Irish Marine Life
inshore offshore play science coral-reefs crabs ag snámh news think imeachtaíArchive for August, 2009
Feature – Ireland’s Cornerstones. Part 1; Mackerel and Valentia.
In many beautiful locations in Ireland, We are bound from touching, immersing in or interacting with the sea, bound by cliffs too high, seas too big, or histories too tragic. We are reduced to simply gazing, dutifully recording magnificent vistas and suppressing the urge to touch it. In an obscurely located coffee-shop halfway up the slopes of Valentia Island in County Kerry, we empathised with this sentiment as we watched gannets swooping and diving below us in the middle distance between Valentia Lighthouse and Dullus Head, where great sweeps of ocean and cliff will satisfy the dutiful tourist, content to regard such marine life from a safe and terrestrial position.
But on this remarkable outpost in the southwest corner of our Island, the peoples’ relationship with the sea is more tangible than this. Every rock and sandbank is known and approached by fathers and sons in little punts, fishing for stories, mackerel, maybe a pollock. The sea not enough, the wind is introduced as a further parameter to engage with by those who sail and learn to sail between Knightstown and Beginish Island. Divers keep themselves busy with what is around the island and constantly look towards the Skeiligs, willing fine weather, and on the weekend I was there a rowing championship made the stretch of water between Valentia and The Iveragh peninsula a bareback competitive frenzy of muscle versus salt spray and surface tension.
Mark, Andrew and I joined seemingly the rest of the island in going out on a calm Saturday evening as we slid a traditional punt (more ‘traditional’ than a currach) down a most natural slipway, a carpet of Ulva green algae, its growth facilitated by a freshwater influx on the cobble shore outside Mark’s house. We were three marine biologists and we caught five mackerel. Although it did taste wonderful as sashimi later; raw and with some soy sauce but probably much better smoked, as biologists we were more concerned with the particulars of the species we were extracting and the ecosystem it is a part of.
Scomber scombrus
Scomber scombrus is fast growing and highly migratory. Coming into shallower waters in April with good weather, they use spring tides to make minor migrations into and out of bays, all the while in huge schools, which a greedy angler can take advantage of, knowing that if he leaves his line in the water after the first tug, a few more will surely bite on as well. While a half educated biologist will sigh as a friend orders cod in a restaurant, pulling 5 mackerel out of the sea did not cause us to lose sleep. Despite scares in the 60s and 70s when stocks nearly collapsed, Mackerel enjoy the unusual position of being part of a semi healthy, abundant North Atlantic fish stock. This has been thanks to strong management efforts and while the stocks are never far from overexploitation, the Irish mackerel fishery has just been certified under The Marine Stewardship Council as being well managed and sustainable (FIS.com 01/09/09).
Underneath the subtropical gardens of Glanleam House, their humidity and lushness scarcely believable when you walk amongst them we pulled in our lines in acknowledgement of the dipping sun. Hoping for a dolphin or two to escort us, but settling for some moon jellies as the only other marine life to join us on this trip, we felt assured under the low cliffs in the sheltered passage of water between Knightstown and Valentia Lighthouse as other anglers and sailors returned to port, urged by the dimming light to bring home their boats and unsubstantial retrievals from the sea.
This ecosystem must surely take account of its human members, so many of them ungreedily reaping the returns of their respective stakeholds in the waters around the Island. How long will mackerel stocks stay sustainable? If the metallic hued speedsters of the ocean were only ever pitifully pursued by overqualified biologists in tiny boats, probably a long long time, however it is our newly certified fishery fleet whose eagerness will ultimately decide.
News – Irish Society of Ocean Studies
The Irish Society for Ocean Studies, an organisation representing all those engaged in the study of the oceans on the island of Ireland, is a new venture by Oceanographers at NUI Galway and The Irish Marine Institute.
image sourced from marine.ie
According to their website www.isos.ie, They will ”cater particularly for students of ocean studies of all kinds, and would particularly like to hear from community groups and those involved in projects to protect the oceans around Ireland”.
