7th August - Green Drinks - Fracking

This month Dublin Branch Green Drinks heard Ineke Scholte of frackingfreeireland.org talk about the controversial issue of fracking. At the moment exploratory licences have been granted to companies in Ireland north and south of the border to look at possible sites for fracking. This has generated local opposition from those opposed on environmental grounds, but proponents of fracking say that it will reduce our reliance on fuel imports and generate much needed local employment.

So what is fracking? Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing which involves pumping a mix of water, sand and chemical under huge pressure into gas bearing rocks. The first step in the process involves drilling a shaft to reach the shale layer, sometimes as deep as 2.5km. Small explosions are then set into the shale layer fracturing it. The water, sand and chemicals are then pumped in at high pressure to enlarge the cracks and release the gas. Supporters of fracking say that this can be done safely and has been done in many places before. Opponents of fracking say that it is an inherently risky process and can contaminate ground water and destabilise local geology, and that it has never been done in a country with a geology like Ireland's.

After Ineke's presentation, a lively and sometimes heated discussion followed between those in favour and those against fracking. The arguments for and against fracking involve very technical issues, and also the broader issue of whether fracking can act as a bridge to tide us over until renewable energies come on stream, or whether it is actually a distraction, helping to postpone action on renewables. The discussion ended without agreement except that people should inform themselves further on this very important issue.

12th August - Beach Safari and Snorkelling

On Sunday the 12th of August the Irish Wildlife Trust held a beach safari led by Kevin Delahunty at Portmarnock beach. The beach safari was based mainly around the rock pools and began at 10:30 as the tide was low, making the rocks pools easily accessible. There was a brilliant turn out with lots of parents bringing their children along to learn about the different species we have on our rocky shores.

We began by investigating what creates the small casts along the beach and discovered that they are created by lugworms. After digging one up and explaining their life cycle to the children, we were off to the rock pools in search of other species. And we were in no way disappointed!

We found lots of different species as the rock pools in Portmarnock contain a huge amount of wildlife. We very quickly found a number of common gobies and common prawns. One young wildlife enthusiast even caught a flounder in his net! We also collected many shore crabs from tiny to quite large.

Kevin talked about the different molluscs we had on our shores as we examined limpets, mussels, periwinkles and dog whelks. We were treated not only to beadlet anemones with full tentacle extension but also to some tube anemones as well. 

IWT was also to team up with CFT for the event in order to include a snorkel and discover what other species we have under the water as well as above. However do to bad weather conditions and a very rough sea the snorkel had to be cancelled. This will be rescheduled at a later date so keep checking the blog and our facebook page to find out when!

Many thanks to all who came out and made it a really great morning on the beach.

Anemones

Shore Crab

gone fishing

28th July - Bray Beach Clean-up

On 28th July the national SEA LIFE Centre and IWT Dublin Branch held a Beach Clean on Bray Beach to raise awareness of marine pollution and the detrimental effects it can have on marine animals and raise awareness for OCEAN 2012. There was a good turnout of least 40 people and a lot of good work was done cleaning the beach - at least judging by the many plastic sacks that were collected afterwards. Important work was done too in recording the type of material washed up on the beach, which will help conservationists to understand the problem of pollution better.   After the beach clean, volunteers were invited into SEA LIFE for a tour of the aquarium for a small donation to our conservation fund and then gathered on the beach to make another FISH SHAPE for OCEAN2012 Fish Weeks. A fun packed day was had by all!

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7th July - Trip to Ireland's Eye

Boat trip to Ireland’s Eye: Saturday, 7^th July

Wow, what a wonderful day we had on our second visit to the island this year:  the trip turned out to be just perfect. We were blessed with beautiful sunshine and were fortunate to see scores of gannets, kittiwakes, fulmars, guillemots and razorbills in all their splendour, but most importantly we were able to admire some puffins, Ireland’s most colourful seabirds.

We were lucky, too, to have Sean Hogan lead the walk because he drew our attention to many seabirds and their chicks which would otherwise have gone unnoticed. He shared with us his admirable knowledge of the importance of the island’s seabird colonies, their habitats, breeding sites and migration patterns and he taught us how to differentiate between the various gulls on the island.

We were fortunate also to have some enthusiastic photographers among the participants, who beautifully captured some of these spectacular birds. Thank you Ed Kealy for your stunning  photos.      

A Beautiful Day on Ireland's Eye

Fulmar

Gannet

Puffins or 'sea parrots'

Protective Parents

Juvenile Gull

3rd July Green Drinks Ocean 2012

IWT's summer of sustainable seas continued on 3rd July at its monthly meeting of Green Drinks with Mike Walker from OCEAN2012 (http://www.ocean2012.eu/) coming to speak about overfishing and the OCEAN2012 campaign. OCEAN2012 is an alliance of organisations dedicated to stopping overfishing, ending destructive fishing practices and and delivering fair and equitable use of healthy fish stocks.

Mike outlined to the meeting some of the shocking facts and figures associated with overfishing. Currently, 63% of fish stocks in the Atlantic are overfished, 82% in the Mediterranean, and four out of the six stocks for which scientific advice is available in the Baltic. Over 20% of fish stocks are being fished beyond safe biological limits, meaning their very future is threatened. North Sea fish catches have declined from 3.5 million tonnes a year in 1995 to 1.5 million tonnes in 2007, and the larger fish at the top of the food chain are dying out as we literally eat our way through them. For example, North Sea cod reach spawning age at four years old, while the average age of cod caught in the North Sea is 1.6 years, meaning that 93% of cod are caught before they can reproduce. This means that there are virtually no large mature cod left. The difference between the cod caught in the past and the cod caught today can be seen in the two images below

At present, not only is the EU fleet is estimated to have the capacity to fish two to three times the sustainable level, but much of the fishing fleet is sustained by subsidies, meaning we are paying twice for our fish. The EU's Common Fisheries Policy needs to be changed urgently to bring about a sustainable fishing industry. Review of the Policy is underway at present, but vested interests opposing change mean it is vital to keep the pressure on policy makers.

Cod in the past

Cod today

Fish Shape outside Messr Maguires

23rd June Visit to SEALIFE Bray and fish shape

The Dublin Branch went on a tour of the National SEA LIFE Centre in Bray on Saturday June 23rd. This special guided tour of the aquarium with a dedicated SEA LIFE expert brought the group face to face with a Giant Pacific Octopus, sharks and many other creatures. This year’s new feature of the aquarium is a trail of rays featuring Ireland's only Cownose Rays. The tour took about an hour and afterwards IWT members and members of BirdWatch Ireland gathered on the beach for an Oceans 2012 campaign fish-shape photograph!  

16th June Visit to Ireland's Eye

Last Saturday 16th June the Irish Wildlife Trust went on a boat trip to Ireland's Eye off Howth in north Co. Dublin. Ireland's Eye is a designated SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and SPA (Special Protection Area). You can learn more about those designations by following the link to the National Parks and Wildllife Service website:

http://www.npws.ie/search/ProtectedSites.jsp


 There was a good turnout for the trip and the weather was cloudy but it stayed dry (mostly). Ireland's Eye is a spectacular island with its own Martello Tower and ruined church, and of course it contains a huge amount of wildlife, especially seabirds. Among the birds we saw were kittiwakes, nesting herring gulls and shags, (unfortunately some of these were dead). IWT's Conn Flynn who was leading the trip also showed the group some of the wild things on the seashore, including little insects that live in the seaweed called sandhoppers and some of the varieties of seaweed.

Conn leads the way through the jungle

Climbing the tower (not for Rapunzel)

Looking at the sandhoppers

Conn talks seaweed

Dead Shag