#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport advises that site investigation works are being carried out at Rossaveal Fishery Harbour Centre on Galway Bay.

The work comprises drilling multiple boreholes at a series of locations, subject to minor variations, as listed in Marine Notice No 65 of 2014, which is available as a PDF to read or download HERE.

Work was expected to begin on Monday 24 November and is set to finish on or around Friday 12 December, weather permitting. A jack-up barge will be moved to the various borehole locations by a tug-boat, and will remain on site overnight during the operations.

All appropriate lights will be displayed by the barge at night. Radio warnings will be transmitted on VHF Channel 16 throughout the works.

#WaterSafety - The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport advises that, in accordance with SOLAS Chapter III Regulation 17-1, 'Recovery of persons from the water', cargo ships over 500 gross tonnage and all passenger ships on international voyages shall develop ship-specific plans and procedures for recovery of persons from the water.

The plans and procedures shall identify the equipment intended to be used for recovery purposes and measures to be taken to minimise the risk to shipboard personnel involved in recovery operations.

Ships constructed before 1 July 2014 shall comply with this requirement by the first periodical or renewal safety equipment survey of the ship to be carried out after 1 July 2014, whichever comes first.

The plans and procedures shall be developed taking into account MSC 1/Circ 1447 'Guidelines for the Development of Plans and Procedures for Recovery of Persons from the Water'; MSC 1/Circ 1182 'Guide to Recovery Techniques'; and MSC 1/Circ 1185/Rev 1 'Guide for Cold Water Survival'.

#Fishing - The Marine Survey Office (MSO) of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport wishes to appoint a panel of surveyors to conduct surveys of fishing vessels of less than 15m length overall, in accordance with a Code of Practice for such vessels.

To register your interest for this panel, and to obtain any additional information, see the posting on the eTenders Public Procurement website HERE.

Details of the request for applications are also included in the annex to Marine Notice No 61 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE. The closing date for completed applications is 14 November 2014.

#MarineNotice - The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport advises that site investigation works will commence at Howth Fishery Harbour Centre on or around today 29 October, weather permitting.

The works, involving geotechnical investigations within the western trawler basin, are being advanced by a site investigation crew working from a jack-up barge 11m × 6m in size, using engineering plant and machinery and work vessels.

For safety reasons, mariners are requested to proceed slowly and with caution in the approach to the western trawler basin of the Fishery Harbour Centre and to give the site investigation works a wide berth. Wave-wash from vessels should be avoided.

These works are expected to be ongoing until 19 November, weather permitting. For further information, contact the Howth Harbourmaster’s Office at 01 832 2252.

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises of rock placement on the newly installed P3/P6 flowlines at the Corrib gas field, and remedial rock placement on the 20” gas pipeline and control umbilical.

The work will be undertaken at the Corrib field location and along the pipeline corridor to the landfall at Broadhaven Bay. The vessel to be used will be the Nordnes (Callsign PHOG).

Work on the P3 and P6 flowline rock placement will all take place within the 500m Safety Zone surrounding the Corrib subsea facilities. Meanwhile, the pipeline and umbilical remedial rock placement will be undertaken from the Corrib offshore field location to landfall at Glengad, Co Mayo.

The P3/P6 rock placement works will commence tomorrow, Sunday 19 October at the Corrib Field. Following that, the remedial rock placement will be undertaken on the pipeline and umbilical. The work will be completed by early November 2014.

Full details of co-ordinates for the relevant work areas are included in Marine Notice No 59 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that it has established a panel of authorised surveyors to conduct statutory radio surveys on Irish sea-going vessels, including fishing vessels.

This panel is established from 1 October 2014 till 1 October 2017. Owners of vessels in the following categories requiring a periodical/annual radio survey should contact a panel radio surveyor to arrange these surveys:

• Irish fishing vessels of 15 metres length overall or more,

• Irish domestic trading passenger ships of Classes B, C, D, II(A), III, and VI,

• Irish domestic trading cargo vessels of 300GT or more, but less than 500GT.

On completion of such surveys, the panel surveyors will inform the Marine Survey Office (MSO) with regard to the issue of any required statutory certificate to the vessel.

In general, from 1 January 2015 the MSO will not issue statutory certificates to vessels which have not completed the required statutory radio survey. Owners of vessels requiring an 'initial' radio survey should contact the MSO.

Operators of vessels where the statutory certificates are issued by a Recognised Organisation on behalf of the DTTAS should continue to utilise the services of the Recognised Organisation for the completion of these statutory radio surveys.

Contact details for the panel of surveyors are included in the annex to Marine Notice No 58 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that an environmental survey will take place in the vicinity of the Corrib Gas Field manifold and the Corrib treated surface water outfall diffuser.

