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Displaying items by tag: Killary Harbour

#MarineNotice - Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) will be carrying out scientific sampling using bag nets and sentinel cages in Killary Harbour and surrounding waters. 

Similar to last year’s operation, the bag nets will start at the shore and extend into the water approximately 25 meters. The sentinel cages (nets) will be anchored near shore and will not interfere with navigable waters. 

All nets will be clearly marked with brightly coloured buoys with IFI identification so that any unintentional retrieval can be notified.

Deployment operations, which were set to begin on Thursday 12 April, are being carried out using the RIB Sea Breeze (Callsign EI-5724) and are subject to weather conditions. The nets will be checked daily, also weather dependent, and all sampling nets and buoys will be retrieved on Friday 8 June.

Full details of co-ordinates and contact information are included in Marine Notice  No 17 of 2018, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Coastal Notes

#MarineNotice - Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) will be carrying out scientific sampling using bag-nets and sentinel cages in Killary Harbour and surrounding waters from this week.

The bag-nets will start at the shore and extend into the water approximately 25 metres. The sentinel cages (nets) will be anchored near-shore and will not interfere with navigable waters.

All nets will be clearly marked with brightly coloured buoys with IFI identification so that any unintentional retrieval can be notified to IFI through the contact details provided.

Deployment operations will be carried out using an IFI RIB, Sea Breeze (Callsign EI-5724; MMSI 250002937), and will take place today Monday 3 April, subject to weather conditions. The nets will be checked daily (weather dependent) and all sampling nets and buoys will be retrieved on Friday 2 June.

A map and co-ordinates of the relevant locations are included in Marine Notice No 16 of 2017, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Science

#Archaeology - With yet another stormy weekend comes news that continued coastal erosion on the West Coast has exposed the remains of a shipwreck at Killary Harbour.

According to The Irish Times, the wreck on Tallaghbaun Strand is already known to locals though its origins are as yet unclear.

But archaeologist Michael Gibbons believes it could date from the late medieval period, as wrecks from the Spanish Armada have been identified in the region.

Gibbons has also been researching what appear to be the remains of a late Bronze Age or early Christian monastic site on Kid Island in Broadhaven Bay. The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Coastal Notes

#Killary - The Irish Times reports on the death of a mussel farmer in a diving incident in Connemara at the weekend.

Marty Nee, who started a farm for rope-grown mussels in the area with his wife Catherine 16 years ago, died after getting into difficulty while diving in Killary Fjord on Saturday evening.

The loss of the 48-year-old Renvyle resident – a regular supplier to the annual Connemara Mussel Festival – has shocked the local community, according to Galway Bay FM.

Published in News Update

#DIVING ON TV - The latest episode of RTÉ One's natural history series Living the Wildlife takes a look at the secrets of 'Underwater Ireland'.

Presenter Colin Stafford-Jones goes diving with renowned underwater wildlife photographer Nigel Motyer, who has had photographs published in National Geographic magazine, to find a conger eel in Killary Harbour, Co Mayo.

Killary is Ireland's only fjord, which means that diving is possible all year round. But SCUBA diving is not the only way to access the underwater world - snorkelling is a cheaper and more practical way, as Victor Kutischev of the website Underwater Ireland demonstrates.

"Victor has seen some remarkable things over the last few years," says Stafford-Jones. "The triggerfish he filmed in Kerry, which we see in the show look absolutely extraordinary; it makes me want to throw on a mask and snorkel right now."

Stafford-Jones also visits old friend Dave Tilley on Sandymount Strand in Dublin Bay, where he shows how to gather a sustainable lunch from the clean waters of the bay - such as the razor clams regularly found on our beaches.

Catch the programme again tomorrow night (Monday 5 November) at 8.30pm on RTÉ One, or click HERE to view via RTÉ Player (available till 22 November in Ireland only).

