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A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Displaying items by tag: Lough Leane

Kerry County Council is once again warning pet owners to be vigilant around Lough Leane in Killarney after the detection of blue-green algae, as RTÉ News reports.

Samples taken in recent days show the presence of the algae, which has the potential to form a scum that’s toxic to animals.

Last July pet owners were advised to be vigilant over the presence of Cyanobacteria which has turned the waterway a soupy pea-green colour.

A previous outbreak in 2016 was connected with a number of dog deaths.

RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Inland Waterways

#Toxic - Pet owners have been advised to be vigilant over an outbreak of toxic blue-green ‘algae’ in a Killarney lake, as The Irish Times reports.

Lough Leane has been signposted by Kerry County Council over the presence of Cyanobacteria that has turned the waters a soupy pea-green colour.

A number of dogs died after exposure to the bacteria during a previous bloom on the lake shore in 2016.

Suspected similar cases have also been reported at Lough Mask as well as waterways further east, including Ballymore Eustace on the River Liffey.

Meanwhile, scientists at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology are preparing to use drones to test the water quality of lakes on the West Coast.

GMIT’s Marine and Freshwater Research Centre has secured €132,000 in funding from the EPA for the scheme that will allow for real-time feedback of camera images and data.

Licensed drone pilots will work with lake biologists and water scientists on the two-year project, part of Ireland’s mandate under the EU’s Water Framework Directive.

The Irish Times has more on this story HERE.

Published in Inland Waterways

#MCIB - Marine investigators have highlighted a series of poor practices in their report into the flooding of a small passenger ferry on Lough Leane last September.

Twelve passengers and the boat’s master were tipped into the water when the PV Mary Ann of Dunloe, a traditional Irish open clinker, listed to port after being swamped amid heavy waves at Foilcoille Point, en route from Ross Castle to the Gap of Dunloe, on the morning of 1 September 2016.

All involved were rescued by three other vessels and safely retuned to Ross Castle in Killarney.

In its investigations, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) found that the master, who was operating without the requisite Passenger Vessel Commercial Endorsement, had set out in calm conditions but continued to motor the heavily laden boat in weather contrary to its P2 licence.

Rather than being flooded by a single ‘rogue wave’ as the master suggests, the available evidence points to “green seas” on the lake flooding the bilge beyond the capabilities of its pump, says the MCIB report.

“The combination of the prevailing lake conditions, the large amount of water already in the vessel, the speed of the vessel and the turning manoeuvre all contributed to the vessel becoming swamped.”

The passengers’ predicament continued during their rescue, it emerged, with the first vessel to reach them unable to deploy its lifebuoys as they were fastened too tightly.

The second vessel to assist also had difficulties, getting its propeller caught in a rope from and colliding with the casualty boat, holing its own hull. A third vessel, alerted by a passing waterbus, picked up all passengers.

But the MCIB also noted the absence of accurate weather information for Lough Leane, which is subject to very localised conditions but has not had an operational weather buoy for some time.

The full report from the MCIB is available to download below.

Published in MCIB
Tagged under

#NewFish - A team of marine scientists from UCD, the University of Salford and Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has reconstructed the origins of the endangered Killarney shad.

The fish is known locally as the ‘goureen’ - but many of the anglers who fish for salmon and trout on Lough Leane in Co Kerry are unaware of its presence in their waters.

The Killarney shad is a member of the herring family and lives in shoals, which often show up on the sonar screens of the water buses plying tourists around the lake.

But unlike its close relative the twaite shad, which is known to anglers who fish the tidal waters of the River Barrow at St Mullins in May each year, the Killarney shad believed to be unique to the waters of Lough Leane.

And the new research for the first time provides genetic evidence for the timing of colonisation of the lake by the species after the last glaciations ended.

While the researchers have shown the Killarney shad to be present In Lough Leane for thousands of years, the fish was only formally reported in 1911 by fisheries scientist Tate Regan.

According to IFI, the link between the rivers and sea can become blocked by natural processes or human intervention, such as the building of locks or weirs along a water course. Consequently, once ocean-borne fish may become trapped or ‘landlocked’ in freshwater lakes.

There are several examples of landlocked fish populations which have since adapted to living permanently in freshwater environments, but the evolutionary processes that lead to their origin have rarely been reconstructed.

The existing population of Killarney shad is now genetically isolated from its recent ancestor, the twaite shad. By examining DNA from fish caught in Lough Leane and shad from other areas, researchers were able to show that after the end of the last ice age, some twaite shad were trapped in the lake on two separate occasions.

One coincided with the retreat of the glacial ice sheet from the south west of Ireland some 16,000 years ago; and the other occurred around 7,000 years ago. The descendants of those colonisers interbred, giving rise to the Killarney shad.

Currently there are no natural or manmade barriers in the River Laune connecting Lough Leane to the sea – but the Killarney shad has become so adapted to its new habitat that no migration to the sea is needed for the completion of its life cycle.

While there are landlocked shad populations in the Italian Lake District and in Greece, the Killarney shad is the only example of landlocked shad to have survived in north western Europe. The fish is listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the recent Irish Red Data Book.

Surveys conducted by IFI since the early 1990s have confirmed the presence of the fish in Lough Leane in significant numbers, as well as successful spawning on an annual basis. But the major concern is that a catastrophic environmental event in Lough Leane could eliminate the entire genetic pool, given that the fish is only present in one location.

The Killarney shad is listed in the EU Habitats Directive and Killarney National Park has been designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for the shad.

"This fish is a unique element of Ireland’s aquatic biodiversity," said Minister of State Fergus O'Dowd. "The present research shines more light on this uniqueness, confirming that ‘evolution’ or change within a species is not something fixed and in the long-distant past."

The minister congratulated the research team on "these very remarkable findings", and noted that IFI head of R&D, Dr Cathal Gallagher, pointed to the importance of State agencies working with third-level institutions to combine applied and academic expertise.

The present research was funded by the Irish Research Council, with support from IFI, and was part of Dr Ilaria Coscia’s PhD, now at Leuven University, Belgium, supervised by Prof Stefano Mariani, now at the University of Salford.

Published in Marine Wildlife

#WaterSafety - Four more people have drowned in separate incidents around Ireland as the heatwave continues.

As RTÉ News reports, a 24-year-old man died while swimming in the sea near Ardara in Co Donegal yesterday afternoon (20 July).

Later, the body of a second victim was recovered from the Shrule River in Newtownstewart, Co Tyrone after getting into difficulty.

A third man in his 60s is was drowned after failing to return from a swim in a quarry near Carrick-on-Suir. His body was recovered earlier today.

The tragedies follow news of a 19-year-old who drowned while swimming with friends in Lough Leane in Killarney on Friday evening (19 July).

And a woman in her 30s was lucky to be rescued after getting into difficulty swimming in the River Nore near Kilkenny. She is currently in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

Irish Water Safety have renewed their appeal for the public to take extra care when taking to the water during this extraordinary hot weather that had already claimed seven lives as of Thursday last.

Published in Water Safety

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]