These works, which include a post-well environmental survey conducted in the area of the 18/20-5(P6) well, were scheduled to commence by today (Friday 26 September) and are expected to last about a week, weather permitting. The vessel to be used is the Granuaile (Callsign EIPT).

Water and sediments samples will be collected from a series of locations adjacent to the Corrib field (SW3) and the water outfall diffuser (SW1) using a grab sampler. All locations at SW3 are within a 2.5km radius of the manifold.

With the exception of a sample control site located approximately 10km to the south-west, all locations at SW1 are within 4km of the diffuser. Cameras mounted on ROVs will take visual images of the seabed at each sample location.

Details of the relevant co-ordinates are included in Marine Notice No 57 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport advises that Osiris Projects will be carrying out two survey operations along the proposed interconnector route between Ireland and France.

The surveys will extend from the Shoreline at two locations in Co Cork (Ballinwilling Strand main route and Ballycroneen Beach alternative route) across the Celtic Sea to the shoreline at two locations in Northern France (Roscoff main route and Pontusval alternative route).

The first survey operation started on 17 August and is expected to run until 30 September, weather permitting. Survey works will be undertaken on the survey vessel RRS Ernest Shackleton (Callsign ZDLSI).

The vessel will operate on a 24-hour basis, will display appropriate day shapes and lights during survey operations and will actively transmit an AIS signal.

The RRS Ernest Shackleton will be towing survey equipment below the surface up to 600m behind the vessel. A wide berth is requested at all times as the vessel will be restricted in her ability to manoeuvre.

The second survey operation was expected to start on the Irish side yesterday (10 September) and will run until 20 September, weather permitting. Survey works will be undertaken on the survey vessel MV Proteus (Callsign 2HBL7).

The vessel will operate on a 12-hour basis, will display appropriate day shapes and lights during survey operations and will actively transmit an AIS signal.

The corridor width for each landing will be 250 metres from the high water mark to the 10-metre contour, then the corridor will widen to 500 metres as the route moves to France.

The survey vessel may be found running both along the corridor and in the general vicinity of the survey corridor. The vessel will be working between high water and 20 metre contour and in daylight hours only.

The MV Proteus will be towing survey equipment on and below the water surface up to 300m behind the vessel. A wide berth is requested at all times as the vessel will be restricted in her ability to manoeuvre.

Both vessels will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the works. Full details of co-ordinates of the work areas are included in Marine Notice No 55 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Meanwhile, a hydrographic and geophysical survey operation is presently being undertaken by INFOMAR on the RV Celtic Voyager off the southwest coast of Ireland, continuing till 17 September.

The vessel is towing a magnetometer sensor with a single cable of up to 100m in length. A wide berth is requested at all times as the vessel will be restricted in her ability to manoeuvre.

The vessel will display appropriate lights and markers, and will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

Co-ordinates for the bounding box of the survey area are detailed in Marine Notice No 54 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

#MarineNotice - An inshore pipeline and umbilical maintenance and inspection survey, using vessel mounted acoustic survey equipment and a side scan sonar system, will take place from high water at Glengad, Co Mayo to an area close to the water outfall diffuser.

Works will commence around Monday 8 September and are expected to last for approximately two weeks.

The vessel to be used is the Naomh Aine (Callsign EIDU7). The Macbel (Callsign EIHL5) safety vessel will be operating with the Naomh Aine at all times.

All other vessels in the vicinity are advised to keep a wide berth from the work vessels.

Details of co-ordinates for the work area are included in Marine Notice No 53 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DDTTAS) advises that Polarcus DMCC is scheduled to carry out a 3D seismic survey in the Porcupine Basin, southwest coast of Ireland, in early September.

The survey will cover 633 sq km and is is expected to last for around 20 days, subject to weather.

The seismic vessel M/V Polarcus Amani (Call sign C6ZD3) is scheduled to carry out the work. The vessel will be towing 10 cables, each 8.1km long with 150m separation at depth of 14 metres, with a total array width of 1.35km.

A buoy equipped with a radar reflector and navigation strobe light will be deployed at the end of each cable.

The seismic vessel will be accompanied by support vessel M/V Bravo Sapphire (Call sign ZDJY8) and chase vessel M/V Nomad (Call sign EI5298). All work vessels will be listening on VHF Channels 16 and 67.

The seismic vessel in particular will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre while carrying out the survey so all vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the M/V Polarcus Amani, her towed equipment, the M/V Bravo Sapphire and the M/V Nomad a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Co-ordinates for the proposed seismic 3D survey are included in Marine Notice No 52 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.