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Coastal Development in Ireland
Ward Park Pond dredging
Eels in a park pond? About 150 eels were found during de-silting work in the ponds in the 37-acre Ward Park in the centre of Bangor on Belfast Lough. That’s about 5,000 km from their spawning area, the Sargasso Sea…
File image of Rathmullan Pier in Co Donegal, which will be closed for upgrade works until the end of November
The Department of Transport has been advised by Donegal County Council that it intends to begin refurbishment works at Rathmullan Pier and viaduct on the Fanad Peninsula north-east of Letterkenny. These works are starting with immediate effect and will be…
File image of a basking shark in Irish waters
One of Achill Island’s last hunters of basking sharks has welcomed the recent resurgence of the now-protected species, as The Guardian reports. Brian McNeill once joined the currach crews armed with harpoons who slaughtered hundreds of the marine wildlife giants…
An Dúna Promontory Fort on the Binn Bhuí Head Loop Walk
North Mayo’s spectacular cliffs, marked by imposing sea stacks, emerged from some of the island’s oldest geological formations. These and other facts will be imparted on a free guided walk of the Binn Bhuí (Benwee) Head loop in the Dún…
The indicative map of the first Marine National Park announced on the Kerry coastline
Government ministers have announced Ireland’s first marine national park involving some 70,000 acres of Kerry’s land and sea. The new park, Páírc Náisiúnta na Mara, Ciarraí, is centred around Corca Dhuibhne in Co Kerry and includes the Conor Pass, the…
The Burren in County Clare
Ireland is on course to become the first country in the world to complete seabed mapping. The mapping of the seabed off the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher on the Clare coast will be one of the keynote topics…
Karin Dubsky of Coastwatch
Progress on eradicating single use plastics which are so harmful to the marine environment will be discussed at a workshop hosted by Coastwatch later this month. The “Coastwatch and more4nature Earth Day 2024 workshop” will celebrate the disappearance of most…
A precision bomb-strike in the heart of Howth village? Not quite. The site of the old Royal Hotel in Howth has now been cleared for an access road to the new Balscadden Apartments
It may have been recently known as the boarded-up Baily Court Hotel. Yet for many in Howth, it was still the modestly-sized Royal Hotel. Once upon a time, it was the heart of the village, a reminder that way back…
NG Worker
The Department of Transport has been advised that Next Geosolutions will perform shallow geotechnical surveys, pUXO ID surveys and KP5 Omega Loop surveys as part of the Celtic Interconnector Project cable route between the South-East Coast of Ireland and the…
The large metal marker buoy found washed ashore at Ballymoney near Gorey, Co Wexford
A marker buoy that washed ashore in Co Wexford this week has been traced to as far away as the US state of Louisiana. The large metal buoy was found on Wednesday (3 April) on the coast at Ballymoney near…
The prehistoric hill fort Dun Aengus on Inis Mor, the largest Aran Island off the coast of county Galway, recorded a 20% increase in visitor numbers
Coastal heritage sites such as Inis Mór’s Dún Aonghasa and Kerry’s Blasket Centre have recorded significant increases in visitor numbers, the Office of Public Works (OPW) says. Dún Aonghasa on Inis Mór- which was the winner of the European film…
Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys who has announced funding of €4.1 million to develop and enhance over 150 outdoor recreation projects across the country. The funding can be used for upgrades and repairs to beach access points, mountain trails, forest walks and cycleway
Kilkee cliff walk in Co Clare and access to Galway’s Traught strand and Kerry’s Ballybunion beach are among projects awarded grants under the Government’s outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme. A total of €4.1 million to develop and enhance over 150 outdoor…
RNLI lifeguards on a beach
The RNLI lifeguard team are returning to patrol seven beaches along the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland over the upcoming Easter period. The lifeguard service is also adjusting its operational hours this season from 10am to 6pm each day. From…
The suction dredger Charnock returns to Warrenpoint from emptying its load in the open sea at Dundalk Bay
Afloat reader Lee Maginnis has shared a new image of the suction dredger Charnock returning to Warrenpoint in Co Down after emptying its load in the open sea on Sunday (24 March). As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the vessel has…
The sleek, grey dredger Charlock, with a bulbous bow transports dredged material to the WARRENPOINT B licenced sea disposal site outside the lough
Annual maintenance dredging at Warrenpoint Harbour in County Down will continue until the end of March and possibly into April. According to Afloat reader Lee Maginnis, residents and visitors to Warrenpoint and, indeed, Omeath have been treated to the sight…
Working area landfall for Greenlink Interconnector
The Department of Transport has been advised that Greenlink Interconnector Ltd (GIL) is developing an electricity interconnector between the southeast of Ireland, from Great Island in Co Wexford to the southwest of Wales at Pembroke in Pembrokeshire. To allow the…

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.