SHERKIN COMMENT

Issue No. 61 Environmental Quarterly of Sherkin Island Marine Station 2016

Herring Hogs, Orcs, Pillicks & Turleyhides Nature Conservation & Rural Development Polynesia – An Ocean Realm Black Bream in Irish Water Padraic de Bhaldraithe looks at vernacular John Akeroyd explores this issue, with examples Pete Atkinson’s book on Underwater Declan T. Quigley on a species that may become and scientific names of cetaceans. 4 from Ireland, France, Greece & Romania. 14 Exploration in the South Pacific. 15/16/17 more common in northern European waters. 20

Wild Violet Species of Ireland See page 7

Photograph: Common Dog-violet by Robbie Murphy 2 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 Contents Editorial EDITORIAL: The Plague of Marine Debris ...... 2 Matt Murphy discusses the millions of tonnes of plastic that enters the ocean every years. The Plague of Marine Debris The Northern Pintail - An Elegant Duck ...... 3 Oscar Merne on this very rare and irregular breeding species in Ireland. Nearer home the environmental charity Keep Northern Ire- By Matt Murphy land Beautiful carried out a 3-year study on 14 reference Herring Hogs, Orcs, Pillicks and Turleyhides ...... 4 beaches, including Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough. They BORD IASCAIGH MHARA (BIM) recently established the Padraic de Bhaldraithe looks at vernacular and found that the 2015 results were the worst yet. 5000 pieces of “BIM Fishing for Litter” programme in three ports - Castletown- scientific names of cetaceans. litter line every kilometre of beach. These included 1500 items bere, Co Cork, Union Hall, Co. Cork and Clogherhead, Co. The role of nature study in Pearse’s vision for education....5 of plastic, 425 drinks bottles and 180 cotton buds. Louth. The idea is to encourage fishermen to collect their litter Brian Crowley on the origins of the Pearse Museum. Marine debris comes ashore everyday on Irish beaches. On out at sea, both on board and litter that is caught in nets or drift- just three small beaches on Sherkin there are always some items COP21: the Paris Climate Summit ...... 6 ing at sea. The response has been extremely positive and local being washed up on the strandline – piece of fishing nets, ropes Alex Kirby gives a synopsis of the meeting. representatives including the respective Harbour Masters, fish- and net cords, large and small pieces of plastic. Thankfully ermen, community groups and Cork County Council have The Wild Violet Species of Ireland ...... 7 local volunteers help to collect this debris. If you go for a walk become very involved. Tony O’Mahony looks at a flower that provides a on your local beach why not slip a shopping bag into a pocket Marine debris is a world wide problem. Fishing for Litter colourful display in Irish hedgerows in the spring. and when your walk is done fill the bag with marine debris and Scotland has been to the forefront since 2005. Since that time take it home for disposal. Your good deed may be the cause of Cork City Council Landfill Gas ...... 8 800 tonnes has been removed from Scotland’s seas and landed saving the life of some marine animal. Indeed why not organise Michael O’Brien on Electricity Generation at at participating ports. At present 212 boats and 15 harbours, a small family get together for an hour at an nearby beach for a Tramore Valley Park. right around the entire coastline of Scotland are participating in marine debris clean up. So often one hears “it the County Coun- the scheme. 800 tonnes is the equivalent of bring more than 47 Changing Ocean Conditions Affect Quality of Prey cil’s job”. Well it is not because they would need an army of million empty drink cans ashore. The litter originates from a for Atlantic Salmon, Other Species ...... 9 people to keep our beaches clean and the cost would be prohib- number of source, much from the general public. An article from the Northeast Fisheries Science itive. One can remove plastic from a beach today and the next Worldwide around 8 million tonnes of plastic enters the Center in the USA. day strong winds arrive and bring with it more debris. there is ocean every year. At least one million seabirds and one hundred no end to the problem. The way to contain it is by not creating Cork County Council Environmental Awareness thousand marine mammals, such as whales, turtles, dolphins the problem, so we must reduce, reuse and recycle. Strategy 2016-2020 ...... 10 die each year due to plastic pollution. They are eating the plas- Though marine debris can be a plague in our seas and Dr Mary Stack presents a summary of the Report. tic and dying from choking intestinal blockage and starvation. beaches, the sea does throw up many fascinating items. In the US plastic pollution causes at least 13 billion US dollars Looking at Antibiotic Resistance Through the Lens Recently I received an excellent book “Essential Guide to in damage every year to industries that include fishing, shipping of Biodiversity ...... 12 Beachcombing on the Strandline” (reviewed on page 24), and tourism. The reality is that 80% of marine debris originates Martin Cormican & Dearbhaile Morris explain how which highlights many of these items. Coming across such on land most of that is plastic. The US West Coast states spend the diversity of life we see is sustained by a much treasures while exploring the shoreline can open a tiny window an average of $1500 per ton to clean up their beaches. older diversity of invisible life. on to the world that live beyond the waves – a world that we Yet every day ships throughout the world discard 5.5 mil- need to respect. Out on the Open Ocean...... 13 lion pieces of rubbish into the oceans. The problem is getting Marcel Reichert on his work as a fisheries scientist in worse with just minimum attempts to reduce or even contain South Carolina, USA. the problem. Matt Murphy, Director, Sherkin Island Marine Station, Sherkin Island, Co Cork. Nature conservation and rural development ...... 14 In Sherkin Comment No. 60, Michael Ludwig wrote a very interesting and alarming article “The Pollution Story Contin- John Akeroyd explores this issue, with examples from ues”. He discusses how microplastics less than 5 mm in size, Ireland, France, Greece and Romania. that normal waste processing systems are incapable of being Polynesia – An Ocean Realm ...... 15/16/17 captured or removed from discharge streams. He explains SUBSCRIPTION FORM Matt Murphy reviews Pete Atkinson’s new book. “there are two types of microplastics: primary microplastic Sampling Fish for the Water Framework Directive ..18 which are manufactured as human use materials and products SHERKIN COMMENT is a environmental Suzanne Campion on the findings of fish stock and secondary microplastics which are microscopic plastic publication of Sherkin Island Marine Station, aiming surveys in all water bodies during 2014. fragments results from the deterioration of larger plastic items.” to promote the awareness of our natural resources, He points out that “the desire may be to harvest them, but sub- their use and protection Eco Echoes: The Environmental Legacy of the First stantial removable of microscopic debris from the environment Generation of Glow-in-the-Dark Watch Dials ..19 is not feasible....The problem has become so pervasive that we Sherkin Comment can be downloaded for free at Walter Mugdan looks a bitter environmental legacy. are seeing some of the smaller particles embedded in the edible http://www.sherkinmarine.ie/sherkincomment.htm Black Sea-Bream in Irish Waters...... 20 portions of the seafood we eat.” SUBSCRIPTION: to receive a 4-issue subscription Declan T. G. Quigley on a species that may become People must realise that the marine debris that enters the sea to a printed copy of “Sherkin Comment”, please send more common in northern European waters. can have a “long life” or take years to breakdown: a cheque or money order for €8.00 for Ireland and • Fine fishing net: at least 500 years £8.50 stg for the UK (sterling cheques accepted from Into the Noosa Everglades ...... 21 • Plastic bottles 450 years UK); send €13.50 for Europe and the rest of the world Anthony Toole on one of Australia’s great remaining • Aluminium cans 80 years pristine wildernesses. • Foam cups and tin cans 50 years (surface postage) – payable to Sherkin Island Marine Whales, Helicopters and a Quad Bike ...... 22 • Cigarette butts 1-5 years Station and sent to Sherkin Island Marine Station, Further experiences from Chris Spurrier on his career • Orange and banana peel up to 2 years Sherkin Island, Co. Cork. Ireland. Tel: 028–20187 as a marine biologist. • Papers 2-4 weeks. Fax: 028–20407 Email: [email protected] In 2014 a team of 17 NOAA Fisheries biologists in the USA Sun’s lifeline for remote Indian hospitals ...... 23 Please send a 4-issue subscription – beginning with undertook a 33-day mission to remove marine debris from Issue No...... Nivedita Khandekar explains how solar panels can Papahanaumokuakeea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. power blood banks in rural areas of India. A World Heritage Site and one of the largest marine conserva- I enclose cheque/postal order to the sum of €...... Publications of Interest...... 24 tion areas in the world. In total, they removed approximately 57 Name ...... Heritage Churches of County Cork ...... 25 tons of derelict fishing nets and plastic litter from the monu- A review by Matt Murphy. ment’s tiny islands and atolls, sensitive coral reefs and shallow Address ...... waters. In the short period the divers were in the area, the nets ...... Black John the Bogus Pirate by John Joyce...... 26 they pulled from the coral weighted hundreds of pounds. The Flotsam & Jetsam ...... 27 divers rescued three turtles tangled in different nets. Tel ...... Email Address ...... West Cork Islands...... 28 NOAA has led this mission every year since 2006, removing a Date ...... Signature ...... Island Hopping...... 29 total of 904 tons of marine debris. Interesting the divers recovered Gaisce – the President’s Award ...... 30 two 30 foot boats at Pearl and Hermes Atoll which are suspected STAFF: Editor, Matt Murphy; Editorial Assistant, Susan Wild Blooms...... 31 to have come from Japan as a result of the 2011 Tsunami. Murphy Wickens; Typesetting, Susan Murphy Wickens; Recycling Stories from the US ...... 32 One must remember that the recovered marine debris is from Publisher, Matt Murphy. ISSN 0791–2447 © 2016 a small area, underwater. No collection was undertaken of how Mike Ludwig looks at what happens to some of the Sherkin Island Marine Station website: much plastic washes up on the uninhabited islands such as materials we recycle. www.sherkinmarine.ie buoys, bottles, toys, flip-flops, crates and other trash. SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______3

