 18A: Col Iognaid 12:55.

Sculling, Quadruple – Jun 18A: Castleconnell 10:48. Jun 16, coxed: Col Iognaid 11:37.

 Double – Senior: Castleconnell, Killorglin 11:08. Inter: Castleconnell B 11:10. Junn 18A: Castleconnell A 11:33. Jun 16: St Michael’s 12:14.

Single – Senior: 1 D O’Connor 11:55. Inter: A Mozdzer 12:46. Novice: D O’Hare 13:25. Under-23: D Lynch 12:39. Jun 18A: A O’Connor 12:22. Jun 16: M Dundon 13:00. Masters: S McDonnell 13:22.

Women

Eight – Inter: Castleconnell 11:47. Novice: Univ of Limerick A 14:38.

Four – Senior: UCD 12:07.

Pair – Jun 18A: Col Iognaid B 14:32.

Sculling

Quadruple – Novice, coxed: St Brendan’s A 13:30. Jun 16, coxed: Col Iognaid 13:04. 

Double – Inter: Castleconnell 13:54. Jun 18A: St Michael’s 13:10. Jun 16: Col Iognaid 14:38. 

Single – Inter: R Kilkenny 14:16. Masters: N McCarthy 15:58. Novice: S Slattery 14:43. Jun 18A: G O’Brien 14:31. Jun 16: C O’Brien 14:18.

Published in Rowing
8th October 2013

INFOMAR Annual Seminar 2013

#INFOMARseminar – A two-day INFOMAR seminar hosted by the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute is to start tomorrow (Wednesday 9 October) in Limerick City.

Integrated Mapping for the Sustainable Development of Ireland's Marine Resources (INFOMAR) is a joint venture between the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute. The programme is the successor to the Irish National Seabed Survey.

INFOMAR covers some 125,000 km² of Irelands most productive and commercially valuable inshore waters.

The annual INFOMAR conference will see seminar delegates meet in the Pavilion of the University of Limerick (UL) which is to be hosted by the Mobile & Marine Robotics Research Centre.

The seminar will include an update on Ireland's national seabed mapping programme including survey operations and coverage, future plans, associated research along with poster sessions.

Places to attend the free seminar were made open to all, however registration has now closed as attendance is at capacity.

To request a late registration, contact Kevin Sheehan by email: [email protected], should places become available.

For further information visit: www.eventelephant.com/infomarannualseminar2013

 

Published in Marine Science

#ShannonEXERCISE- A two-day exercise held on the Shannon Estuary last week was a first in Europe, in that it involved testing Smartly Remotely Operated Submarines and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

The exercise replicating the scenario of a 43,000 tonne container ship 'Marée Noire' suffering hull damage when impacting with rock entering the Shannon Estuary due to loss of steering and floundering off the coast of Scattery Island.

The estuary off Co. Clare has become a key European test site for a range of highly advanced 'smart technologies' Marine Robots and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

The University of Limerick is leading the integration and deployment of the underwater and aerial technologies, within this exercise as part of a European Research Collaboration NETMAR which has Irish, UK, French, Spanish and Portuguese partners.

The exercise is a first in terms of scale and use of robotic platforms as part of Ireland's largest marine emergency response exercise to deal with a major environmental disaster.

Published in Shannon Estuary

#sywoc – University of Limerick, with Rob O'Leary as helm, have continued their winning ways into keelboats, emerging as clear winners of the trials to select Ireland's national representatives for the Student Yachting Worlds 2013 to be staged in France in late October writes WM Nixon.

UL have been on a run of success this year, as their team racers – captained by Ross Murray – won the national intervarsity opens from 26 teams in Fireflies at Tralee Bay five weeks ago. But the selection for the squad to go to the Worlds takes a different path, as it's fleet-raced in the ISA SailFleet J/80s, which will also be boat used this year at the Worlds.

The Irish selection trials were notably comprehensive, as they have been sailed in Howth over three Saturdays – April 6th, 13th and 20th. Despite April's unseasonably wintry weather, as the university racing was incorporated with the Howth YC Spring Warmer series, each day's racing got under way early. So though on two of the days conditions were to deteriorate to a gale before nightfall, the full programme was successfully completed.

Rob O'Leary and his crew started well, and were remarkably consistent. In a six race series with no discards, they notched a 1st and 2nd on all three days. As the final day's racing came up with a bit of Spring belatedly in the air, the UL team knew they had it in the bag provided they did better than a last place in either race. But for good measure, for the third time they gave it the old one two.

Irish representation will be strong at the Worlds, as defending champions UCD already have a place as of right. The series at Howth saw UCD2 shine on the scoreboard with second place, while DCU with Ryan Scott as captain placed third.

And it was a mighty busy weekend for the SailFleet J/80s, as Sunday April 21st saw all eight in full use for the ICRA Training Day, with more than a hundred participants from all over Ireland getting afloat for much expert advice, tuition and training on another welcome day of Spring.

Published in Youth Sailing

#KAYAKING - The University of Limerick were overall winners in the 2012 Irish Kayaking Intervarsities at GMIT Castlebar last weekend.

As the Mayo Advertiser reports, some 500 students were on hand for the three days of competition, which kicked off with canoe polo on Lough Conn (won by GMIT over DCU).

Saturday's action saw the whitewater contest on the Clydagh River, with Limerick emerging on top, and the freestyle event on the River Clare at Tuam Wave.

Sunday closed with the long distance event at Lough Lannagh, which clinched the weekend for UL's kayakers.

