Displaying items by tag: ESRI Ireland

11th May 2023

Esri Maps Out Routes as Migratory Birds Return to Ireland

Esri Ireland, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) operator, has created a digital map highlighting the flight paths of a number of migratory birds which have returned to Ireland’s shores after having flown south for the winter. The maps are to mark World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), which falls on May 13th, an annual awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.

Esri has also launched a survey asking for public participation to help it provide the most accurate information possible about the locations of the returning birds.

Around 450 different bird species have been recorded on the island, and although a lot of them are migratory and rare, now is the best chance to catch a glimpse of them as they return north to build nests and prepare for the breeding season.

A flock of migratory swifts

This will be welcome news for any birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts out there, with birds such as the arctic tern, the Manx shearwater, the swift, the sand martin, the cuckoo, the swallow, and the wheateater amongst the feathered friends calling Ireland home until the autumn.

Swift migration

The Arctic tern has travelled the furthest to pay us a visit, with its migration clocking in at a whopping 19,000KM, while you’ll have to be quick to see the swift. The bird lives up to its name and is one of the fastest birds in Ireland, reaching speeds of 112KM/H!

Bird Migration at Sunset

To help in the conservation efforts and allow for the most accurate mapping of these creatures as possible, people in Ireland can share a photo and the location of the birds spotted using Esri Ireland’s survey.

Esri has launched a survey asking for public participation to help it provide the most accurate information possible about the locations of the returning birds

Link to map

Link to survey

Published in Marine Wildlife

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ESRI Ireland

Partnership Seeks to Hook Sea Anglers in Ireland as Citizen Scientists in Busiest Period

More has been shared about plans to attract Ireland’s community of up to 250,000 recreational sea anglers to take part in a large-scale citizen science project and play an active role in helping to conserve marine fish stocks.

Leading geographic information systems company Esri Ireland recently announced that its digital mapping system is being used by Inland Fisheries Ireland (FI) to help safeguard fish populations and protect marine ecosystems, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Esri’s ArcGIS system supports the Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC) which aims to estimate sea anglers’ catches along the 3,000km of Irish coastline.

Whether they are shore anglers, small boat anglers or charter boat anglers, each member can sign up to access Esri’s Survey123 web-based app where they can record their catches and angling successes with a personalised dashboard.

IFI is the State agency for protecting, managing and conserving inland fisheries and sea angling resources. To meet its EU data collection requirements around species, locations, and volumes of fish caught annually in European waters, IFI saw a need for a collaborative approach to collate its own data with self-reporting by recreational sea anglers.

Turning anglers into citizen scientists, the easy-to-use app enables anglers around Ireland to gather and upload real-time information from any device about the fish they catch and release.

This anonymised information is then automatically transferred to a shared repository, where it can be easily viewed by the anglers and monitored by IFI to identify patterns in the species distribution, volumes and weight of fish caught, and estimated catch rates. In turn, IFI has greater control over and confidence in the accuracy and consistency of the data collected.

The EU is particularly interested in data on cod, pollock, sharks, rays, sea bass and highly migratory species such as tuna, but the solution can be configured to capture data on other species too.

Sea anglers of all experience levels can sign up via the IFI website, and can also watch a quick and easy video guide on how to use the app on YouTube.

September is one of the busiest periods for sea angling around the Irish coast, so it’s a great time to start recording your catch, according to William Roche, a senior research officer at IFI.

“With more anglers collecting data, we will be able to build up a better picture of the state of fish stocks off Ireland’s coast,” he said. “ArcGIS will enable us to work with anglers as citizen scientists and crowdsource the large volume of data that we require for EU and national reporting.

“The personalised dashboards will help to make the recording of data a habitual activity for anglers, and we hope they will enjoy entering their catch data and take pride in their roles as stewards of the sea.”

Schalk Van Lill, customer success manager with Esri Ireland added: “We are delighted to work with Inland Fisheries Ireland on this project and enable the ongoing monitoring and safeguarding of fish populations.

“Citizen science like this provides broad spatial coverage all around the coastline of Ireland, enabling Inland Fisheries Ireland to efficiently comply with requirements. The solution can be easily scaled up to accept data uploads from more and more participants, allowing Inland Fisheries Ireland to expand the scheme over time.”

Published in Angling

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Digital Mapping Project Aims to Gather Important Conservation Data From Sea Anglers in Ireland

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is encouraging sea anglers to become citizen scientists as part of a project to gather key data for the protection of fish species and habitats around Ireland.