THE NORTHERN PINTAIL Images courtesy of Cian Merne An Elegant Duck

In winter few go south of Asia; 200,000-300,000 in By Oscar Merne the Equator, though large East Asia. numbers occur in wetlands In winter, the Irish Wetland PINTAILS are not the most south of the Sahara Desert, Bird Survey has estimated that colourful of ducks – Shel- and some move up the Nile only c.1,126 and 1,509 (mean ducks, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Valley to the Rift Valley lakes and maximum) Pintail occur Shovelers, Eiders and Red- of East Africa. In the Ameri- here nowadays. We do not breasted Mergansers are much cas, Pintails winter in large have good census data going more attractive in that respect numbers in the southern USA, back before the 1970s, but at – but they are very elegant Central America, and as far as that time up to 1,150 Pintails with their long necks and northern Columbia and occurred regularly on the extraordinarily long central Venezuela. Some very large Wexford Slobs alone, and the tail feathers in the adult males. concentrations – up to several national estimate was between The adult male (drake) Pin- hundreds of thousands – are 3,000 and 7,000 birds. Clearly tail, in full breeding plumage recorded in southern USA there has been a significant is basically a bird of chocolate and Mexico. decrease here, for reasons brown, white, grey and black, Wetlands International has unknown. Not all birds occur- with a rich creamy triangular estimated the global popula- ring in Ireland in the autumn mark on each side of the ven- tion of Northern Pintails at c.5 and early winter stay through tral area. This latter character million birds, about half of to the following spring, for of is similar to that on a drake which are in the Americas and 86 Pintails ringed on the Wex- The Pintail is a very rare and irregular breeding species in Ireland. teal. However, while these the remainder in Eurasia. ford North Slob between colours are somewhat dull, Of the 46 species of Anas 1973 and 2003 two were they do form a very distinctive “dabbling ducks”, which reported subsequently in Italy recorded. Probably the best The Pintail is a very rare Oscar Merne retired from pattern. By contrast, and as include the Northern Pintail, and on the Azores Islands in site where you can see and and irregular breeding Ireland’s National Parks & with many female ducks that only Mallard and Teal are mid-Atlantic. enjoy Pintails close-up is the species in Ireland, first Wildlife Service in January have to protect themselves more numerous (c.20 and 7 The main wintering sites in North Bull Island, where the proved nesting here in 1917. 2004. Before he died in with cryptic plumage as they million respectively). To put Ireland now are at the Little birds usually feed on the Since then it has been January 2013, Oscar wrote a sit for a month or so incubat- this in perspective, there are Brosna Callows (a wonderful mudflats and saltmarshes recorded breeding in six coun- number of articles for Sherkin ing their large clutches in the same numbers of people flood plain adjunct to the beside the very accessible ties, mainly in the northern Comment to be published in ground nests, the female Pin- living on this little island of Shannon Callows on the causeway from the mainland half of the country, but only in future issues. tails are rather plain brown ours as there are Pintails on Offaly/Tipperary border), Dun- to the island. tiny numbers (1-5 pairs). streaky birds. the planet, while we have dalk Bay (Co. Louth), The Northern Pintail (there three times as many cattle and Tacumshin Lake (Co. Wex- are also southerly species of sheep here. ford), North Bull Island (Dublin pintails) are Holarctic in their In the Old World, it is esti- City), the Wexford Slobs (Co. global distribution, breeding mated that c.60,000 are Wexford) and Lough Foyle in mid-latitudes in Alaska, the wintering in NW Europe; (Cos. Derry/Donegal) – all of Canadian mainland, USA c.750,000 in the Mediter- which regularly hold over 100 (north and central), Iceland, ranean, Black Sea and West birds. The first site averages Eurasia east to Kamchatka, Africa; c.700,000 in East 446 Pintails, with an excep- Japan and the Philippines. Africa; c.650,000 in south tional peak of 783 being

Salmon, Trout & Shellfish

A male Pintail. The male (background) has a more distinctive colour-pattern than the female (foreground). Marine & Freshwater North, South, East & West

Delivering results for Aqua-Business

For more information contact: IFA Aquaculture Section, Irish Farmers’ Association, Bluebell, Dublin 12 ph: 01-4500266 fax: 01-4551043 natureaqua North Bull Island, in Dublin Bay, is probably the best site in Ireland to see and enjoy Pintails close-up. e-mail [email protected] 4 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 Herring Hogs, Orcs, Pillicks and Turleyhides A look at vernacular and scientific names of cetaceans

someone got fish and mammal mixed up. As regards the species of dolphin, the beak is a feature used in identification. This beak is described as a soc (snout, beak) in the standard Irish names. The striped dolphin is also known as the euphrosyne dolphin, a name based on Image courtesy of Robbie Murphy one of the Graces of Greek mythology, and a word meaning mirth or merriment. Perhaps it was based on the playful nature of these ani- mals as they bow ride vessels and leap clear of the water. Its Latin name is Stenella coeruleoalba, [from Greek steno (narrow) and Latin caerulo (blue) and albus (white)]. The use of the word hog interchangeably for por- poise and dolphin is not surprising, as the bottlenose dolphin’s Latin name Tursiops is Bottlenose Dolphin – Tursiops truncatus – Deilf bholgshrónach based on tursio which means porpoise. The white-beaked dolphin is Lagenorhyncus means ‘of the ice’, referring to their habitat. The est of the rorquals and is quite common on the albirostris – from lagenos (flask), rhyncus By Padraic de Bhaldraithe Irish names for the different species of whales Irish coast. Its name is believed to have come (snout), albus (white) and rostrum (snout). In are of relatively recent origin. In the Whale from the surname of a Norwegian whaler called Irish it is called deilf shocbhán. WHILE we expect the vernacular names of ani- Fisheries Act of 1937 the right whale is referred Meincke. Its Latin name is Balaenoptera acu- The pilot whale (Globicephala melas – round- mals to be different in different languages, we to as míol mór ceart, in H & H1 it is referred to torostrata, the species name referring to its headed black) is a common visitor to our coast may be less open to the idea that within a lan- as fíormhíol mór na Bioscáine and the official sharp snout and in Irish is called an droimeit- and is still driven ashore in the Faroe Islands. It guage there may be a variety of names for the standard name is ceartmhíol mór2. A variety of each beag (small dorsal-finned). is also called the caaing whale and the blackfish. same species. In addition, a single name may names for the right whale occurs in other lan- Amongst the toothed whales, the sperm whale The origin of caaing is thought to be a verb be ascribed to more than one type of animal or guages; the French call it la baleine des is easily identified and well known as the whale denoting calling or driving (whales into shallow plant. In order to avoid confusion and to have Basques amongst other names – the Basques Moby Dick in Melville’s famous novel. The water)6. Another name for a type of cetacean is an international standard for naming flora and were renowned for hunting this whale. genus name Physeter has the same origin as the turleyhide. A history of Dublin describes how ‘a fauna, the system of Latin binomial nomencla- The fin, blue, sei, minke and humpback fin whale species physalus and refers to the blow, prodigious number of large sea fish called Tur- ture, first proposed by the Swedish scientist whale belong to a group of whales called and macro (from the Greek for large) and leyhides’ went ashore at the mouth of the River Carl Linnaeus, is used. rorquals. The word rorqual derives from cephalus (from the Greek for head) are descrip- Dodder in the year 1331, and how the Lord Jus- The word cetacean is derived from the Greek the Norwegian word røyrkval, meaning “fur- tive of this animal. The Irish name caisealóid tice, his servants and many Dublin citizens killed ketos (cetus in Latin) and referred originally to row whale”, the furrows being the longitudinal derives from the French cachalot, which is also over 200 and distributed them among the poor a large fish or shark or whale or sea monster. folds of skin under the lower jaw3. The hump- an alternative English name for the sperm whale. starving citizens7,8. The most likely species to Two suborders of cetacean exist – the Mysteceti back whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, got its The standard modern Irish name for a dolphin strand in such great numbers is the pilot whale, (baleen whales) and the Odontoceti (toothed name from its habit of arching its back before is deilf, based on the Latin delphinus. However, but descriptions of the size of the turleyhide (30– whales). While the origin of Mysteceti is diving. Mega (huge) and pteron (wing) refer to there must have been a number of vernacular 40 feet) would rule them out. The name grampus debated by etymologists, the basis for Odonto- its long pectoral fins and nova (new) and anglia names for this mammal as it was commonly is ascribed to “any of various dolphins or toothed ceti is simpler – meaning toothed whale. The (England) refer to the east coast of the USA observed by coastal dwellers. It may have been whales such as the orca”. The orca is better word baleen (the plates of bristles in the where it was common. The Irish dronnach included in a general name for dolphins and por- known as the killer whale (Orcinus orca) and like whale’s mouth) has the same origin as the word means hunchbacked, hence its name míol mór poises and called a muc mhara (a sea pig or the pilot whale is a member of the dolphin fam- for whale in the romance languages – e.g. dronnach. The fin whale Balaenoptera hog), which is more specifically used for the ily. The origin of orca is Latin meaning large sea baleine (French), balene (Italian), ballenas physalus got its name from balaena and pteron harbour porpoise. In English, the word herring mammal, and orc in both Irish and English refers (Spanish) – all from the Latin balaena. (wing – the dorsal fin) and physalus derives hog was ascribed to various types of cetacean, to a fabled sea monster and in Irish also a The derivation of the English word whale is from the Greek for bellows, referring to the including the porpoise, the bottlenose whale, cetacean. In Irish the killer whale is called a cráin different – it arrived from the Proto-Germanic blow of the whale. The Irish name is droimeit- several small to medium sized cetaceans and dhubh (black sow) or grampar. Grampus is also language via Old English. The word míol is a each, from droim (back) and eite (fin). The blue even the fin whale. In the Annals of Ulster an alternative English name for Risso’s dolphin very general term for an animal in the Irish lan- whale’s scientific name is Balaenoptera mus- (under the year A.D.827) the muca mara are as well as being the genus. A number of small guage and is included in the names for a variety culus, but the meaning of musculus is unclear. mentioned as follows; (translated from Irish): whales around the Irish coast are named after of fauna from a midge to a whale. Míol mór is It is míol mór gorm in Irish. Another member “A great slaughter of sea-hogs on the coast various people – True’s beaked whale, Gervais’ the commonly used modern Irish word for a of the genus Balaenoptera is the sei whale Bal- of Ard-Cianachta (Ferrard Barony, Co. beaked whale, Cuvier’s beaked whale, 4 whale, but the words blaoch and bléidhmhíol, aenoptera borealis, the species name meaning Louth), by foreigners” [Norsemen, probably] . Sowerby’s beaked whale and Risso’s dolphin. are also found in dictionaries. northern. Sei is the Norwegian name for pol- Another name used in the Strangford Lough area Our smallest cetacean is the porpoise Phocoena The right whale was so named because they lack and other names for this whale include for the porpoise was ‘pillick’. This word may phocoena. The Latin name has the same origin as were the right whales for the old whalers to hunt coalfish whale, pollack whale, and Rudolph’s have derived from the Irish pilleog. It appears in the word for a seal in romance languages – (easy to hunt and floated when harpooned) and rorqual. The black pollack or coalfish (Pol- a treatise by a writer and poet called Aodh Mac phoque, foca, focă and the English name porpoise was not an anatomical description of any kind. lachius virens) is also called a saithe in English Domhnaill who was associated with the north- comes from the French pourpois, which is from There is only one species in Irish waters to and this name came from Norwegian. The Irish eastern part of Ireland in the 19th century. His Latin porcopiscus, a compound of porcus (pig) which this name refers – Eubalaena glacialis. name is droimeiteach na saíán, a saíán being a work includes the names of fish, herbs, insects, and piscus (fish). Eu in Greek means good or right and glacialis young coalfish. The minke whale is the small- birds and other members of the flora and fauna in Irish. He talked of the pilleog in the same con- 1 Hayden, T. and Harrington, R. (2000) Exploring Irish Mammals. Town House and Country House Ltd., Dublin. text as the muca mara and míolta móra and his [An excellent book, but of the 24 Irish names of cetaceans FREE Stamps for Young Collectors belief that they were all man’s friends as they given, 11 are grammatically incorrect] drove smaller fish ashore for the benefit of the 2 www.tearma.ie fisherman. Perhaps the pilleog was the dolphin. 3 http://iberianature.com/britainnature/miscellaneous/etymol Great enjoyment can be got from the wonderful hobby of ogy-of-mammal-names-in-english/ stamp collecting and Sherkin Comment would love to see The word pèileag, obviously related to pilleog, 4 http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Annals_of_ 5 young people become collectors. Padraig O’Shea of Raven is used in Scottish Gaelic for a porpoise. Ulster_Otherwise_Wise_Annals_of_a_a_Chronicle_1887_ There is, however, a native Irish name in v1_1000707633/329 Stamps in Cork City (www.ravenstamps.com), the largest 5 Faclan Nàdair, Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba Connemara for the dolphin – neither well stamp dealer in Ireland, has kindly given Sherkin Comment 6http://www.merriam- known nor widespread today – scabhairneach webster.com/dictionary/caaing%20whale 10 sets of 200 different world stamps so that people can (pronounced something like ‘scour niuch’). In 7 Warburton, J., Whitelaw, J. And Walsh, R. (1818) History start a new hobby. The first 10 requests by postcard, letter or email will H & H the name dorad appears as an alternative of the City of Dublin. Cadell and Davies, London. 8 Fairley, James (1981), Whales and Whaling. Blackstaff receive a set (limit of one request per family). name for the common dolphin, but I suspect Press, Belfast. Write to: Matt Murphy, Sherkin Island Marine Station, Sherkin Island, that this is an error transmitted from another Co. Cork or Email: [email protected] source. The word dorád in FGB is glossed as a Padraic de Bhaldraithe, Irish Whale & dorado, the dolphin-fish Coryphaena sp. – Dolphin Group, [email protected] SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______5 ‘that intercourse with the wild things of the woods and the wastes’: The role of nature study in Pearse’s vision for education By Brian Crowley

