The Government has decided to fund a new phase of the national seabed survey that has already mapped some 87 per cent of offshore areas in Ireland's 220-million-acre marine territory. "Infomar" is the chosen title for this next stage of the survey - the world's largest marine research project of its type.
An annual sum of €4m had been sought to continue the programme which was approaching the end of its seven-year cycle in December. The Cabinet approval will come as a significant boost for scientific staff at the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the Marine Institute, who had been dismayed to learn a week ago that just €1m was being allocated in the recent Government spending estimates for 2006.
This sum was approved to "wind down" the current programme, according to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources last week, and that apparently grim news came on the eve of the survey's annual national conference in University College, Cork (UCC), at which results to date, and plans for the future, were discussed.
However, spending for a new cycle will be provided for in the revised Estimates next February, according to the department. Under the new plan, which will be subject to a review, 26 bays and three coastal areas on the 2,000-mile (3,219km) coastline have been prioritised. This will include work by the Marine Institute's vessels in biologically sensitive fish spawning areas off the south-west coast. High resolution seafloor imagery will also be used to improve navigation and safety, feeding into admiralty charts produced by the British Hydrographic Office for these waters.
The GSI believes that there could be 20 more years' work in the project, which has already mapped an area equivalent to the territory of Germany and Austria combined offshore. Much of the past year has focused on "adding value" to the enormous quantity of data collected by 11 survey ships and several aircraft across a sea area extending more than 700 miles out west - or, as the GSI puts it, "halfway between here and Iceland".
"Adding value" has involved working with Bord Iascaigh Mhara on developing on-board systems for fishing vessels which will give three-dimensional views of the seafloor. This will help to reduce net loss and will contribute to more environmentally friendly fishing practices, the GSI points out.
Refraction seismic surveys conducted in 2002 and 2004 on the remote frontier area known as the Hatton Basin have contributed to hydrocarbon exploration, with the 2002 work using equipment at depths of over 3,000 metres - penetrating some 35 km into the seafloor.
The survey has also focused on identifying gas hydrates - areas of solid frozen hydrocarbon which may provide a fuel in the future.
As the UCC conference heard, the survey material has potential for offshore windfarm site selection, work on marine aggregate resources, habitat mapping, ocean modelling and continuing studies of cetacean activity in Irish waters. Windfarm companies will save considerably on costs if they can avail of data on potential sea sites, and one example in relation to a windfarm installation off the Co Louth coast was outlined at the UCC discussion.
As the study approaches the shoreline, it will also have greater relevance for marine leisure interests, according to the GSI. However, continuing work on offshore data will also help Ireland to meet international legal requirements under the United Nations law of the sea and safety of life at sea conventions.
In a related development, Ireland and Canada have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on seabed mapping.
The MOU has been signed by the GSI, on behalf of the Government, and the Canadian Marine Acoustic Remote Sensing facility at the University of Victoria.
"Both GSI and C-Mars recognise that there exists a need for the application of acoustic seabed classification in oceanic environments," Dr Peadar McArdle, director of the GSI, explained. "The application of this technology will lead directly to lasting economic benefits for the people of Canada and Ireland."
Lorna Siggins