As TechCentral reports, IFI is using ESRI Ireland’s ArcGIS digital mapping system for the Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC), which has been previously highlighted on Afloat.ie.

It’s hoped to harness some of Ireland’s 250,000 recreational sea anglers to report real-time data on the fish they catch and release, via the Survey123 smartphone app — much in the same way as skippers’ participation in the Tuna CHART survey.

William Roche, a senior research officer at IFI said: “ArcGIS will enable us to recruit anglers as citizen scientists and crowdsource the large volume of data that we require for EU and national reporting.

“With more anglers collecting data, we will be able to build up a better picture of the state of fish stocks off Ireland’s coast, particularly for anglers.”

TechCentral has more on the story HERE.

Published in Angling

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National Yacht Club Facilities

Facilities include a slipway directly accessing Dun Laoghaire Harbour, over eighty club moorings, platform parking, pontoons, fuelling, watering and crane-lifting ensure that the NYC is excellently equipped to cater for all the needs of the contemporary sailor. Berths with diesel, water, power and overnight facilities are available to cruising yachtsmen with shopping facilities being a short walk away. The club is active throughout the year with full dining and bar facilities and winter activities include bridge, snooker, quiz nights, wine tasting and special events.

National Yacht Club History

Although there are references to an active “club” prior to 1870, history records that the present clubhouse was erected in 1870 at a cost of £4,000 to a design by William Sterling and the Kingstown Royal Harbour Boat Club was registered with Lloyds in the same year. By 1872 the name had been changed to the Kingston Harbour Boat Club and this change was registered at Lloyds.

In 1881. the premises were purchased by a Captain Peacocke and others who formed a proprietary club called the Kingstown Harbour Yacht Club again registered at Lloyds. Some six years later in 1877 the building again changed hands being bought by a Mr Charles Barrington. and between 1877 and 1901 the club was very active and operated for a while as the “Absolute Club” although this change of name was never registered.

In 1901, the lease was purchased by three trustees who registered it as the Edward Yacht Club. In 1930 at a time when the Edward Yacht Club was relatively inactive, a committee including The Earl of Granard approached the trustees with a proposition to form the National Yacht Club. The Earl of Granard had been Commodore of the North Shannon Y.C. and was a senator in the W.T.Cosgrave government. An agreement was reached, the National Yacht Club was registered at Lloyds. The club burgee was created, red cross of Saint George with blue and white quarters being sky cloud, sea and surf. The Earl of Granard became the first Commodore.

In July of 1950, a warrant was issued to the National Yacht Club by the Government under the Merchant Shipping Act authorising members to hoist a club ensign in lieu of the National Flag. The new ensign to include a representation of the harp. This privilege is unique and specific to members of the National Yacht Club. Sterling’s design for the exterior of the club was a hybrid French Chateau and eighteenth century Garden Pavilion and today as a Class A restricted building it continues to provide elegant dining and bar facilities.

An early drawing of the building shows viewing balconies on the roof and the waterfront façade. Subsequent additions of platforms and a new slip to the seaward side and most recently the construction of new changing rooms, offices and boathouse provide state of the art facilities, capable of coping with major international and world championship events. The club provides a wide range of sailing facilities, from Junior training to family cruising, dinghy sailing to offshore racing and caters for most major classes of dinghies, one design keelboats, sports boats and cruiser racers. It provides training facilities within the ISA Youth Sailing Scheme and National Power Boat Schemes.

Past Commodores

1931 – 42 Earl of Granard 1942 – 45 T.J. Hamilton 1945 – 47 P.M. Purcell 1947 – 50 J.J. O’Leary 1950 – 55 A.A. Murphy 1955 – 60 J.J. O’Leary 1960 – 64 F. Lemass 1964 – 69 J.C. McConnell 1969 – 72 P.J. Johnston 1972 – 74 L. Boyd 1974 – 76 F.C. Winkelmann 1976 – 79 P.A. Browne 1979 – 83 W.A. Maguire 1983 – 87 F.J. Cooney 1987 – 88 J.J. Byrne 1988 – 91 M.F. Muldoon 1991 – 94 B.D. Barry 1994 – 97 M.P.B. Horgan 1997 – 00 B. MacNeaney 2000 – 02 I.E. Kiernan 2002 – 05 C.N.I. Moore 2005 – 08 C.J. Murphy 2008 – 11 P.D. Ryan 2011 – P. Barrington 2011-2014 Larry Power 2014-2017 Ronan Beirne 2017 – 2019

At A Glance - National Yacht Club 2024 Events