IN 1910 Patrick Pearse moved St. Enda’s, his experimental Irish-speaking school, from Cul- lenswood House in the red-brick suburb of Rathmines, to The Hermitage in Rathfarnham. The Hermitage was a Georgian granite villa set in fifty acres of dramatic parkland at the foot of the Dublin Mountains. It was a much bigger and more impressive house than Cullenswood, with extensive grounds and inspiring historical associations with one of Pearse’s greatest heroes, Robert Emmet. However the main rea- son which Pearse cited for leaving Cullenswood House was that it was ‘too much in the Suburban Groove. The city was too near; the hills too far ... [it] gave no scope for that outdoor life, that intercourse with the wild things of the woods and the wastes (the only thing in Ireland that know what Freedom is), that daily adventure face to face with elemental Life and Force, with its moral discipline, with its physical hardening, which ought to play so In the school garden – a gardening class at work at St. Enda’s. large a part in the education of a boy.’ From the foundation of the school, Pearse St.Enda’s, the school identified nature study and physical science as formerly run by Patrick an ‘essential part of the work at St. Enda’s’. Pearse, is now a museum Just as he encouraged his pupils to learn Irish set in beautiful grounds. by making it the everyday language of the Managed by the Office of school, he felt that the rudiments of zoology, Public Works, attractions include a permanent botany and geology should be taught through exhibition on the life and times of Patrick direct contact with the natural world and not Pearse, a gallery of Willie Pearse’s sculpture, ‘dry-as-dust teaching’. He wanted his pupils to a nature study room with attractive displays develop ‘a real interest and love for beautiful and the house rooms which are furnished as living things’. In the school prospectus he The lake at St. Enda’s College, Rathfarmhan, Dublin. they were in Pearse’s day. Access for visitors described how the boys were first introduced to with disabilities. St. Enda’s Park is found on the natural world in the school garden where themselves and the school magazine recorded Grange Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. they were taught ‘Practical Gardening and donations by the boys of seashells, butterflies, Elementary Agriculture’ by Mícheál Mac dragon flies and saw-flies. All the specimens in Telephone No: +353 1 493 4208 Ruadhrí, a native Irish-speaking gardener and the museum had to have met a natural end as Fax No: +353 1 493 6120 prize-winning story teller. Any boy who wished the boys were under a solemn ‘geasa’, or obli- Email: [email protected] it was allotted a plot of ground which he was gation, not to kill ‘wild things’. Website: http://pearsemuseum.ie/ ‘at liberty to plan out and cultivate according The botanist Professor David Houston, who to his own taste’. While Pearse emphasised the taught in Royal College of Science, also Opening Hours school’s modern teaching facilities, which addressed the boys. He was a neighbour of the The Park and Museum are open all year: The included both Biological and Physico-Chemi- school in Rathfarnham and brought his own Museum closes over the Christmas period and cal laboratories, he also stressed that the boys students on field trips to the woods in the the park is closed on Christmas Day. would learn about the natural world on ‘fre- school grounds. When he lectured the boys in quently-organised outings to suitable spots the winter of 1910 he promised to return and Pearse Museum Hours: within an easy radius of the School’. bring them on a botanical expedition to the Images courtesy of Pearse Museum Nov - Jan: Mon - Sun 09.30 - 16.00 Pearse also arranged several lectures on neighbouring mountains. In thanking him for Images of Patrick Pearse in the museum. botany and natural sciences for his pupils by his lecture Pearse accepted Houston’s invita- Feb Mon - Sun 09.30 - 17.00 eminent guest speakers. In December 1909 the tion to arrange a nature ramble and said that his located in a building which once housed Mar - Oct: Mon - Sun 09.30 - 17.30 botanist Helen Laird lectured the boys on plant ‘heart throbbed at the thought of coming of Pearse’s classrooms, introduces school groups Sundays & Bank Holidays - opens 10.00am life, and in particular on seeds and their ability spring and that tramp through the hills with and other visitors to the rich variety of flora and to travel and colonise new territories. She Professor Houston’. fauna which inhabit the park. It draws inspira- St. Enda’s Park opening hours: brought a number of seed specimens for the While the historic appearance of St. Enda’s tion from Pearse’s words of over a century ago Nov – Jan 9.00am - 4.30pm boys to observe which she donated to the Park has been maintained, the area outside its which continue to ring true today: ‘If our boys February 9.00am - 5.30pm school museum. This museum contained ‘zoo- walls has been utterly transformed since observe their fellow-citizens of the grass and March 9.00am - 6.00pm logical, botanical, and geological specimens, Pearse’s time. The ‘Suburban Groove’, which woods and water as wisely and as lovingly as April 9.00am - 8.00pm together with some illustrations of industrial Pearse tried to escape from in 1910, now com- they should, I think they will learn much’ May – Aug 9.00am - 9.00pm processes and a few objects of historical and pletely surrounds the park. However, it remains September 9.00am - 8.00pm antiquarian interest’ and was cared for by a a haven for wildlife of all kinds and continues Brian Crowley, Curator, Pearse Museum, October 9.00am - 6.00pm curator elected from amongst the student body. to play a role in educating schoolchildren about St. Enda’s Park, Grange Road, Rathfarnham, Weekends/ Bank Holidays - Park opens 10am Many of these specimens came from the pupils the natural world. A nature study centre, Dublin 16.

AN IDEAL GIFT: A Beginner’s Guide to Ireland’s Seashore – @ €7.00 (plus p&p €1.00) & A Beginner’s Guide to Ireland’s Wild Flowers – @ €7.50 (plus p&p €1.00) – see page 27 for details. 6 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 COP21: the Paris Climate Summit

