As the 2023 season draws to a close with the news of three major keelboat events in Dun Laoghaire in September 2024, the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) is seeking members’ view on cruiser racing and events during the past year.

ICRA says the feedback will help it ensure that the association represents the views of its members, participants and non-participants alike, and makes targeted efforts to improve cruiser racing in Ireland.

Click HERE to access and complete the short online survey, and share with your crew and any other interested parties.

Waterways Ireland advises all masters of vessels on and other users of the Shannon-Erne Waterway that Inland Fisheries Ireland will be conducting a fish stock survey on Lough Scur between Monday 14 and Thursday 17 August.

All nets will be clearly marked by orange buoys marked ‘IFI Survey’, adds the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways.

Masters of vessels and all water users should proceed with additional caution when operating on Lough Scur during this period.

The Marine Institute and the Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) at NUI Galway are conducting a survey of marine and marine-related businesses as part of the regular reporting on Ireland’s Ocean Economy.

Although the CSO and other State organisations provide some data on marine related economic activity, the Marine Institute says there is a need to supplement this data with company surveys across a number of sectors in the growing blue economy.

These include advanced marine technology products and services, offshore renewable energy, marine commerce and legal services, marine manufacturing, construction and engineering.

The survey began this month and will continue in July, with the results published later this year. In addition to general economic figures collected, this year’s survey includes a section on the impact of COVID-19 and other external factors effecting marine businesses.

Queries regarding the survey should be directed to Marie-Christin Lanser, scientific technical officer with the Marine Socio-Economic and Social Data Programme at [email protected] or Prof Stephen Hynes, director of SEMRU at NUIG at [email protected].

The State agency responsible for the conservation and protection of freshwater fish, habitats and sea angling resources is asking angling enthusiasts who have fished the Currane catchment in Co Kerry for their views.

Inland Fisheries Ireland’s (IFI) new online survey aims to gather anglers’ knowledge via the FLEKSI method, which was developed by IFI to help give a deep insight into the status of fisheries.

Over recent decades populations of sea trout and salmon throughout Ireland are facing serious challenges from various ecological changes.

IFI’s Currane STAMP programme is already assessing fish populations within their freshwater and marine phases, to report current status and provide scientific advice to support the development of appropriate conservation management measures.

The data gathered in the FLEKSI survey has the potential for citizens to get involved and provide important insights to guide fisheries management in the future.

This survey is for all anglers who fish in the Currane catchment for various species. IFI says all responses will help to build an understanding of the history and ecological status of your fishery.

FLEKSI — which stands for Fisher’s Local Ecological Knowledge Surveillance Indicators — aims to capture anglers’ knowledge and hands-on experience to help track changes in fish stocks and ecosystems.

Dr William Roche, a senior research officer with IFI and manager of the STAMP project said: “Anglers are keen observers of nature and are aware of changes within their fisheries. We are looking for anglers to share their knowledge and contribute to the conservation and management of this important sea‑trout and salmon fishery.

“The Currane fishery is particularly highly regarded by anglers, but there is grave concern about the health of its fish stocks in recent years.

“By capturing these observations, which inevitably span an individual angler’s entire angling career, we believe their unique insight into the fisheries environment will help us to track and understand changes in Currane’s sea trout stocks and the ecosystem as a whole.”

The Currane catchment in Co Kerry is Ireland’s most important sea trout fishery, with a long history of high-quality fishing, particularly for larger sea trout. The fishery is renowned internationally and has been the cornerstone of sea trout and salmon fishing in the southwest of the country since the 1900s. 

IFI says the FLEKSI survey will give anglers on the Currane catchment an exciting opportunity to share their knowledge as citizen scientists and to make a valuable contribution towards fisheries management on the fishery.

If you fish the Currane system, you are invited to fill out the online survey HERE.

Each participant also can opt to enter into a prize draw for angling tackle, with one €200 voucher and one €100 voucher to be won.

Sea swimmers around Ireland are encouraged to give their input via an online survey to inform bathing water policy, as Independent.ie reports.

The national Bathing Water Expert Group wants to find out more information about where, when and why people are swimming outside of the summer season — from 1 June to mid September — to help inform potential options for helping to protect winter swimmers’ health.

The 15-minute questionnaire is available until next Friday 6 May. Indepdenent.ie has more on the story HERE.

On behalf of Waterways Ireland, KPMG have created an online survey to capture canal boaters’ views on use of Ireland’s inland navigations, with a particular focus on sustainable on-water living.

“The purpose of this survey is to capture the experience and knowledge of users of the canals and the views of long-term residential moorings on the canal navigations’ ‘liveaboards’,” it says.

All permit holders should already have received this survey directly. If you did not receive it or if you do not hold a permit for the canals, you can still complete this survey by including your Shannon vessel registration number in the permit number box.

“This survey is completely anonymised and no responses can be identified, the permit number is just used a verification for eligibility,” it adds. “This is to encourage survey participants to provide responses which are completely transparent and which reflect the interests, views, outlooks and recommendations of survey respondents in an honest way.”

The closing date for the completion of the survey is next Thursday 17 February at midnight.

The Department of Transport advises that an analogue survey consisting of multibeam, side-scan sonar and magnetometer will be carried out off the South Coast of Ireland by the Marine Institute on behalf of Providence Resources from Saturday 23 to Sunday 31 October, weather permitting.

In addition to the analogue survey, seabed samples and camera imagery will be acquired at approximately 10 stations in the survey area.

The survey will be conducted in Block 48/24 Barryroe, in the North Celtic Basin, around 45–50km from the south coast of Ireland, and will be undertaken by the RV Celtic Voyager (callsign EIQN). The vessel will be towing a side-scan sonar and magnetometer from time to time with cables of up to 300m long.

