The IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force is pleased to announce today the creation of six new Important Marine Mammal Areas, called IMMAs, which include Irish waters and three additional Areas of Interest (AoI). The newly approved IMMAs represent the final result of a full-year process, including an intensive week-long scientific workshop assessing and
Some of you could be forgiven for forgetting what a basking shark looks like, that is assuming your name isn’t Pat Concannon, who runs the ferry service out of Cleggan to Inisboffin. Pat had the good fortune to see one this Mon. 19th February. But this wasn’t just another basking shark sighting record, it’s way
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue T.D. launched an important public consultation this week on trawling inside the 6 nautical mile limit and the baselines in Irish waters. The measures proposed will rectify the imbalance in access to fish stocks experienced by the inshore fleet, and help manage the uncontrolled exploitation of
January is an exciting month for me as sightings officer, as it gives me an opportunity to mop up any sightings not yet sent to or processed by IWDG from the previous year, which enables us to tally the year’s sightings and see how the scheme performed, at least quantitatively anyway. So, with the last
TG4 TV Series, Episode 3 of Inis na nIontas with Ardal O’ Hanlon and Sightings Officer Pádraig Whooley In 2023 we were approached by Aisling ni Fleatharta of One Tribe TV, who were planning a documentary on Ireland’s Islands for TG4. They were looking for IWDG to contribute to this series which was being presented
Ireland’s fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) was published this week, setting the biodiversity agenda for the 2023-2030 period. Launching the new plan Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan said “Nature is in trouble, but I believe that it can recover. In my time as Minister, I have met the
This week the Norwegian parliament advanced their ambition to develop deep sea mining in Arctic waters, voting to open an area for exploration in the Norwegian Sea. The controversial plan has met vigorous opposition from environmental groups, the fishing industry, the EU Commission and marine scientists. Norway’s institute of marine research has also come out
Our social media team in December were struggling to fill the #11 spot on our “Twelve Days of Christmas” series on the IWDG Facebook page, and then I remembered our famous Wexford whale “Hookie”, #11 on the Irish Humpback whale catalogue, dating back to Jan-Feb 2010, whom in Feb. 2023 our friends at Sea of
The IWDG are looking to recruit two new officers in the new year. Education and Outreach Officer The initial focus of the IWDG Education and Outreach Officer role will be to work with existing officers to develop the Education and Outreach Program, prioritising Local Group coordination. This role will appeal to a candidate with a
Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has announced a €1.1 million boost in funding for Irish environmental non-government organisations (NGOs) specifically to aid them in engaging with the rollout of offshore wind. The NGOs targeted for the funding include the IWDG, Birdwatch Ireland, Coastwatch and Bat Conservation Ireland; all of whom work in