There are high hopes that renewable and one which bodes well for other impacts. This Agreement is the best By Alex Kirby energy and new technology will let elusive global treaties. Many busi- we could get and we need to make the developing world leapfrog over ness leaders see it as a clear signal to the most of it now, and we need to do WHATEVER COP21, the Paris cli- much of the pollution of the Indus- stop investing in polluting fossil it with a sense of urgency and in a mate summit, proves to have trial Revolution. Paris was an fuels. Critics shrug and dismiss it as way that is socially and environmen- achieved, it avoided by a country attempt to end the wrangling. something that has not so far pre- tally sensitive. It would be safe to mile the disaster of its 2009 prede- What it did, in essence, was to vented the emission of one molecule say that this battle was won, and it cessor in Copenhagen. In the agree: of greenhouse gas. was a turning point, but unfortu- closing days of Paris a journalist • to peak greenhouse gas emissions I’m not a cynic, just a sceptic. I nately, the war is far from over and asked a seasoned negotiator how as soon as possible and achieve a am certainly sceptical about climate change continues to be the the two events compared. “By this balance between sources and humanity’s sense of urgency. Many greatest challenge of our time.” stage in Copenhagen people had sinks of greenhouse gases in the people said Paris had ratcheted up There was a more enthusiastic stopped talking to each other”, second half of this century; the world’s determination to act. response from a climate scientist came the reply. “Here it’s all sweet- • to keep global temperature That’s probably true. But some- who has worked with the UN’s Inter- ness and light.” governmental Panel on Climate Paris saw a huge improvement in increase “well below” 2°C and to thing else is ratcheting up too: the the mood music, and that must be pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C; changes in the biosphere, the natu- Change, Adil Najam, of Boston Uni- worthwhile. There’s more chance of • to review each country’s progress ral world, where the ravages of versity, US. He was in Paris as part agreement on tackling climate in cutting emissions every five climate change are becoming daily of Pakistan’s delegation, and told change when people are listening to years, after an initial assessment clearer and more intense. Wisconsin Public Radio: each other, not glowering. But you in 2018; My guess is that we shall not “I think the new direction is one don’t have to be a cynic to wonder • to provide $100 billion annually know what Paris managed to do for that has less to do with government whether at least part of the price of by 2020 in climate finance for another 10 or 15 years, because it regulation and government respon- that amiability was a significant low- developing countries, with more will take that long to see how far sibility, and more to do with ering of expectations. It’s so much to come in the future. emissions are falling – and how fast innovation, with investment, and easier to agree when you’ve already So far, so good. But only parts of – and what progress the world is encouragement of new technology. shelved your disagreements. the agreement will be legally bind- making in phasing out coal, oil and The old world was where business caused by lobbying – overt, covert Agreement, in any case, is not the ing. The national pledges by gas, and other sources of carbon essentially said climate change is and often downright sinister – by the same as action, but a prelude to it. countries to cut emissions – the emissions such as much intensive not real, and were a resisting force. fossil fuel lobby, coupled with the Paris cleared the air and gave every- INDCs, or Intended Nationally agriculture. And however we answer The new world is kind of where reluctance of governments to one a fresh chance to do what the Determined Contributions – are vol- those imponderables, we shall have there is at least a part of business, explain to their electorates that scientists say is essential and more untary, and will remain so even to weigh the answers against what is sometimes a significant part of busi- short-term thinking has long-term urgent every day: cutting emissions when they soon shed “Intended”. happening to the climate in the big ness, which is saying we could costs, ensure that the window of of carbon dioxide and other green- The agreement acknowledges that wide world. benefit from this change.” opportunity is now three-quarters house gases and moving very rapidly there is a “significant gap” between If you want a judgement sooner Someone who takes a far more shut. The talks in Paris are the best to a low- or no-carbon economy. the INDCs and what is actually than that, there are plenty on offer. sombre view of the outcome of there have ever been. And that is a The cause of the 20-year wrangle required to keep the world safe. CIFOR, the Centre for International COP21 is the London Guardian’s terrible indictment.” over how to tackle climate change is Among its serious flaws is its failure Forestry Research, for example, was George Monbiot. This is how he If you can’t wait till 2030 to know simple to describe, but appallingly to tackle the ever-growing emissions judicious in a piece by Stephen began a piece published on the day what Paris does for the world, just difficult to resolve: how do you from shipping and aircraft. Shipping Leonard in its publication Forests the Paris Agreement was reached: remember Voltaire’s words: “Men devise a scheme that will allow could be improved with technology, News, entitled Paris Agreement: Not “By comparison to what it could argue. Nature acts.” developing countries like China and but for aviation there is currently no perfect but the best we could get: have been, it’s a miracle. By com- India to continue to lift people out of reduction strategy or alternative fuel. “As a result of this outcome in parison to what it should have been, poverty while ending their reliance Some hail Paris as historic. Others Paris, we have not ‘fixed’ the prob- it’s a disaster.” Alex Kirby is a founder editor of the on the fossil fuels which enabled the say the fact that it achieved an agree- lem of climate change, and we are He continued: Climate News Network leading economies to grow rich? ment at all is its main achievement, far from saving ourselves from the “Two decades of procrastination, (www.climatenewsnetwork.net).

City Print Ltd., Carrigrohane Road, Victoria Cross, Cork T +353 21 4545655 F +353 21 4342996 email [email protected] www.cityprint.ie

Printers of Ireland’s Hidden Depths SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______7 By Tony O’Mahony lactea) (see photograph) a European endemic, confined FOR the nature-lover, the sea- to the Atlantic fringe of west- son of spring is an ern Europe, where it occurs in exhilarating time of year, as The Wild Violet Species of Ireland Ireland, Britain, France, Spain the hedgerows and hedge- and Portugal. As a conse- banks of Ireland are once quence, it is a legally protected again bedecked with a scintil- of contention, and seems unre- the western coast of Ireland. species in the Irish Republic, lating floral display. Present solvable. The blurring of its Here, Fen Violet has its home where it is of rare occurrence here in local abundance is the true status is in no small meas- in the turloughs (i.e. saucer- on dry coastal/subcoastal beautiful Common Dog-violet ure due to the fact that it was a shaped limestone basins that heathlands in West Cork, (Viola riviniana) – one of only very popular medicinal herb in hold lakelets for at least part Clare, West Galway, Water- eight true violet species native cottage-gardens in past times, of each year, and which sup- ford and Wexford. One of its to the Irish flora, and the most Common Dog-violet and frequently seed-projected port a distinctive flora), these English names, alludes to its frequently encountered mem- (Viola riviniana) from there, into nearby, semi- turloughs (and their Fen Vio- milky-blue flowers. ber of this genus in Ireland. natural habitats. Consequently, let companion) being All of our violet species pro- As a group, Ireland’s native many seemingly ‘wild’ popu- distributed from the Burren duce two types of flower, violet species are a beautiful lations are in actuality derived region of County Clare, north- namely: showy, delicate, intri- asset, and form part of the from garden-sourced seed, the wards to County Fermanagh. cately-structured spring kaleidoscope of floral colour initial founder-colonies subse- In this special habitat, the flowers (within the violet-blue that is available to everyone, quently expanding in area by creeping stems (rhizomes) of colour range) which offer both on visits to the countryside. means of vegetative runners Fen Violet form expansive pollen and nectar to a range of (stolons), and distributing their colonies that flaunt their beau- Yet, accurate identification of visiting insects; and tiny, seeds further afield, to create tiful china-blue flowers in individual species requires a inconspicuous, closed flowers new populations. abundance for a brief period high level of botanical skill, that appear from July In contrast to the above vio- each year – a memorable flo- bearing in mind that the flow- onwards, are self-pollinated, let species of predominantly ral spectacle. ers of many violets are and produce the main crop of dry, well-drained habitats, two Of the remaining two Irish disconcertingly similar in seed-capsules for the plant. further species dwell in violet species, the Heath Dog- appearance. This identifica- When mature, the seed-cap- marshy sites. Of these, the violet (V. canina) is now of tion problem is further sules stand erect on their locally common, usually lilac- local/very local occurrence, stalks (pedicels), and split into compounded by the fact that, flowered Marsh Violet (V. and occupies a range of dis- three, gaping, boat-shaped excepting the Marsh Violet, palustris) is, as its name tinctive, highly contrasting, valves that forcefully eject the remaining seven species implies, confined to wetland ecological habitats, namely: their seeds by applying lateral have the potential to inter- habitats such as marshes, calcareous coastal sand-dunes, pressure to them. In common breed, producing a range of bogs, and rill-margins in and inland lake-margins on with many woodland plant hybrid offspring that gener- acidic habitats. However, in both acidic and base-rich soils; species, the seeds of violets ally are highly pollen- and order to see the nationally rare it also occurs occasionally in bear an apical, detachable, seed-sterile. Fen Violet (V. persicifolia), montane habitats. The last of sweet-tasting appendage (an one must travel to the spectac- our suite of eight native violet elaiosome) that is a favourite ular karst Carboniferous species, is Pale Dog- Tony O’Mahony, 6 Glenthorn food of ants, who inadver- Limestone terrain on, or near, violet/Milky Violet (Viola Way, Dublin Hill, Cork. tently disperse the violet seeds Images courtesy of Tony O’Mahony Images courtesy of Tony in the course of their foraging expeditions. Common Dog-violet is by far the most frequently encountered violet species in Ireland, and occupies a diverse range of habitats, such as deciduous woodlands, damp pastures, rocky heath- lands, mountainous terrain, calcareous grasslands, sand- dunes and hedgebanks. Moreover, while all of our violet species display some variation in appearance in response to environmental conditions, Common Dog- violet exhibits a bewildering array of morphological guises and, consequently, is a verita- ble ‘floral chameleon’! For example, adjacent populations of this ubiquitous species often differ markedly in flower colour (pale- blue/bluish-purple/ violet) and in petal-shape, giving the erroneous impression that one is looking at two or more dif- Top: Early Dog-violet (Viola reichenbachiana). ferent violet species, rather Bottom: Pale Dog-violet / Milk Violet (Viola lactea). than in actuality just a single extremely variable species. In with the visually similar Com- the western counties of Limer- stark contrast, our other seven mon Dog-violet – a situation ick, and Clare, and the eastern violet species are of far more that results in considerable counties of Wexford, Dublin local occurrence, and exhibit identification difficulties for and Kildare. The well-loved much more restricted morpho- botanists throughout Europe. Sweet Violet (V. odorata) is logical, ecological and Two further violet species most frequently encountered geographical ranges. Early favour calcareous or base-rich in base-rich woodlands and Wood-violet (Viola reichen- habitats. The nationally rare hedgebanks, and is our only bachiana) is mainly confined Hairy Violet (V. hirta) is a scented violet species. How- to lime-rich (calcareous) plant of limestone grasslands, ever, the status of Sweet Violet woodlands and hedgebanks, and restricted to two widely in Ireland (i.e. whether native where it frequently cohabits separated regions of Ireland: or naturalised) remains a bone 8 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ural Resources will more than multi-use amenity space for the cover the capital and ongoing costs benefit of the public. In recent until 2020. years a long-term vision for the site Cork City Council Landfill was announced. Now known as City Council’s Tramore Valley Park, the aims are to build a new exciting public space Energy Obligations on the key themes of family leisure, Gas Electricity Generation adventure, attractions, culture, Cork City Council, through its energy and environment. The main operations and activities as a Local elements provide for an adventure at Tramore Valley Park Authority, consumes large quanti- play area, walking, running trails ties of energy – approximately 30 and mountain bike trails. Within the million units of electricity, natural park large geo-dome structures are gas and diesel etc. The Council, proposed which will provide flexi- like all public bodies, is required to ble multi-use indoor facilities, such reduce its energy consumption by as educational programmes and 30% by 2020 i.e. by 9 million units events. of energy in 2020. The amount of Some parts of the masterplan landfill gas electricity being gener-

