Seabed survey operations in the Kinsale, Greensands, Ballycotton and Seven Heads gas fields off West Cork are set to commence from tomorrow, Sunday 6 December.

PSE Kinsale Energy will undertake the decommissioning works on and around the relevant subsea infrastructure over the next week, weather permitting, from the RV Celtic Voyager (Callsign EIQN).

The surveys will extend over an area of 2.5km radius (including the area required by the vessel to turn) from each well head, towing a submerged cable of up to 500m behind the vessel.

Full coordinates for these survey operations and a map of the area are included in Marine Notice No 56 of 2020, a PDF of which can be downloaded below.

Mariners in Brandon Bay in Co Kerry are advised of the Marine Institute’s deployment of a Waverider buoy over the coming days, subject to weather conditions.

The Waverider is a yellow spherical buoy, 1m in diameter ad equipped with an antenna and light at a height of approximately 2m. The light will flash yellow for five seconds every 20 seconds in hours of darkness.

The buoy is being deployed for 12 months in the centre of Brandon Bay (52 16.94 N, 010 05.69 W) by the Ocean Supporter (Callsign EITS6), which will display appropriate signals and lights.

More details can be found in Marine Notice No 55 of 2020, a PDF of which is available to download below.

Mariners off the South-East Coast of Ireland are advised of subsea cable survey operations currently under way, subject to weather conditions.

The survey was scheduled to begin this past Thursday 26 November and continue for at least eight days and up to two weeks.

It follows a route south-west from the 2m contour at Ballyteige Bay before veering south to the 12-nautical-mile limit.

The DNV-classed wind farm service and survey support vessel Fastnet Pelican (Callsign 2FNX7) is conducting this survey using a multibeam echo sounder and sub bottom profiler as well as a towed array with a sidescan sonar and magnetometer.

The vessel will have active AIS and will display all relevant lights and shapes.

Due to restricted manoeuvrability, other vessels are asked to maintain a distance of at least one nautical mile from the Fastnet Pelican.

Full details of this survey, including all relevant coordinates, are included in Marine Notice No 54 of 2020, a PDF of which can be downloaded below.

This year’s Irish Groundfish Survey (IGFS 2020) of the North, West and South Coasts of Ireland is set to commence today, Sunday 25 October.

Carried out by the Marine Institute, the IGFS is a demersal trawl survey consisting of around 170 fishing hauls, each of of 30 minutes’ duration, in ICES areas VIa, VIIb, VIIg and VIIj.

As part of the requirements for the 2020 survey, fishing will take place within a two-nautical-mile radius of indicated positions.

The survey will be conducted by the RV Celtic Explorer (callsign EIGB) which will display appropriate lights and signals.

The vessel will be towing a high headline GOV 36/47 demersal trawl during fishing operations.

Co-ordinates and approximate locations of these hauls are included in Marine Notice No 48 of 2020, a PDF of which is available to download below.

The Marine Institute requests that commercial fishing and other marine operators keep a 2nm area around the tow mid-points clear of any gear or apparatus during the survey period between now and October and Thursday 10 December.

This survey follows the annual Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey which was conducted off the West, South West and South Coasts this past February and March.

University College Dublin have been set to deploy an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) off Inis Mór in the Aran Islands between today, Thursday 15 October, and next Wednesday 21 October as part of the Highwave project.

The university previously deployed an ADCP in February as par of the same ocean wave data modelling project.

Thos latest deployment, from the MV Chateau-Thierry (callsign EIHK6), will be some 0.6 nautical miles from Rock Island lighthouse — at 53°08’57.4” N, 009°52’23.4” W. The vessel will display appropriate lights and signals.

Navigational warnings will be issued by radio when the deployment of the marker buoys takes place. These buoys will be yellow spherical markers, 40cm in diameter and flashing yellow every five seconds.

The Irish Coast Guard is reminding mariners of its planned changes to the VHF working channels currently used for communications with the public.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, upgrades of radio equipment at a number of remote locations around the coast will be made over a 10-week period scheduled to begin tomorrow, Tuesday 6 October.

Notwithstanding the changes, which are also outlined in the previous report, Channel 16 will remain available at each site for distress, safety and calling.

Channel 67 is also available when required but may not be actively monitored at all times.

Updates as the work progresses will be made on the coastguard’s social media accounts in Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well as on the gov.ie and Safety on the Water websites.

The next legs of the Mobility of Sediment Waves and Sand Banks in the Irish Sea (MOVE) Survey begin tomorrow, Wednesday 23 September, according to the latest Marine Notice from the Irish Maritime Administration.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the survey is being carried out in support of ongoing research at the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG).

The latest two legs of the survey will take place from 23-28 September and from 7-19 October in the south Irish Sea.

Works will be carried out by the RV Celtic Voyager (callsign EQIN) using a variety of equipment and techniques, including ADCP, multibeam sonar and sediment sampling.

All works will be performed on a 24-hour schedule and the vessel will display appropriate lights and signals.

Details of all works entailed and the survey areas are included in Marine Notice No 43 of 2020, a PDF of which is available to download below.

Diving operations will take place at the Kinsale and Seven Heads gas fields early next month for decommissioning work on and around the subsea infrastructure.

Kinsale Energy says the works — undertaken by the dive support vessel Deep Discoverer (callsign C6EB7) — will begin on Friday 2 October and continue for around 30 days, weather depending.

Full details of co-ordinates of the affected areas are included in Marine Notice No 42 of 2020, a PDF of which is attached below.

The latest Marine Notice from Department of Transport highlights the importance of planning seagoing voyages, especially those involved in fishing.

It follows a recommendation from the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) this summer in its report on the sinking of a West Cork fishing vessel in Ardglass, Co Down last year.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Dillon Owen was entering Ardglass harbour to land its catch and refuel on 23 October last when it grounded, lost power and then drifted onto rocks.

All five crew on board were uninjured and airlifted to safety, but the vessel could not be towed off the rocks at Phennick Point and sank over the following days.

The MCIB report noted that the crew lost valuable time to drop their primary anchor — which would likely have avoided the drift into the rocks in the shallow harbour — by instead focusing on attempts to release the trawl doors.

Also suggested in the report was a call on the Minister for Transport to issue a Marine Notice for fishing vessel owners and operators to develop contingency plans and drills for such incidents.

Full details are available in Marine Notice No 41 of 2020, a PDF of which is available to download below.

Mariners in the vicinity of the Corrib Gas Field are advised of electrical fault-finding works at the field’s subsea infrastructure set for later this month.

Works conducted from the Edda Sun (callsign LARF7) will begin on or around next Friday 18 September and will last for up to 10 days. The work vessel will be listening on VHF channel 16 throughout the project.

Details of co-ordinates of the search and repair area are included in Marine Notice No 39 of 2020, which is attached below.