To give today’s incident a little perspective, since the IWDG was established almost 35 years ago, we’ve documented 5,856 sightings of our smallest baleen whale, the minke, 2,111 sightings of our largest and fastest coastal whale, the mighty fin whale, and 1,705 records and counting, of our most charismatic whale, the humpback. All these big
On the 5 March, a 9.8 male sperm whale was reported to the IWDG Stranding Scheme by Eoin Hogan of the CLDC. An IWDG team visited the carcass immediately in order to gather baseline data from the animal, which includes total body length, gender, detailed images of the carcass, and a skin sample for the
The IWDG were saddened to hear of the passing of Matt Murphy, founder of Sherkin Island Marine Station last Thursday. Matt was a legendary figure in the realm of marine biology and marine environmentalism in Ireland, and particularly in west Cork. Matt established Sherkin Island Marine Station, with his wife Eileen, in 1975. The Marine
At time of writing in early March 2025, our 2024/25 fin whale season is nearing an end. It looked like it was over by late January, with just a single fin whale sighting record off Helvic Head, Co. Waterford on February 8th however, effort watches since Feb. 25th by our local IWDG Cork group have
Our 2023 Irish humpback whale season produced a tally of 134 sighting records. At time of writing in early February 2025, we’ve received an almost identical tally of sighting records (n=133 see map right). It’s reasonable to assume that at this stage most of our humpbacks have either commenced or are about to depart on
With the recent announcement of 23 new Ministers of State, the final makeup of the new government is now apparent. These Junior Ministers will join the cabinet already announced, and all are responsible for delivering the Programme for Government (PfG) over the coming five years. In a time of unprecedented concern for the environment the
The live stranding season for 2025 has kicked off with a bang, with three common dolphins getting into difficulty on the Mullet Peninsula. This location comes as no surprise, as it was most likely going to be the Mullet Peninsula in Mayo or Cloghane in Co. Kerry that saw the first common dolphins in difficulty
The recent humpback whale sighting in the Shannon Estuary caused quite a lot of excitement both inside the IWDG office and with the public. People traveled from all over Clare and beyond with their binoculars to see our new neighbor. The IWDG used their RIB to collect as much information as possible, including length and
On Saturday, 30th November 2024, Gemma received a call from Belmullet Garda Station about a live-stranded common dolphin near the Claggan Island causeway, Belmullet. This marked the third weekend in a row that a common dolphin had live-stranded in Ireland. The adult female was in good condition. Due to the remote location, she was initially
A recent argument critical of the development of Phase I bottom-fixed offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea and off Connemara has emerged, suggesting the State should divert its energies into building floating offshore wind (FLOW) far out to sea. It is claimed that FLOW has less environmental impact, and has the advantage that greater
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