Images courtesy of Cork City Council have now been constructed on the ated can be offset against this. In ground: other words the Council will now • multi-use events area on the city have to reduce its energy consump- side of the site, to host various tion by 5.5 million units per annum events such as circuses, family instead of 9.0 million units per fun events etc.. annum. Thus the project will con- • a grass pitch and dressing tribute 35% of the required savings. rooms. • BMX track designed and built to Conclusions international standards. To conclude the project is fulfilling • 2,500m peripheral roadway an EPA landfill gas requirement, suitable to host 5K events or generating a renewable energy longer. which reduces the balance of pay- These are available to the public at the moment on a limited basis ments deficit, assisting the Council and it is hoped these will be fully in meeting its 2020 obligations and available later in 2016. A public at the same time is cost neutral. In civic amenity site / recycling / addition one person is employed in waste electrical centre was con- the project. structed many years ago and will remain into the future. More plans The Site into the Future for the park will be realised over Another requirement for the grant- the medium term. From top left, clockwise: An aerial view of Tramore Valley Park, Cork City; Final capping works in progress at the landfill; James ing of the licence was a submission Goulding Senior Engineer Cork City Council, James McFadden Engineer Cork City Council , Ross McConnell Vayu Energy, Renewable Compiled by Michael O’Brien, Manager and Michael O’ Brien, Senior Engineer Cork City Council (now retired). The electricity generation plant. from the Council of plans for the future use of the site following its Senior Engineer with Cork City totally enclosed flare – alterna- REFIT (Renewable Energy Feed in remediation. The EPA accepted the Council, who recently retired after By Michael O’Brien tively can be used to power an Tariff) subsidy from the Dept of proposal that the site would be con- 42 years service with Local electricity generator. The quantity Communications, Energy and Nat- verted by the Council into a Authorities in Cork. Background and potency of gas has declined CORK CORPORATION and later over the past 10 years due to the Cork City Council operated a 70- age of the waste and the capping of hectare landfill site at Kinsale Road, the site. Cork. Approximately three million Prior to 2013 the landfill gas was tonnes of waste had been deposited used to generate electricity by a on the site over the years, until its third party and exported to the ESB closure in 2009. grid. For various reasons this was The site was granted an EPA discontinued and the Council licence in the late 1990s and this reverted to exclusively flaring the licence required the Council to man- gas until November 2015. age the facility in accordance with The Landfill gas electricity proj- many environmental conditions and ect is now working satisfactorily also to remediate the site to the sat- and is generating 0.5 megawatt isfaction of the Agency. These electricity. The original capacity remediation works were completed was 1.8 megawatt. over a period of 10 years and cost The reduction is due to the age approximately €40 million. These of the waste on site. The older the works included: waste the less gas available for • Collection/treatment and electricity generation. It is esti- safe disposal of leachate and mated that the power generated methane gas. will supply the equivalent of 500 • Collection and safe disposal of domestic houses from the grid and surface water collected on site. that the project will supply 3.5 mil- lion units of electricity to these consumers. The electricity gener- Landfill Gas Infrastructure ated on site is sold to an electricity and Electricity Generation supplier VAYU, who was chosen following a tendering process. The Methane gas collection is through a company chosen to maintain and complex series of underground operate the generation is Irish pipes and it discharges into the Biotech Services Limited. The atmosphere following combustion income from the sale of the elec- at a very high temperature in a tricity to VAYU and an ongoing SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______9 Changing Ocean Conditions Affect Quality of Prey for Atlantic Salmon, Other Species RESEARCHERS have found capelin, the primary prey for Other studies have sug- and recreational fisheries glob- that changes in ocean condi- both North American and gested that changes in capelin ally and will hopefully result in tions in the Northwest Atlantic European origin Atlantic energy density and dynamics better management towards during the past 40 years have salmon feeding at West may also be partially responsi- long-term sustainable use.” altered the food web, chang- Greenland. Since the early ble for the documented The research team on this ing the quantity and quality of 1970s, the North American declines in the breeding suc- study comprised scientists from important prey species. These portion of the stock complex cess of various seabird NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries food-web changes are thought at West Greenland has species, growth and reproduc- Science Center in Woods Hole, to have influenced the survival declined approximately 54 tive potential of northern Mass.; the University of Water- and abundance of Atlantic percent, and similar declines Atlantic cod, and the decreas- loo in Ontario, Canada; and the salmon and many other eco- have been documented for the ing condition of harp seals, Greenland Institute of Natural logically, commercially, and European stock complexes. which has also been impli- Resources in Nuuk, Greenland. culturally important species. During the early 1990s cated in the declining “Salmon are a good barom- ecosystem conditions changed condition of polar bears. For further information eter of what is happening in across the Northwest Atlantic, Tim Sheehan displays an Atlantic salmon in 2006. Credit: NOAA Fisheries All of these species rely contact: Shelley Dawicki, the marine ecosystem,” said including the waters off West either directly or indirectly on Science Writer, Mark Renkawitz, a salmon Greenland. Shelf waters fresh- capelin as their primary energy [email protected] researcher at NOAA’s North- ened and stratified, altering source. Capelin, and similar east Fisheries Science Center the annual seasonal distribu- forage fishes like Atlantic her- Northeast Fisheries Science (NEFSC) and lead author of a tion and abundance of ring, provide an essential Center Research, study on salmon foraging and phytoplankton and zooplank- ecological function by trans- Communications Branch, the changing food web in the ton. This ‘regime shift’, as ferring energy from lower 166 Water Street, Woods Hole Northwest Atlantic published scientists call it, affected trophic levels to higher trophic MA 02543, USA. in Marine Ecology Progress organisms from the bottom to levels, like Atlantic salmon. Series. “They are like a canary the top of the food web. “Atlantic salmon are a great in the coal mine. Dams and The Northeast Fisheries Sci- Changes in what small plank- indicator of large-scale decreasing marine survival ence Center is the research tonic organisms ate cascaded changes in the North Atlantic rates have been the primary arm of NOAA Fisheries in the up through the food web, Capelin are a small, slender forage fish in the smelt family. because they integrate compo- drivers of the declines for region. The Center plans, affecting the quality of food Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Shelley Dawicki nents of the ecosystem over a many populations. In taking a develops, and manages a mul- available to larger forage wide geographic range and closer look at the marine part armhook squid, sandlance and survival and productivity of tidisciplinary program of basic species like capelin and ulti- their populations are closely of a salmon’s life, we found other miscellaneous fishes. eventual Atlantic salmon and applied research to: (1) mately many other marine monitored through interna- that changes in salmon diet Renkawitz noted that there was spawners,” Renkawitz said. better understand living marine mammal, sea bird and larger tional stock assessment may be a big factor.” a distinct absence of armhook “Salmon may be experiencing resources of the Northeast fish species that depend on efforts,” said Tim Sheehan, a Atlantic salmon have a squid in the historical data and an energy deficit and they Continental Shelf Ecosystem them as prey. salmon researcher at the broad range, extending from that today salmon are eating may not be accumulating the from the Gulf of Maine to Cape To understand these food fewer capelin and more macro- energy reserves they need to NEFSC and study co-author. Hatteras, and the habitat qual- the US and Portugal in the web changes, researchers south to Canada and Russia in zooplankton. Research suggests survive, mature and migrate “Identifying and understanding ity essential for their existence examined historical stomach that Northwest Atlantic capelin long distances back to their the mechanisms that cause and continued productivity; the north. After a freshwater content data, collected before phase, juveniles migrate to sea are distributed differently and natal rivers to spawn. This changes in the food web may and (2) describe and provide to the regime shift in the 1990s, for a year or more, with North are physically smaller, in addi- may be one reason why we have implications for manag- management, industry, and the and contemporary data from American and European tion to being less nutritious prey have seen large decreases in ing and rebuilding protected public, options for the conser- the contents of approximately salmon stocks congregating at than they were 40 years ago. marine survival for this populations of Atlantic vation and utilization of living 1,500 salmon stomach sam- common marine feeding areas “The reduced energy den- species across large portions salmon. Results such as these marine resources, and for the ples collected between 2006 like the waters off West sity of capelin, by almost 34 of its native range over the can also help inform the restoration and maintenance of and 2011. Both the historical Greenland during summer and percent, is likely influencing past 40 years.” dynamics of other commercial marine environmental quality. and contemporary samples fall. There, salmon feed on were collected during the abundant and energy-rich prey commercial fishery that such as capelin, a small forage occurs annually off the West fish. This diet promotes rapid Greenland coast. growth and maturation, allow- Results showed Atlantic ing salmon to undertake long salmon ate prey that varied in migrations back to their natal both type and size. Capelin and rivers to spawn. macro-zooplankton (Themisto Changes in ocean condi- sp) were the most common Download tions have significantly changed the quality of components of the salmon diet, followed by boreal atlantic SHERKIN COMMENT for FREE

Dashed lines indicate approximate marine distribution of the three Atlantic salmon stock complexes. Dots indicate collection locations http://www.sherkinmarine.ie/sherkincomment.htm for salmon fishery and stomach samples; diagonal lines indicate area of historical collections. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Justin Stevens 10 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61