Mayo also hosted the Irish Intervarsity Sailing Championships in Rosmoney last week, which attracting 200 students to the Westport area.

Published in Kayaking

Two men’s senior eights from Queen's University slotted into the first two slots at the Erne Rowing Head of the River at Enniskillen. The junior 18 quadruple of the host club, Portora, had a fine result, finishing joint eighth overall.

Erne Head of the River, Enniskillen

Overall: 1 Queen’s A men’s senior eight 19 minutes 53 seconds, 2 Queen’s B men’s senior eight 20:21, 3 University of Limerick/St Michael’s men’s senior eight 20:40, 4 Trinity men’s intermediate eight 20:59, 5 Bann men’s junior 18 eight 21:09, 6 Methodist College, Belfast men’s junior 18 eight 21:47.

Men, Eight – Senior: 1 Queen’s A 19:53, 2 Queen’s B 20:21, 3 University of Limerick/St Michael’s 20:40. Intermediate: Trinity 20:59. Novice: 1 Trinity 21:47, 2 Queen’s 22:38, 3 Queen’s B 24:51. Junior 18: 1 Bann 21:09, 2 Methody 21:47, 3 St Joseph’s 22:02. Junior 16: St Joseph’s 23:50. Masters: Belfast BC (E) 24:06.

Four/Quadruple Sculls – Senior: 1 Belfast RC (quadruple) 23:01, 2 LSC (quad) 24:45. Intermediate: 1 Trinity (quad) 22:17, 2 Queen’s (coxed four) 23:39, 3 University of Limerick (quad) 23:59. Junior 18: 1 Portora (quadruple) 22:02,  2 Commercial (quad) 22:51, 3 Portora (coxed four) 22:56. Junior 16: Bann (quad, coxed) 24:05.

Women, Eight – Senior: 1 Trinity 23:42, 2 NUIG 23:51. Intermediate: 1 Queen’s 23:45, 2 Trinity 26:02, 3 Methody 26:16. Novice: 1 Queen’s 25:07, 2 Trinity A 26:29, 3 Trinity B 26:40. Junior 18: 1 St Michael’s 24:41, 2 Portora A 27:24. Masters: Belfast BC (D) 25:39

Four/Quadruple – Senior: 1 Portora (quadruple) 24:32, 2 Trinity (coxed four) 27:28, 3 Garda 28:11.

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Published in Rowing

Last weekend's The Irish Team Racing Association National Team Racing Championships attracted it's largest entry for many years, with 21 teams registered.

The event was hosted by the Fastnet Marine and Outdoor Education Centre in Schull, West Cork.

Four teams travelled over from the UK, and 6 under 19 teams, all from County Cork, competed. They joined the keenest of the post-college teams and the leading university teams to constitute the largest Championships that Ireland has seen for many years. Schull, the venue for next year's World Championship, was a major attraction, but the change of date, from March to November, has made it easier for college students and school pupils to attend.

team_race

Weekend Team Racing action from Schull. More photos HERE. Photos: Brian Carlin

The weather forecasts had been predicting storms, floods and general mayhem for days if not weeks beforehand. But Saturday dawned to reveal Schull Harbour in an unusual state – the wind had disappeared! Racing started 3 hours later than planned. However, by the end of the day the first round had been completed. This was a seeded round robin, with each of the four League made up of a UK team, a leading Irish team, a leading college team and two others, including the youth teams.
The results of the first round determined entry into the second round – all the UK teams won all four leagues, with the George Knights, the George Gladiators, Supertroopers and UCD finishing second. These teams were joined in the Gold Leagues of the second round by the winners of play-offs between third place teams. The Bumsby Babes, a youth team from Royal Cork YC, had done well to win 2 races to qualify for a play-off against University of Limerick and they were in a strong position when equipment failure meant that one of their boats retired . In the subsequent re-sail UL managed to win the race and qualify.

On Sunday morning Schull was looking it's best in bright but cold sunshine. Unfortunately, the beauties of the West Cork landscape were exactly mirrored in the unruffled water of the harbour! Competitors, who had made a remarkable effort to arrive on time for an 0900 start, barely recovered from the reception organised the previous evening by the World Championship Committee, waited. When racing eventually got underway, in a fitful breeze, it quickly became obvious that there was no possibility of finishing the second round. Plan B was implemented, a knockout round between the four winners of Round One to determine the outright winner, another between the 4 Irish team placed second in the Round One Leagues to determine the ISA medal places and a Youth round.

GP14 World Champion Ian Dobson in Schull

Spinnaker came through the semis and final to win overall first place. The two Royal St George teams qualified for the final. Last year's winners, the Gladiators won the first race only after finishing places were confirmed by a redress hearing. However, the more experienced Knights went on to win the next to races to reclaim the trophy they had "lent" to the Gladiators last year. The third place play-off, which saw some of the noisiest races of the weekend, resulted in a win by Supertroopers over UCD.

In the Youth event Schull A beat Schull B to win the opportunity to take on, and eventually defeat the Bumsby Babes.

Next year's Championship will be sailed out of the Royal St. George on 12-13 November. However the next challenge for Irish team racers will be qualification for the World Championship, with selection trials planned for both the Youth and Open categories early in 2011.

The event was also the first opportunity to try the new TR3.6 which will be used for the Team Racing Worlds. Video below of the new TR3.6 and voice over from Team Racing World organiser David Harte in Schull. Stills by Brian Carlin HERE.

 

Published in Team Racing

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