They also aim to research and publish information on student grants, new EU projects, community initiatives and other useful contacts related to ocean studies.
To learn more, see their website here, or to join or simply learn more, click here.
News – Results of Whale Watch Ireland 2009
The IWDG have released results of their 2009 Whale Watch Ireland series of events at headlands around Ireland on Sunday the 23rd of August. Despite entirely unsuitable conditions for cetacean spotting, cetaceans were seen at 40% of sites with 75 individual animals seen in total. For a full breakdown of the day’s sightings and to read the full article, see the iwdg.ie website here.
Events – Whale Watch Ireland 2009
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group are hosting a multi location whale watch at various headlands around Ireland this Sunday, August 23rd at 2pm. The event’s purpose is to raise awareness of the 24 species of cetaceans which occur around Ireland’s coasts. Ireland’s waters are a whale and dolphin sanctuary and the event marks the 18th anniversary of this declaration.
For more information including viewing locations, check the iwdg.ie website.
*Image sourced from iwdg.ie website
Commentary – No Ecological Impact?
”No ecological impact” was the response of an environmental consultancy firm, commisioned by the Department of Transport to investigate a chemical additive spill on July 29th and oil spill in late June at Glengad, site of the controversial Corrib Gas Project. Such a bold proclamation, implying a state of sterile stasis, unprecedented in the history of the earth’s complex ecosystems seems unlikely as someone pointed out to me that simply flinging one’s self off a pier on a warm August day causes an ecological impact.
View from Rossport towards Glengad Beach
This preceded the grounding of a support ship to the Corrib Gas project off Erris head on Sunday, where a small fuel leakage did not constitute a pollution threat according to The Irish Coastguard. The vessel, ‘Flamingo’ ran up on rocks at Ooghran Point. The diesel slick was contained with booms according to Shell. While these spillages may indeed pose little threat to the overall health of the surrounding ecosystems, their occurences along with some other higher volume incidents such as the estimated 522 tonnes of fuel oil, spilled off South West Cork during a refuelling operation earlier this year, presage a major marine pollution response conference in September. The conference is being hosted by The Irish Marine Institute at Oranmore, Galway and aims to discuss the creation of a coordinated response strategy throughout Europe this year.
The conference is part of the ARCOPOL (the Atlantic Regions’ Coastal Pollution Response) project and also aims to improve awareness and the level of training to responders and increase stakeholder involvement. The project also uses advanced computer modelling tools to better predict how oil spillages will move and react to oceanic and atmospheric conditions allowing for more efficient responses. Hopefully, efforts such as these will lead to more informed responses by the relevant authorities and a realisation that our ecological impact is far from none.
Read more about ARCOPOL here.
Events – Beach Safari in Galway
A Beach Safari will take place this weekend at Ballyloughane beach, in Renmore, Galway this Sunday August 9th from 1 pm. This excellent opportunity to explore a most diverse and rich accesible marine habitat is organised by Galway City Council and Galway Atlantiquaria.
Ecologist Dr. Noirin Burke will lead the Safari at the shore which is an important nursery area for juvenile flat fish such as plaice and flounder, as well as providing a home for brown shrimp (otherwise known as crangons), sandhoppers, seaweeds and crabs. At low tide, the shoreline can be explored safely and is an ideal place to observe and learn more about some of our exciting marine life up close.
For more information, contact the Atlantaquaria on 091 585100, atlantaquaria@eircom.net or the Environment Education Officer, Galway City Council on 091 536564 enveducation@galwaycity.ie.
- Source: Galway Advertiser, www.advertiser.ie
Observations – dive at Killary
Ciara Ní Chualáin, an Irish marine scientist and diver, has sent us the following interesting account of a dive at Rossroe pier in The Killary Harbour last Saturday:
”Killary for those that know it (to dive) is very very silty and often hit and miss when it come to marine life other than tube worms and anemones. My buddy Donal and I dropped into about 3 metres and headed north until we were in a depth of about 5 or 6m and then we headed due east reaching a maximum depth of 20 metres. The red and yellow tube worms were as prominent as ever at 12-15m, as were velvet crabs and the occasional brown crab.