Cork County Council Environmental Awareness Strategy 2016–2020

Key Objectives in the Strategy 3. Anti-Litter Awareness ISSUE: Litter is present along rural and 1. Climate Change urban roads, foreshores, amenity parks 2. Sustainable Living and most areas utilized our residents and visitors. Along with the unsightly visual 3. Anti-Litter Awareness affect, litter is polluting our environment 4. Water Conservation and poses health and safety issues. A pet faeces deposit in a public place is an 5. Protection of Our Freshwater & Coastal Environments aesthetic nuisance and spoils our enjoyment 6. Protect Our Biodiversity of the environment. It is also a health hazard 7. Research to the public and is seen as a significant environmental problem. Pet fouling in By Dr Mary Stack 8. General Education and Awareness public places is a breach of the Litter Act. Senior Scientist STRATEGY OBJECTIVES 1. Climate Change 2. Sustainable Living • Increase awareness of the problems THE EU’s environment policy is termed The 7th associated with litter. Environment Action Programme (EAP) and is ISSUE: To reverse the increase of carbon ISSUE: To assist • Support the education of our children on valid until 2020. It aims that as EU citizens we emissions in the provision of Cork County with the implemen- anti-litter initiatives via the Green Schools programme. live well within the planet’s ecological limits and Council public services. Lack of awareness tation of EU and • Municipal District Councils to work in that our prosperity and healthy environment stem in the general public as unknowing National policies on partnership with local community from an innovative, circular economy where contributors to increasing global carbon waste management organisations e.g. Tidy Towns groups, nothing is wasted. It aspires to being a society emissions. and supporting encouraging neighbourhood cleanups and where natural resources are managed sustainably measures through STRATEGY OBJECTIVES reporting of illegal dumping and and biodiversity is protected, valued and restored. which Ireland will participation in the Council’s Anti-litter The objective of Cork County Council’s • To assist in the provision of public awareness make the further Challenge initiative for towns and villages. Environmental Awareness Strategy is to pro- programmes on climate change. progress necessary • Encourage day trippers to beaches, parks and mote environmental awareness in all societies • To assist with the implementation of the to become a sus- public places to take their rubbish home and National Climate Change Strategy in Cork throughout all regions of Cork County. It tainable society, their participation in non government County. desires to increase environmental knowledge in with a clear focus organisation programmes e.g. Leave no • To participate in EU lead research and action A Guide to Managing Your Trace and Clean Coast. the general public, specifically target our youth, programmes at local community level. on resource effi- local communities, businesses and industry, ciency and the Household Waste & • Support national initiatives on chewing gum • Through regulatory actions, via planning and Domestic Water Usage pollution. NGOs and educators. An increase in environ- licensing policies and authorisations, the virtual elimination mental awareness can be achieved through a of landfilling of • Increase the public’s awareness of the Council will promote a sustainable society in problems associated with pet fouling. range of communications and by supporting municipal waste. Cork County and implement national targets • Increase awareness on the use of pet faeces community actions and behavioural change pro- for climate change reduction. STRATEGY OBJECTIVES disposal bins provided by Municipal District grammes. Ultimately these actions will drive • The Council shall reduce CO2 emissions Councils and the County Council. • Promote the waste hierarchy of waste our society towards an ecologically sustainable from Council owned public buildings and • Encourage pet owners to collect and avoidance and elimination. life style and sustainable work practices. promote the use of renewable energy sources correctly dispose of faeces. Encourage the • Encourage and support the recovery and reuse The five year strategy (2016-2020) outlines and in the delivery of services. use of any bag and bin policy. of waste. key areas of focus from climate change to sus- • Disseminate information regarding best • Encourage responsible pet ownership. • Promote the use of repair and reuse stores. tainable living to protection of natural practice e.g. in relation to climate change • Encourage participation in awareness actions and support demonstration projects • Promote the use of online exchange networks environment and litter pollution – areas that all programmes e.g. Green Dog Walkers. undertaken by the community / NGO groups for the reuse of goods e.g. www.GiveorGet.ie require integration into education programmes. / stakeholders. for households, SMILE Exchange for The objectives proposed in the Environmental • Provide energy awareness, green circular businesses. Awareness Strategy work in harmony with other economy information and assistant to the • Assist in educating the public, Council staff Council policies and action plans. The strategy is public via the Council’s Environment and commercial entities in waste driven by the Council’s priorities as identified in Directorate and in partnership with minimisation, substitution of harmful the Corporate Plan, Litter Plan and the Southern government agencies. chemicals, diversion of hazardous waste Region Waste Management Plan. Successful streams and the correct separation of waste, implementation will bring about a positive rela- including food waste. tionship between local government and civil • Promote upcycling through the Council’s society, a collective responsibility for our envi- "Pride in the Community School Garden ronment and an ethic of partnership building. Competition" run by Cork Federation of Muintir na Tire. Green Schools Award for Litter Prevention. It will have promoted local actions that sup- • Promote energy and water conservation (Photo Billy Magill) port consideration of the local environment practices. including social and economic impacts. Citizens • Promote smarter travel to work and life events. will be environmentally educated, more aware • Promote the preparation and use of maps of their environmental impact and conscious displaying sustainable services / facilities in that behavioural change is key: “Taking care of towns and villages. the environment is taking care of ourselves". The strategy is a guide to the general public Promoting sustainable travel at work (Photos Dr Mary on key environmental awareness issues being Stack) promoted in Cork County and areas for their participation. It is intended for internal use by Council staff and its networking partners. The Green Dog Walkers anti-litter campaign promoting behavioural change and raising awareness of dog Environmental Awareness & Research Unit fouling as a litter offence. (Photo Billy Magill) will lead the implementation of this strategy. To download the report visit: www.corkcoco.ie >Environment >

Dr Mary Stack, Senior Scientist & Environmental Awareness Officer, Environmental Awareness & Research Unit, Environment Department, Inniscarra Waterworks, Inniscarra, Co. Cork. Promoting awareness on energy conservation and May is compost awareness month and is [email protected] climate change initiatives. acknowledged via an exhibit in County Hall. National Spring Clean Launch with the assistance of (Photos Billy Magill & Dr Mary Stack) (Photo Dr Mary Stack) Glounthaune Tidy Towns. (Photo Billy Magill) SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______11

4. Water Conservation 5. Protection of Our Freshwater 6. Protecting Our Biodiversity 7. Research ISSUE: Water is a finite resource and vast & Coastal Environments ISSUE: Lack of awareness of the impact of ISSUE: Environmental Awareness and quantities of treated purified water are our citizen’s daily actions on their local Research Unit shall develop and dissemi- needlessly wasted. A conservation aware- ISSUE: The lack of awareness of the frailty ecosystem-environment and the threat of nate innovative and effective research ness programme is needed across all of our water ecosystems, its vulnerability to habitat lost from their locality. programmes that will provide assistance sectors of society in Cork County. A pollution and the requirement to protect to the Council, the Directorate and our STRATEGY OBJECTIVES greater appreciation for this finite aqua wildlife habitats and abstraction customers. To participate and support resource as a necessity for life is required. sources for drinking water supplies, is evi- • Promote the development of local biodiversity Regional, National and EU research pro- Water for potable consumption must meet dent across all sectors of society. initiatives in the Council’s biodiversity plan posals in line with Corporate policy. strict EU standards. To prepare, store and Nutrient enrichment causing eutrophication through partnership and support of community groups and other local organisations. STRATEGY OBJECTIVES distribute water to the end user incurs a is a significant threat to Cork’s rivers and • Promote education, information and public cost. The ‘user pays’ principle addresses some coastal areas. • Engage in EU research programmes such as awareness initiatives which support local the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate this associated cost. STRATEGY OBJECTIVES biodiversity actions. Change. STRATEGY OBJECTIVES • Support the public participation in awareness- • Promote the reporting of alien species to the • Participation in Ireland-Wales Co-operation raising programmes and initiatives. National Parks & Wildlife Service, National • Education, information and public awareness programme in support of the Adaptation of • Support the EPA river water management Roads Authority or Local Authority. initiatives are essential in the support of the Irish Sea and coastal communities to plans of the South West River Basin District • Promote the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan water source management and potable water climate change and promoting climate and the Local Authority Water and 2015-2020. conservation. change adaptation, risk prevention and Communities Office (LAWCO). • Support the biodiversity module of the Green • Promote the reporting of leaks to the local management. • Promotion of water protection measures that Flag Programme in schools. Promote the authority (service provider for Irish Water in • EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive can be undertaken on farms, in businesses and improvement of wildlife habitats in schools and Cork County). (MSFD) shall be supported in the commercial sectors. increase their awareness of invasive alien species. • Promote education programmes on the implementation of research initiatives for • Promote the reporting of pollution incidents to • Support NGOs and Local Enterprise Offices in sustainable use of water in all sectors. local solutions of marine litter. the Local and Harbour Authorities and community awareness events and actions, on • Support the water conservation module of • As a member of the EPA’s Local Authority Fisheries Board. biodiversity and invasive alien species. the Green Flag Programme in schools. Prevention Network (LAPN), develop new • Promote the correct disposal by householders of • Promote sustainable recreational land, air and • Support the EPA’s BeGreen suite of activities methods to make communities more hazardous household and gardening chemicals. waterborne recreational activities. and programmes for the commercial sector. sustainable. • Promote pollution awareness initiatives and • Support initiatives to reduce the use of • Promote sustainable recreational waterborne • Encourage partnerships with associates in voluntary accreditation schemes, for clubs / chemical herbicides and pesticides in the sporting activities. academia, state agencies, research individuals and commercial entities, where environment. • Support Global Action initiatives on institutions, the business sector, non- water is used by them for recreational purposes. • Encourage sustainable gardening practices. sustainable practices in the home. governmental organisations and other local • Provide guidance documents on biodiversity- • Promote rainwater harvesting. authorities in both in Ireland and EU states. friendly land management practises, such as • Encourage sustainable gardening practices. the control of invasive species and hedgerow management.

Segregation of marine waste in Union Hall Harbour. (Photo Dr Mary Stack) Left: Pesticides have a negative impact on wildlife. Rethink · Reduce · Reuse · Repair · Recycle Water Conservation Guide for Farms. (Photo Dr Mary Stack) Right: Japanese Knotweed requires professional intervention to halt the spread of this non- native invasive species. (Photo Robbie Murphy)

8. General Education & Awareness Many actions can be employed to educate and raise environmental awareness in the community. These actions will empower people to participate effectively in democratic change towards a bet- ter environment for all. Recognition on the complexity of environmental issues will be realised and the need to develop solutions collectively accepted. In environmental education everyone has something to learn and something to contribute. Water purification plant in Cork County. (Photo Dr Mary Stack) Regular interaction with community groups and other relevant stakeholders is required to pro- mote local environmental projects and local initiatives. It is important to mobilize and build on learner’s knowledge and competencies. Financial support via grants schemes for projects / initiatives is key in assisting with community awareness-raising and for the promotion of a positive benefit on their local environment. Sponsorship of such events and programmes will increase the public’s focus on climate change and adaptation strategies. Some examples of which are listed here: • Supporting the Green Flag environmental WHAT KIND awareness programme for schools. Promoting our Blue Flag Beaches. OF DOG OWNER • Developing and disseminating educational ARE YOU? materials e.g. water conservation guides for schools or factsheets, such as those developed by RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERS: • Support our Green Dog Walkers Campaign Sherkin Island Marine Station on water protection • Always carry a bag to clean up • Bag it and bin it • Never let your dog out alone and biodiversity. • Have a dog licence • Identify your dog - get it chipped • Facilitating environmental award initiatives and • Don’t spread disease - have your dog wormed local competitions, for example “Pride in the Community” by the Cork Federation of Muintir na Tire. Remember, AVOID A • Facilitating environmental talks and information You Can Use €150 seminars, directed at the general public. Any Bag and • Encouraging businesses to have environmental Any Public Bin LITTER FINE education inhouse action days for staff and JOIN THE GREEN DOG WALKERS CAMPAIGN www.corkcoco.ie/environment

outreach initiatives with their local community. COMHAIRLE CONTAE CHORCAÍ corkcoco.ie Follow us on Facebook and Twitter Measuring flow rates in school taps. Highlighting the impact of marine pollution. CORK COUNTY COUNCIL (Photo Dr Mary Stack) (Photos Billy Magill & Dr Mary Stack) 12 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 Looking at Antibiotic Resistance Through the Lens of Biodiversity By Martin Cormican example is probably penicillin be present in hospital sewage course much wider than although there are many oth- is low because of large dilu- antibiotics. There are many & Dearbhaile Morris ers. The wonder of antibiotics tion effects. Although most other drugs, antibacterial is that although deadly to city sewage treatment soaps, disinfectants, and met- THE diversity of life that we many bacteria that cause dis- processes were not designed als such as silver and copper. see, the animals, trees and ease they are much less toxic to remove ciprofloxacin it is Most microbes are good

