A ‘pilgrimage’ off the West Cork coast

A WEST Cork member of the environment group Fair Seas says experiencing a research trip off the south-west coast felt like a ‘pilgrimage’ – and reinforced his drive for marine protected areas in Ireland.   

Jack O’Donovan Trá is a marine biologist and communications officer with Fair Seas, an environmental organisation on a mission of ‘ocean stewardship’, to achieve a target of 30% of Irish coastal waters being designated marine protected areas by 2030. 

Earlier this month, he joined the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group on board the Celtic Mist in Baltimore as it carried out research off the coast of West Cork and Kerry.

Jack O’Donovan Trá on board the Celtic Mist.

Hailing from Clonakilty, he has had a love of the marine life since he was a child. The opportunity to join the IWDG’s research trip on board their flagship Celtic Mist was a chance to see some of the amazing creatures for whom our coasts are home.

‘In many ways the trip was a pilgrimage for me,’ says Jack. ‘I’m from Clonakilty and I grew up there. I now live in Cahersiveen. To sail around the Beara Peninsula, and to see the wildlife I love so much was a privilege.’

Jack spotted an amazing array of creatures: Northern Bottlenose whales in Bantry Bay; seals slumbering off Bunaw; curious dolphins investigating the Celtic Mist on its journey, some of Ireland’s great seabirds, Fin whales feeding in Kenmare Bay. 

A minke whale surfaces in West Cork. (Photo: IWDG/Pádraig Whooley)

‘To see all this wildlife, and the island of Ireland from the boat – and remember we’re travelling slowly, at about 4 or 5 nautical miles per hour ¬– it give you a different perspective, you get a real sense of connection.’

Jack uses the word connection, and believes that hundreds of years of colonial rule dulled Ireland’s connection to its seas. ‘Since independence, we’ve done little to reclaim that. We never reverted back to what’s best for our communities.’

In Ireland only 8.3% of our ocean is protected, and Fair Seas wants to see this increase to at least 30% by 2030. Currently the group is lobbying government to push on with a bill defining marine protected areas in Ireland. ‘2030 is only seven years away,’ says Jack. 

Fair Seas believes that a spending of €55m between now and 2030 would be enough to establish and manage the 30% marine protected areas target. The marine protected areas would become breeding grounds for various species and would see Ireland become a world leader in marine biodiversity.

‘€55m sounds like a lot but if you think in relative terms  - for  instance €91m goes into greyhound and horse racing this year – it’s achievable.

‘The government is sitting on its hands on this. We are an island nation but we don’t look after it.’ 

Fair Seas has identified 16 areas of interest that could become marine protected areas. 

Jack says it is crucial that the Ireland’s fishing industry and coastal communities are linked into any future plans for marine protected areas so that their livelihoods are also protected. 

The progress of legislation to define Ireland’s marine protected areas has been slow, and Fair Seas believe that because responsibility for Ireland’s oceans fall between several departments, these need to be pulled together. 

‘The ocean is the support system for all life on earth – no blue, no green.’ 

See www.fairseas.ie

Celtic Mist’s colourful past

IF you’ve heard of the Celtic Mist before, that’s because the ship has a very famous past. 

It was the yacht which belonged to former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey. Haughey purchased the Celtic Mist, which was then called the La Tina of Hamble, following the destruction of his previous vessel Taurima off
Mizen Head in 1985, when he was rescued by the heroic actions of the Baltimore Lifeboat crew.  

Haughey died in 2006, and In 2011, the Haughey family donated the Celtic Mist to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, who refurbished it for its current use.