As this vessel will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre when surveying, other vessels are requested to keep a wide berth. The vessel will display appropriate lights and signals.

For details of coordinates of the survey area, see Marine Notice No 55 of 2021 which is available to download below.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is relying on the knowledge and experience as a ‘citizen scientist’ anglers in a new survey about less well-known fish species.

Some migratory fish species like salmon and lesser-known species such as shad and the extremely rare sturgeon, among others, are in decline in many European countries. These species spend much of their lifecycle at sea and periods in riverine habitats.

As part of the multinational European project DiadES, IFI and other project partners are assessing the recreational fishing interest in several of these species including shad, thin-lipped mullet, smelt and flounder via an online survey which will also record the economic benefits that the species support.

Dr William Roche, senior research officer at IFI, said: “We are urging anglers who fish for these species to participate in this online survey as it will help us get a more comprehensive view of these less common species in Irish waters.

“In this way we can contribute to providing better information to inform future policy and management of these species, and the economic, social and cultural activities associated with them.”

Future predictions suggest that some of these species will see northward and southward changes in distribution under climate change scenarios, IFI says.

This may increase or decrease their availability to recreational fishing and the economic benefits they bring to businesses in local areas, as well as the enjoyment and associated health and social benefits for fishers.

The online survey consists of questions about fish-catching activities and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

In Ireland the DiadES case study area comprises the Suir, Nore and Barrow Rivers and the Waterford Harbour catchment but IFI is also seeking details on the named fish species generally within Ireland.

A new online survey aims to collect changes in sea anglers’ catches in Ireland’s coastal waters over time.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) says anglers participating in the survey will contribute towards understanding changes in angling species here.

Ireland’s sea angling resource ranges from tope in the Irish Sea to bass on the surf beaches of the Dingle Peninsula.

These fisheries attract many local anglers along with visitors from around the world. The new survey aims to track and inform possible long-term changes in the coastal fish populations targeted by anglers.

Dr William Roche, senior research officer at IFI, said: “We are looking for sea anglers of all ages and experience to take part in our new survey programme to help us to understand possible trends and changes in catch over the years.

“We know that anglers have expert localised knowledge from spending time outside observing nature and the fish they catch.

“Over a sea-angling career, this experience becomes a unique insight into the state of coastal fisheries and we want to reach out to those who have localised knowledge and care about the future of our fisheries resource to help us to understand how it has changed.”

IFI says the success of the study “relies on the knowledge, experience and observations of citizen scientist anglers. The survey has been carefully formulated to capture this knowledge and allow it to be expressed as indicators of the current state of our important fish populations.”

Each unique respondent will also be entered into a prize draw to win a voucher of up to €200 for their local angling tackle shop.

The International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) to mark International Women's Day, has revealed its results of the first survey to examine the representation of women across the maritime search and rescue (SAR) sector.

The #WomenInSAR survey, which was supported by Trinity House, attracted more than 1600 participants from women and men in 48 different countries. The research sought to explore the challenges and barriers faced by women in maritime SAR, along with their personal aims, any experiences of discrimination, and factors affecting recruitment and retention.

Theresa Crossley, CEO, IMRF said: “The theme for International Women’s Day this year is ‘choose to challenge’. It’s remarkably appropriate, as most of the women and men who completed the survey felt that one of the biggest barriers to more women entering maritime SAR, was the perception that it’s a man’s world.

“Male dominance remains a fact in the maritime sector in general and maritime SAR is no different.  This can have an indirect discriminatory effect, for example in terms of the facilities and equipment provided.  Many of the respondents said that ‘you need to see it to be it’ -  there are still not enough women in senior roles, or not enough pictures of women in SAR recruitment, training and promotional materials – perpetuating the myth that SAR is just for men.  As one respondent said: ‘We don’t need men or women - we just need crew.’”

Captain Ian McNaught, Deputy Master of Trinity House added: “Trinity House is a charity dedicated to safeguarding shipping and seafarers and we have been providing education, support and welfare to the seafaring community for more than 500 years. Women and men working in maritime search and rescue save the lives of those in trouble at sea, providing a vital service. In today’s world, it is only right that women should be equally represented across all roles and we are proud to support this initiative.”

For the majority of women who responded to the survey, the reasons for becoming involved in SAR were generally the same as for male respondents and a significant majority of women questioned did not report any experience of direct gender discrimination.  However, a significant minority of women respondents reported that issues related to both direct, or indirect, gender discrimination were among the most challenging aspects of their SAR work. Quite a few women still felt the need to outperform men to be taken seriously.  

The IMRF launched its #WomenInSAR initiative in June 2019, to increase the representation of women in maritime SAR and provide support for women and girls involved in the sector. The results of this survey, the first of its kind, will help the IMRF to focus its efforts on improving awareness of, and access to, the opportunities available to women in maritime SAR.

The IMRF is now planning a #WomenInSAR STEM event to highlight the opportunities open to women, showcasing international female trailblazers and intends to introduce a mentoring scheme for women in SAR.  The organisation is also calling for nominations to be submitted for the IMRF Awards, specifically the #WomenInSAR Award which is presented to someone who has made a major contribution to improving opportunities for women in the sector.  

Theresa Crossley concludes: “Over and over again, it’s been proved that organisations with an equal balance of men and women are more successful. Maritime SAR has been traditionally a male preserve. Although much has changed over recent years, we’ve still got a way to go.  Gender diversity makes sense on every level – we need to make it happen.  We’re ‘choosing to challenge’ the perceptions and aiming for equality.”

The report was launched via an online webinar open to anyone in the industry, and is free to download from the IMRF website here.

The IMRF as the only maritime SAR organisation with consultative status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), will be sharing the results with the IMO in support of its Women in Maritime initiative.