Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Barge Boulders

#DublinBay - Works on the redeveloped Dun Laoghaire Baths project at Newtownsmith reached a significant milestone given the arrival this morning by sea of the first load of rock armour to protect a newly built jetty, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As Afloat previously reported a consignment of huge granite boulders arrived last month into Dun Laoghaire Harbour by barge since identified as the Selina. The rock armour loaded in Falmouth, Cornwall, has remained in the Irish port for almost a fortnight but is now ready to be installed to protect the new Scotsman's Bay jetty quay from erosion. 

The jetty forms part of the Dun Laoghaire Baths site and is Dublin Bay's newest quay for swimming and fishing.  In addition, the facility is also intended to be an embarkation point for small boats and canoes setting off into Scotsman's Bay, located between the harbour's East Pier and Sandycove. The public amenity project for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council was contracted to SIAC Construction, while the design was carried out by DLR's Architects' Department, which will see a new public café linked to an outdoor terrace with views over both bays, along with studio workspaces for artists and new lifeguard facilities. 

At 84m long Selina and with a beam of 20m the barge was towed by Wicklow based Alphamarine's Husky at the stern while Brixham based Marine & Towage Services MTS Indus took charge at the bow. In addition, prior to departing Dun Laoghaire Harbour, a pilot from Dublin Port Company cutter Liffey embarked to assist operations that saw the flotilla round the East Pier into Scotsman's Bay where the workboats are in close proximity of the rocky coastline. 

Barge Scotsmans bayTugs Husky and MTS Indus with barge Selina offload rock armour in Scotsmans bay Photo: Afloat.ie

According to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, the rock armour will be stockpiled adjacent to the new jetty until it is ready to be placed into a more precise allocation. This will require off-loading of the barge by using several diggers on board, however, the operation only be carried out typically during a 3 to 4-hour window at high tide level. The operation may take between 3 to 4 high tide cycles before the work is completed to surround the jetty that is weather permitting expected to take a fortnight to complete.

DLRCoCo added during the rock armour process, there may be increased noise levels in the off-loading operations and that they apologised for any inconvenience this may cause.

Marine Leisure & Aquatic Tourism

Domestic coastal tourism expenditure was approximately €698 million in 2018, while domestic marine tourism generated €381 million.

Activities such as walking/ running along the coast, swimming and beach visitations are among the most popular activities for domestic visitors on both day and overnight trips.

While participation rates in pursuits such as bird and wildlife watching in coastal areas and visiting nature reserves, etc. in coastal areas were lower, these activities did see the highest frequency of both day and overnight trips for those active in these activities. 

According to the National University of Galway (NUIG) research the average expenditure per coastal day trip in 2018 was calculated at €95. The equivalent for coastal overnight trips was €310. The estimated water-based activity expenditure per person per trip across the sample was €56 rising to €73 for the subsample that actually undertake waterbased activities on their coastal visits. The results also indicate that domestic tourists undertake the majority of their marine activities on the West and South coasts of Ireland and that there are notable differences in participation rates across age groupings, social classes and by family makeup.

A domestic tourist is defined in this report as a person who spends at least one night away from home on their trip. Total expenditure by domestic tourists in coastal areas was estimated to be €698 million in 2018, which represents 35% of the total expenditure by domestic tourists (using the broader Fáilte Ireland measure for domestic tourists that includes business trips equating to 10.92 million in total trips and €2,006 million in total revenue).

The marine-related activity expenditure, or what might truly be referred to as domestic marine tourism, is estimated to generate revenue of €381 million with €172 million being spent on water-based activities. Marine tourism makes up an estimated 19% of total domestic tourism expenditure.

Marine Leisure Tourism - FAQ

Coastal tourism refers to land-based and water-based tourism activities taking place on the coast for which the proximity to the sea is a condition including also their respective services. Coastal and Marine Tourism & Leisure are seen as one of the Blue Economy (BE) sectors that can help unlock the potential of multi-use of space at sea by engaging with Blue Growth (BG) sectors such as Aquaculture and Marine Renewable Energy among others.

Sports: sailing, surfing, diving and fishing Heritage: Unesco coastal villages, archaeological sites of interest, biospheres and historical points of interest Arts: coastal museums, art galleries, museums, wrecks Education: Eco-tourism, field courses, NGOs. Food: Seafood restaurants, Seafood festivals

NUI Galway carried out a survey of domestic residents in Ireland in 2019 as part of a survey entitled "Valuing and understanding the dynamics of Ireland's Ocean Economy". The purpose of the household survey was to profile the domestic market for single-day trips (leisure) and overnight trips (tourism) for coastal and marine-related activities in Ireland. The results of the survey are also used to estimate what proportion of an Irish resident's total domestic tourism expenditure is in coastal areas (coastal tourism) and what proportion is spent on undertaking marine-related activities (marine tourism).

The NUI results highlight the important contribution that Ireland's marine and coastal resources make to the leisure experiences of the general population and the importance of the domestic tourism market to local coastal economies. The analysis indicates that domestic coastal tourism expenditure was approximately €698 million in 2018, while domestic marine tourism generated €381 million. Activities such as walking/ running along the coast, swimming and beach visitations are among the most popular activities for domestic visitors on both day and overnight trips. While participation rates in pursuits such as bird and wildlife watching in coastal areas and visiting nature reserves, etc. in coastal areas were lower, these activities did see the highest frequency of both day and overnight trips for those active in these activities. Satisfaction with the available marine-related leisure facilities was also found to be very high across all activities.

©Afloat 2020