What was interesting was the number of large Nephrops poking out from their burrows in the silt at relatively shallow depths. In the past I have only seen Nephrops in depths of 25m or more and usually across the bay on the North shore, never so close to Rossroe. Scallops were also very plentiful at all depths. We saw two large jellyfish, possibly lions mane jellies but thankfully far enough away not to concern us. When we reached the wreck (a fishing vessel which sank about 2years ago maybe) I couldn’t believe how many fish were present (mainly pollack)- huge shoals by Killary standards. The wreck lists on its starboard side in a depth of about 18-20m at the bottom and 14m or so on top and the fish seem to love it.
On the return west we must have encountered five thornback rays, gorgeous animals which lay placidly on the silt as we swam over. At a depth of about 6m slightly west of Rossroe pier we came upon a dead dogfish lying on it’s back and apart from the obvious it was in quite good condition. Alarmingly however, there were at least another 5 dogfish in the same condition. There was nothing to indicate what might have caused these mortalities.
Overall it was a great dive, sea conditions were unexpectedly calm, currents were negligable and the water temperature allowed us to log a comfortable 65 minute dive”.
- Irishmarinelife welcomes observations, photos or any questions you may have; please send them to irishmarinelife@gmail.com.
Oysters; food for thought or thought for food?
I have an unfounded abhorrence of them, my grandfather had an active devotion to them (to the frustration of the local anti-poaching authorities whom he constantly outwitted), people in Galway will lavishly indulge themselves with them between the 24th and the 27th of September, they have contracted herpes and been subsequently dying in famine-esque numbers in Irish bays this summer and with the help of an Irish born scientist, they may go some way to answering the world’s nutritional needs in the trying global times ahead.
The Galway Oyster Festival (more information here), may be undermined in years to come if oysters, once a rare delight for mis-guided aphrodisiac seekers and West of Ireland fishermen who knew good hiding places in the shallow bays of Mayo, achieve the same kind of productivity and penetration in global diets as staple mass produced foods such as corn.
Irish born and raised Donal Manahan is the director of The Wrigley Institute for Environmental studies at The University of Southern California (USC) where a concept know as ‘hybrid vigor’ is driving researchers to explore the possibilities of mass producing bigger and faster growing oysters.
Hybrid vigor is the term referring to the process of inbreeding a species, to produce a small weak offspring, but then crossing that weak offspring with another similarly inbred strain to remarkably produce a specimen which is bigger and stronger than its original grandparent stock. It worked for corn, but as Manahan points out that if rainfall patterns change as some predict, the corn producing regions of the world such as the American Midwest may not be so productive in the future. In their outdoor seawater nurseries, USC researchers are employing this technique to grow oysters twice as fast and twice as big, tempting us in Ireland to consider the further potential of our small but emergent aquaculture industry.
Manahan predicts that oysters could be the next great food, and what a food they would be. The nutritional capacity of an oyster, which is low in calories is quite impressive and reads like a nutritionist’s waiting room wallchart. Oyster farming is also more pleasing to those who are concerned with the ecosystem impacts of aquaculture. Unlike their salmon farm counterparts which attract constant criticism in Ireland and further afield for their large energy input requirements and subsequent waste output, oyster farms tend to efficiently mop up excess nutrients in the system and not make a mess.
That does not mean all is well with the state of oyster aquaculture in Ireland at present. The Irish Marine Institute probably wish they had the resources to harness the likes of Dr. Manahan’s home-grown expertise, but instead are not renewing contracts like many other national institutes in Ireland. This summer, oyster farming in Ireland took a blow with losses of between 15 and 75 % of stocks reported (read more here), the cause appearing to be a herpes virus carried in seed stock which had been sourced in France and the UK.
Will Irish marine scientists be making significant contributions to global marine questions of resource utilisation in the future? Probably. More importantly, will they be doing it in Ireland?
irishmarinelife
lenny antonelli