toadstools is sustained by a for people and animals. It is Image courtesy of Martin Cormican likely that a significant part of for us. We cannot live with- much older diversity of invisi- hard to understand what a mir- the ciprofloxacin released is out them. Our current ble life that makes all of this acle antibiotics were in the retained in the sludge in the lifestyles are changing global possible. Mostly when we 1940’s. People that were treatment plant. In general microbial diversity in ways speak of the value of biodiver- expected to die began to make terms we estimate that the lev- that are likely to make life sity and of the need to protect full recoveries and go back to els discharged are not likely to shorter and more miserable it we think of the big stuff but live full lives. In the early be high enough to have a for many people. We should the balance and diversity of days antibiotics were so pre- direct harmful effect on peo- take reasonably practical the little stuff is just as critical. cious that in some cases ple but that it may be enough steps to limit disturbance of In this article I would like to hospitals would collect the to give an advantage to bacte- microbial biodiversity in the look at antibiotic resistance as urine of patients on antibiotics ria in the environment that are general environment both in a disturbance of biodiversity to recycle the antibiotic shed resistant to ciprofloxacin. This the interests of controlling in urine. In some cases quite a could help to spread antibiotic and to suggest that beyond the This image shows bacteria growing on an agar culture plate, with the antibiotic resistance and for obvious fact that it makes it lot of the antibiotic given white paper discs containing an antibiotic. You can see that the resistant bacteria. more general environmental harder to treat infection it is an comes out in the urine and surface of the plate is mostly covered with a dense growth of bacteria The good news then is that reasons. We need a robust important example of how more of it in faeces. Over the however there is a zone of clearance around the paper discs where direct short-term harm to peo- national system to get people dramatically humankind can years the pharmaceutical most of the bacteria cannot grow. Yet within this area of clearance we ple from contact with can see some scattered little white islands of bacterial growth. Each of to safely dispose of unused change microbial biodiversity industry developed superb these little islands represents millions of bacteria that have grown antibiotic resistant bacteria antibiotics. Consecutive Min- to our own detriment. systems for making large overnight from one cell that has a genetic change, making it resistant and antibiotics in sewage is isters for Health or For many millions of years quantities of high quality to the antibiotic. probably very low in places Environment have done little antibiotics at very low cost. where sewage is properly before there were people, there every new antibiotic discov- hospitals we were especially about this. There are emerging This means that many antibi- treated but there are reasons were microorganisms. The ered was followed by new interested to look at hospital technologies to remove drugs otics, especially older for caution. Some antibiotic numbers of microorganisms type of bacteria resistant to the sewage. We decided to look and bacteria from hospital antibiotics, now cost cents and resistant faecal bacteria do and the diversity of microor- antibiotic within a very short especially at one antibiotic sewage, we should use them. are affordable to all. Low cost escape into the general envi- ganisms that exist is almost period of time. The resistance called ciprofloxacin because, We need to stop the growing antibiotics help many people impossible to grasp. Through- was related to new genes that as it is important for health- ronment even when a sewage obsession with consumer disin- to live longer and better lives. out these millions of years carried genetic code for resist- care and is widely used, there treatment plant is working fectants and antibacterial soaps microorganisms have been Low cost also means that no ance. Where did the resistance is a growing problem of resist- well. Even if pick up of these and antimicrobial coatings. For competing with each other for one tries to recycle antibiotics genes come from? In at least ance to it and it seems to bacteria by people happens almost all purposes in the home the space and resources to live from urine anymore. Now the some cases the genes have persist in the environment. rarely it may be important and community proper cleaning and adapting to a changing antibiotics that are passed out been traced back to bacteria The Environmental Protection because once a new type of is enough and in fact regular planet. This process of evolu- in the urine or faeces go down that never cause disease but Agency funded our research resistant bacteria gets estab- contact with harmless microbes tion has formed a global the drain into the sewer or the that live in soil and water. Of group in NUIGalway and col- lished in one person it may be is probably good for us. community of microorganisms septic tank. Worse still some course that makes sense leagues in the UCD School of able to spread very easily to This is not a plea for action with an astonishing diversity, people who forget to take their because that’s where the Biosystems Engineering to others. In relation to antibi- to save microbes. It is a plea resilience and adaptability. antibiotic tablets chuck them antibiotics come from. Once study this issue. We were very otics in sewage our estimate is that we see the value to us of This microbial world is every- down the toilet or into a the genes got into bacteria that fortunate to find hospitals and that the antibiotics may make microbial biodiversity and the where around us, on us, and in household bin. Antibiotics normally live in or on people local authorities who were sewage a better place for price we are paying for dis- us. Most of the microbes in the became so cheap and we and animals they began to happy to work with us. This antibiotic resistant bacteria to turbing it. The microbes don’t world could not be found by became so casual about them spread quickly. The individual project would not have been live and may encourage need our concern. Whatever old-style microbiology of that farmers under pressure to resistance genes started to link possible without them. growth of bacteria that pick up perturbation of the microbial produce huge amounts of growing bugs in the labora- together into libraries of genes What we found is that new resistance genes from the world we cause in the next cheap meat started to use them many different naturally tory and so the full extent of coding for resistance to many antibiotic resistant gut bacte- few decades or centuries is a to make food animals gain resistant microbes that live in diversity has only recently antibiotics and the libraries of ria (E. coli) are present in minor disturbance of the bil- weight a little faster. They are the environment. been appreciated. There are genes could move easily from large numbers not only in hos- lions of years of infighting of microbes that can survive sprayed on fruit trees, they are There is wider view of this one bacteria to another. If a bac- pital sewers but are also the microbial world. If we boiling or massive doses of added to farmed fish tanks. project. Many of the kinds of teria carrying resistance genes present in general city destroy the environment that radiation or starvation for The world now produces hun- antibiotic resistant bacteria gets onto a person or animal sewage. We found that good sustains our civilisation the years or decades. Give them dreds of thousands of tonnes we are finding in sewage (and taking antibiotics it often has a sewage treatment processes microbial world will close ideal conditions and a single of antibiotics every year for in rivers and lakes in other big advantage and quickly takes removes most of the antibiotic over our tracks in blink of an bacterial cell may become all sorts of uses and a good projects) did not exist 70 over and grows into billions or resistant bacteria. We also eye (a couple of hundred or a millions within hours. They deal of that ends up going years ago. Quite apart from trillions of bacteria that come estimated the risk for someone couple of thousand years) and swap genetic material so that down the drain in human and the risk of antibiotic resist- out in faeces and ends up going swimming in the sea near a carry on as it always has. new forms of microbes are animal urine and faeces. down the drain. sewage treatment plant of ance in health care this constantly developing. Some Fleming and the others who There have been a lot of picking up antibiotic resistant represents a massive distor- microbes in soil and water developed antibiotics pre- studies on how antibiotics in bacteria that had escaped from tion of the known invisible Professor Martin Cormican produce poisons to kill off dicted from the early days that the body of humans and ani- the sewage treatment plant. biodiversity. Given that we and Dr Dearbhaile Morris competing microbes. In if people were not careful with mals lead to resistant bacteria Our estimate is that the risk is have such a poor understand- work at the Centre for Health many cases other microbes this natural miracle the and how the bacteria spread very low as the bacteria are ing of microbial biodiversity from Environment at produce things that inactivate microbes would change and directly between people and diluted in sea-water however we must ask what else have NUIGalway. They have been or pump away particular poi- the antibiotics would no between animals. There has up to a 100 fold or more bacte- we done to unknown biodi- studying antibiotic resistance sons so that the poison does longer work. This is the prob- been much less study of what ria would be released in versity as a result of allowing for more than 10 years. The not work on them. lem of antibiotic resistance. It happens to antibiotics and untreated sewage so that hundreds of thousands of Centre for Health from A little less than a 100 years was clear within a few years antibiotic resistant bacteria waters receiving untreated tonnes of antibiotics enter the Environment promotes the ago Alexander Fleming and that this prediction was right. that go down the drains. sewage are likely to be a much global environment every others discovered some of Hospital laboratories began to Because there are lots of peo- greater risk. year? The range of sub- idea that our health and these microbial poisons. We find new variants of well ple taking antibiotics in We also estimated that the stances we toss into the wellbeing are totally call these microbial poisons know bacteria that were hospitals and a lot of antibi- concentration of the antibiotic environment that impact on dependent on the global antibiotics. The best know antibiotic resistant. Almost otic resistant bacteria in ciprofloxacin that is likely to microbial biodiversity is of environment that sustains us. SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______13 Out on the Open Ocean

wondering why it had taken me such a long first cup of coffee of the day. It is about 5am, time to return. I am traveling to Sherkin Island the sun was coming up, and no land in sight. A for the celebration of Matt Murphy’s birthday few dolphins accompany the boat, surfing the (a significant one, let’s leave it at that ) and the bow waves. Several of the crew join me and we Sherkin Island Marine Station’s 40th anniver- silently gaze over a slick ocean towards the ris- sary. In the mid-80‘s, it was the study of marine ing sun. Contemplating the day’s activities and sponges, algae, corals, bryozoans and other catch, I am thinking “out on the open ocean, organisms that brought me to Sherkin in the wonderful sunrise, dolphins around the boat, first place. I spent three summers conducting we go fishing and call it work; not a bad job if research that involved a lot of diving in the you ask me.” We are on the Atlantic about 50 spectacular underwater world around the miles off South Carolina on board SCDNR’s island. And of course, as one of the Marine largest research vessel. Closer to shore, other Station’s “Bods”, activities also included members of our team conduct research on assisting the Murphy family with the day-to- another research vessel, the Lady Lisa, a former day operations of the Station. This involved, shrimp trawler. They are trawling in shallow among other things, cooking meals for dozens water to study population trends in shrimp,

of youngsters, transporting sheep and bales of crabs, mackerels, herring, coastal sharks, rays, SCDNR. Image courtesy of MARMAP, hay in an inflatable boat from island to island, sea turtles and other animals. Marcel Reichert and other survey staff retrieve a and building what is currently the Marine Sta- Over ten years now I have been a fisheries sci- fish trap with a small catch of black sea bass, a tion’s exhibit hall and library. And of course, entist with SCDNR, leading a team of 30 common species collected in the traps. taking kids out canoeing, horseback riding, biologists and scientists in monitoring fish popu-

