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LATEST NEWS: Coast Guard has stopped its volunteers from using their inshore boats around the country

The Coast Guard has stopped its volunteers from using their inshore boats around the country. This, it says, is due to a safety issue associated with lifejacket.

The MARINE TIMES has been reporting on issues of safety concerns in the service highlighted to it by volunteers. Lifejackets have been amongst those issues.

The announcement means that in-shore boats have been withdrawn from 23 locations around the country was made on Friday.

In a statement the Irish Coast Guard said it is “actively managing the situation and is liaising closely with all key stakeholders and Search and Rescue (SAR) providers”.

The order means that volunteers at 23 of the service’s 44 stations that are equipped with Delta RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) and smaller D-Class boats, cannot launch for rescue operations until further notice.

In an email sent to unit officers-in-charge (OICs) around the country on Friday afternoon, the Irish Coast Guard said: “An investigation is under way into the recent malfunctioning of Rescue 400 lifejackets. Specifically, the 275N section of the lifejacket failed to fully function when activated.”

Tom MacSweeney's THIS ISLAND NATION
THERE IS NO PHOTOGRAPH AND NO MEMORIAL TO THE IRISH SAILOR WHO DISCOVERED ANTARCTICA

That is a surprising fact, not known to enough Irish people, that it was an Irishman who discovered Antarctica. It is quite amazing that his name is not as well-known as that of Tom Crean or Shackleton. There is no memorial to him, nor is there a photograph of him. But a memorial has been created and it will be unveiled in January, on the 200th anniversary of his discover of that icy continent. The memorial will be placed in the small village port of Ballinacurra, from where he had set out with his father on a routine fishing trip, his father having been a fisherman. He was ‘press-ganged’ by the British Royal Navy, forced into their service in the Napoleonic wars. He rose through the ranks and made the discovery in Antarctica.

There is a lovely stretch of the East Cork coastline south of Ballycotton fishing village. The roads there give a splendid view of the coastal area that winds onwards to Cork Harbour. I drove those roads to the workshop yard of Sculptor Matt Thompson who has created the memorial in stone to the forgotten Irish explorer.

Listen to the current edition of our radio programme, THIS ISLAND NATION on the Podcast here, where you can hear more about Edward Bransfield.

We are always on the look out for photos and news from around the coast and from all our harbours so please do send them on to us via email to editor@marinetimes.ie



November issue in shops from Friday 8th November

  • Government Gives €14m to Help the Fishing Industry Over Brexit

    But Gives Seven Times as Much to Beef Farmers in the Budget

    With uncertainty remaining about the British departure date from the EU, the Irish Government has shown that it values fishing much less than farming. Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, announced a €110 million Budgetary contingency fund to be administered by the Department of Agriculture in the event of a crash-out Brexit, the biggest part of which will go to beef farmers. 

  • One Producer Organisation Would Be Better for the Irish Fishing Industry

    Retiring CEO Says Fragmentation Has Been to Its Detriment

    The varying agendas of the four fish producer organisations have been exploited and enabled government agencies to prevent the fishing representative organisations from having any decision-making role.

    “The fragmentation of the industry has been to our own detriment. One powerful Irish fish producer organisation would get more traction both nationally and on a European footing. It is clear to me that it suits some government agencies to have four Producer Organisations as the decision-making can then not be left to us.”

  • Launch of Ireland’s First Certified Fishmonger Qualification Hopes to Retain and Attract Talent Into Industry

    Ireland’s first accredited fishmonger qualification has been launched in the fishing port of Howth, Co Dublin. Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s seafood development agency, has developed the Certificate in Fishmonger Skills accredited by nationally and internationally recognised Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).

    Pick up a copy in your local shop or online »




WOMEN IN IRELAND’S SEAFOOD INDUSTRY »

Bord Iascaigh Mhara to Increase Visibilty of Women in Ireland’s Seafood Industry

Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s Seafood Development Agency, today, 6th March 2018, launched a promotional campaign to profile the important role women play in Ireland’s Seafood Sector. The Irish Seafood Sector contributed €1.15 billion to Ireland’s GDP in 2017. However women’s participation in the industry remains low. Just over one in ten (11.7%) employees in fishing, forestry and agriculture sectors in Ireland is female. This is significantly lower than the EU average of 36.9%. ‘I'm Trudy McIntyre, from Dunmore East, Co Waterford. I'm the daughter of a fishing family and now the wife of a fisherman, Shane McIntyre with two young daughters. I came into fishing through my father, spending time with him when he was out working on the boat.'

INTERVIEW»

The Future of the Legendary Galway Hookers

The legendary Galway Hookers are the subject of our monthly interview in which the Chairman of Cumann HúcéirÍ na Gaillimhe, the Galway Hookers Association, Dr. Michael Brogan, talks to Marine Times Deputy Editor, Tom MacSweeney, about the future of these iconic West of Ireland boats and says they are a maritime art, the preservation of which deserves official support. The sight of a Galway Hooker under full sail is a wonderful spectacle, which can lift the heart of anyone with a maritime feeling. To helm one is even more stirring – and demanding. The feeling of power which comes through the tiller is astonishing, as I found on the helm of the MacDuach, the biggest of the Hookers.


Great Lighthouses of Ireland RTE Documentary »

Great Lighthouses of Ireland RTE Documentary

Irish Lights has announced its involvement in a four-part documentary series with RTE 1 that tells the story of Ireland’s lighthouses and the associated aids to navigation network around the island of Ireland and the vital role it plays in ensuring safety at sea for all. The documentary, Great Lighthouses of Ireland, illustrates Irish Lights’ leading role in safe navigation at sea from the 1800s to the present day, and the advances that have taken place in relation to Aids to Navigation from an engineering and technology perspective during this period.

opinion »

Segmentation of Fleet Capacity

Art Kavanagh: I remember some years back being at a presentation from a County Manager – as they were called at the time which he entitled “Running the County as a Business”. Since then the title of County Manager has been replaced with the title of “Chief Executive” which is probably more appropriate given the size of the Business actually being managed with Huge Budgets, large Numbers of Employees and responsibilities for many aspects of life within the County.



Rogues Gallery in the Marine Times Newspaper

    Joefy checking images and of his 'younger days' in the September issue of the Marine Times in Power's Centra in Dunmore East - Photo courtesy William Power

    Video Gallery on the Marine Times Newspaper website


      If you would like a picture of your crew in the Marine Times print edition or your video to appear on our website please email us at editor@marinetimes.ie