Published in Maritime TV

#DIVING - BBC News reports that a man suspected to be suffering from 'the bends' after a dive in Galway was treated in Northern Ireland at the weekend.

The diver was airlifted to the decompression chamber in Craigavon by Irish Coast Guard helicopter as there was no medical team available at the closest facility in Galway.

Decompression sickness - commonly known as 'the bends' - was suspected after the man's rapid ascent from a 22-metres dive in Killary Harbour on Sunday.

Published in Diving

Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) in Ireland Information

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity to save lives at sea in the waters of UK and Ireland. Funded principally by legacies and donations, the RNLI operates a fleet of lifeboats, crewed by volunteers, based at a range of coastal and inland waters stations. Working closely with UK and Ireland Coastguards, RNLI crews are available to launch at short notice to assist people and vessels in difficulties.

RNLI was founded in 1824 and is based in Poole, Dorset. The organisation raised €210m in funds in 2019, spending €200m on lifesaving activities and water safety education. RNLI also provides a beach lifeguard service in the UK and has recently developed an International drowning prevention strategy, partnering with other organisations and governments to make drowning prevention a global priority.

Irish Lifeboat Stations

There are 46 lifeboat stations on the island of Ireland, with an operational base in Swords, Co Dublin. Irish RNLI crews are tasked through a paging system instigated by the Irish Coast Guard which can task a range of rescue resources depending on the nature of the emergency.

Famous Irish Lifeboat Rescues

Irish Lifeboats have participated in many rescues, perhaps the most famous of which was the rescue of the crew of the Daunt Rock lightship off Cork Harbour by the Ballycotton lifeboat in 1936. Spending almost 50 hours at sea, the lifeboat stood by the drifting lightship until the proximity to the Daunt Rock forced the coxswain to get alongside and successfully rescue the lightship's crew.

32 Irish lifeboat crew have been lost in rescue missions, including the 15 crew of the Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) lifeboat which capsized while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Palme on Christmas Eve 1895.

FAQs

While the number of callouts to lifeboat stations varies from year to year, Howth Lifeboat station has aggregated more 'shouts' in recent years than other stations, averaging just over 60 a year.

Stations with an offshore lifeboat have a full-time mechanic, while some have a full-time coxswain. However, most lifeboat crews are volunteers.

There are 46 lifeboat stations on the island of Ireland

32 Irish lifeboat crew have been lost in rescue missions, including the 15 crew of the Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) lifeboat which capsized while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Palme on Christmas Eve 1895

In 2019, 8,941 lifeboat launches saved 342 lives across the RNLI fleet.

The Irish fleet is a mixture of inshore and all-weather (offshore) craft. The offshore lifeboats, which range from 17m to 12m in length are either moored afloat, launched down a slipway or are towed into the sea on a trailer and launched. The inshore boats are either rigid or non-rigid inflatables.

The Irish Coast Guard in the Republic of Ireland or the UK Coastguard in Northern Ireland task lifeboats when an emergency call is received, through any of the recognised systems. These include 999/112 phone calls, Mayday/PanPan calls on VHF, a signal from an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) or distress signals.

The Irish Coast Guard is the government agency responsible for the response to, and co-ordination of, maritime accidents which require search and rescue operations. To carry out their task the Coast Guard calls on their own resources – Coast Guard units manned by volunteers and contracted helicopters, as well as "declared resources" - RNLI lifeboats and crews. While lifeboats conduct the operation, the coordination is provided by the Coast Guard.

A lifeboat coxswain (pronounced cox'n) is the skipper or master of the lifeboat.

RNLI Lifeboat crews are required to follow a particular development plan that covers a pre-agreed range of skills necessary to complete particular tasks. These skills and tasks form part of the competence-based training that is delivered both locally and at the RNLI's Lifeboat College in Poole, Dorset

 

While the RNLI is dependent on donations and legacies for funding, they also need volunteer crew and fund-raisers.

© Afloat 2020