Image courtesy of MARMAP, SCDNR. Image courtesy of MARMAP, swimming, and introducing them to the won- lations off the southeastern coast of the US. Each Marcel Reichert on board the R/V Palmetto, holding derful world of rock pool ecology. I loved year, members of our research group are at sea a speckled hind before returning it to the ocean. every minute of it and my time at Sherkin for 40 to 60 days during 5-10 days trips deploy- Speckled hind is one of the species that the SCDNR Island played a huge role in developing a broad ing fish traps, trawls, and hook and line gear to reef fish survey is monitoring. appreciation for our natural world, and shaping monitor populations of fish and crustaceans that me into the scientist I am today. are important for recreational and commercial By Marcel Reichert These days, we all face the challenges of fisheries in the region. On this trip we mostly responsible use and management of our pre- concentrate on monitoring areas of rocky bottom THE landing at Cork airport was smooth. cious resources, and in my current position at with abundant growth of algae, sponges, corals, Before long, I was on my way to Sherkin the South Carolina Department of Natural and other critters. These habitats are very popular Island. The landscape, road signs, and towns; a Resources (SCDNR), I am much involved in with recreational anglers and commercial fisher- flood of great memories accompany me on the that process. While waiting for the ferry to men as they are home to large numbers of fish, ride through Innishannon, Clonakilty, and Sherkin Island I remember a research cruise including groupers, snapper and sea bass. We use Skibbereen to Baltimore. It is May of 2015, and earlier in May. Standing on the back deck of the baited “chevron” traps, arrow-head shaped fish I find myself back in Ireland after 30 years Research Vessel Palmetto, I was holding my traps equipped with under water video cameras. The fish that are caught are identified, measured and weighed, and the otoliths (or earstones), Reichert Image courtesy of Marcel reproductive organs and other tissues are Aerial view of the SCDNR’s Marine Resources Division’s laboratory and office complex in removed for later examination. The otoliths are Charleston, South Carolina, with the extensive South calcium carbonate structures located in the inner Carolina salt marshes and the Atlantic Ocean in the ear of finfish. Rings deposited in the otoliths each back ground. The R/V Palmetto can be seen in the year are used to determine the age of the fish, boat slip, ready to leave for another research cruise. similar to how rings in trees are used. The repro- ductive tissues are examined to determine the sex and maturity of each fish. Many important fish species in this region are what’s called protoge- NATIONALNAATTIONATIONAL BASS PROGRAMMEPROGRAMME nous hermaphrodites, meaning that they are born as females and transition to males at a certain age ResearchResearch and monitoring to supportsupport conservationconservation of wild bass and size. When this transition occurs is important h7KHRQO\PDULQHÀVKVSHFLHVLQ,UHODQGPDQDJHGIRUDQJOLQJ HQLUDP\OQRHK7   JDQDPGQDOHU,QLVHLFHSVKVÀH H QLOJQDURIGH J g information for stock assessments and fisheries management, because sufficient females and Anglers h ²SOHDVHKHOSWRVXVWDLQFRQVHUYDWLRQ    HVQRFQLDWVXVRWSOHKHVDHOS² U RLWDYU Q g males should remain in the population for h6XSSRUW,),·V1DWLRQDO%DVV3URJUDPPHE\FROOHFWLQJFDWFKGDWDRLWD1V·,),WURSSX6 HOORF\EHPPDUJRU3VVD%ODQR F WDGKFWDFJQLWF D g healthy reproduction, securing sustainable recruitment to a viable long term fishery. The data we collect are provide to state agencies, the 3URJUDPPHLQIRUPDWLRQDYDLODEOHIURP US National Marine Fisheries Service, and fish- ZZZÀVKHULHVLUHODQGLH3URMHFWVQDWLRQDOEDVVSURJUDPPHKWPO eries management organizations for use in stock (PDLOEDVV#ÀVKHULHVLUHODQGLH assessments and fisheries management. RUFDOO Dr Marcel Reichert, Senior Scientist, South Image courtesy of MARMAP, SCDNR. Image courtesy of MARMAP, Carolina Department of Natural Resources, A yellowfin grouper showing “fireback” colours, a Charleston, South Carolina. beautiful, but rare catch for the survey.

Dr. Marcel Reichert is a Senior Scientist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A. He grew up in Holland where he earned his MS degree at the University of Amsterdam and a PhD from the University of Groningen. His Master’s research brought him to Sherkin Island in the mid-80’s, where he studied rocky subtidal commu- nities in Roaringwater Bay. After working as a researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research for several years, he moved to the US in 1992 to continue his research at the University of South Carolina. In 2004, he started working at SCDNR, where he currently leads a group of 30 scientists and biologists involved in monitoring fish populations in waters off the southeastern US. He is also involved in fisheries management in that region and is the current Chair of the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee. He is an Please help us understand Irish recreational bass angling experienced SCUBA diver and his underwater explorations include several hundred dives in Irish by completing a quick survey at the link below: waters, mostly around Sherkin Island. Information on his research can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/r/IrishBassSurvey http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/MARMAP and http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/SEAMAp/. 14 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ducers, mobile phone apps and mountain-bike retain natural and human resources and skills, paths. To address sustainable rural develop- and are in a strong position to exploit market ment, on the one hand we need to conserve rich niches for quality food products. Lesvos’s 11 Nature conservation natural resources of plants, animals, habitats million olive trees produce 20,000 tonnes of and soils, and on the other ensure the economic pale golden olive oil; one of the most notable future of sometimes fragile farming communi- products of the Causses is the esteemed blue- ties. If they can combine the best of traditional veined Roquefort cheese; while Transylvanian and rural development farming with innovative technical solutions to meadows yield prized honey, cheese, ham and build a prosperous economy, and to maintain other pork products. All these regions are also substantial biodiversity, these rural communi- high quality tourism destinations, able to capi- ties and the landscapes they maintain should be talize on their scenery, history, sense of place models for development. Above all, nature con- and local food products. servation mustn’t conflict with the aspirations In Ireland, the wildflower-rich, limestone of local people and, as Kenyan conservationist countryside of the Burren is an example too of Mwangi Githiru has noted, “be misconstrued as a heritage landscape conserved within the a hindrance to economic prosperity, apparently framework of traditional farming in the mod- disenfranchising the poor by denying them the ern world. In late October 2016, I and my right to improve their livelihoods.” colleague Nat Page from Fundaţia ADEPT More recently I’ve explored two other south- attended an international conference in ern European farmed landscapes, the Cévennes Corofin, Co. Clare, on High Nature Value in France’s Massif Central and the Greek island Farming in Europe, part of events based of Lesvos in the Aegean Sea, which have both around the Burren Winterage Weekend. Along- survived and prospered through careful tradi- side examples from across Europe, we learned tional land use. The Cévennes is unspoilt how 500 or so farming families are maintain- Image courtesy of Fundatia ADEPT Image courtesy of Fundatia Mediterranean countryside of mountains and ing the Burren as a living landscape, hearing Sheep need pasture and in Transylvania, as over much of upland southern Europe, sheep grazing is a steep river-valleys, with habitats ranging from speakers and group discussions, meeting farm- traditional management regime that survives and helps promote biodiversity. lowland scrub and open evergreen oak woods, ers, walking with them over their land and where traditional management practices fre- through chestnut-covered slopes and terraces, being welcomed into village festivities with By John Akeroyd quently support higher levels of biodiversity beech and semi-evergreen oak forests, heath food, wine, traditional music and ‘Straw Boys’ than in semi-natural habitats or wilderness. and scrub up to high plateaux pastures of the dancers. The famous gentians, orchids and FOR twelve years I co-edited Plant Talk, a mag- In such landscapes, maintained by pastoral- Causses. For millennia the rural economy was other flowers depend on the farmers, who azine devoted to global plant conservation. We ism or mixed farming, it is the farmers based on the wood, nuts and flour of the chest- themselves live and work as an integral ele- published a wide range of conservation stories, themselves, the people who created these biodi- nut trees, and sheep grazing the Causses, barren ment of this special countryside. Let’s hope drawing examples from every continent, but versity-rich environments, whom we must first and stony but bright with wildflowers in late sustainable development and enhanced rural wherever one looks the problems and issues are protect. From the outset, Fundaţia ADEPT, the spring and summer, and dotted with ancient economies may again provide a good liveli- similar. It has also become increasingly apparent Anglo-Romanian NGO with whom I’ve dolmens and other Bronze Age and earlier hood, one linked directly to the landscape, for to me – and I’ve learned a great deal more dur- worked in Transylvania, put local farming com- megalithic monuments. Agriculture and biodi- farming families, whether in Ireland, France, ing 15 years working in Romania – that munities and families centre-stage. This versity survive, if a once-prosperous silk Greece, Romania or anywhere in the world. conservation requires not just the study of plant complex project has involved activities as var- industry has disappeared. and animal biology and ecology but of sociol- ied as biological surveys, scientific and popular Lesvos, now tragically in the news as thou- Dr John Akeroyd, who has written and edited ogy, politics and economics. This is especially articles, new or restored milk-collection points, sands of Syrian and other refugees arrive there several books for Sherkin Marine Station, is a true of farmed landscapes, not least in Europe, handbooks for farmers and traditional food pro- from Turkey, is a hilly island, much of it still botanical consultant and writer whose special covered with wood-pasture – mature, well- interest is landscape conservation in eastern spaced trees under which livestock graze. On lower slopes, olive groves so managed have Europe and the Mediterranean region. colourful spring displays of wildflowers such as orchids, anemones and other bulbs, once a feature of many parts of the Mediterranean region. In the hills semi-deciduous oaks, and higher still chestnuts, create a green, almost English countryside, all farmland of one sort or another, where even rarities such as wild peonies and yellow rhododendrons survive. Here is a remarkable glimpse of how ancient Greece might have looked, yet a landscape that still yields a living today. Although farming

communities here, the Massif Central and ADEPT Image courtesy of Fundatia Transylvania may seem disadvantaged in the A sophisticated mowing-machine cutting hay near modern commercial world, they provide Sighisoara in Transylvania, Romania – innovative invaluable land stewardship, protect biodiver- technology enables small farms to be easier, profitable and wildlife-friendly. sity and other ecological ‘goods and services’, Image courtesy of Bob Gibbon Traditional hay-making in Transylvania is good for wildflowers and wildlife, but is labour-intensive and often uneconomical, and lacks appeal for a younger generation. SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______15 POLYNESIA – AN OCEAN REALM Underwater Exploration In The South Pacific

a house (his words) which he him - that he is insane for tak- A Review completely renovated in his ing such risks. In the 30 years spare time. He sold the house plus that I have known him, by Matt Murphy to purchase a yacht, named his fascination with sharks has Eila, which he found in never waned. PETE ATKINSON is the Lymington, Hampshire. Hav- There is a feast of photo- author of Polynesia - An ing left his job in Bangor, he graphs in the book. The one Ocean Realm. Underwater spent the winter working on a that stands out for me is the Exploration in the South dredging barge at Lymington photograph of the mother Pacific. Pete has had a fasci- to earn money to make a few whale and her calf. In all there nating life making a living on alterations to Eila and get her are over 330 images, each and under the sea. He came to ready for her first journey. more beautiful than the next. the marine station as a volun- He spent three months in Not only are they of marine life teer underwater photographer the Scilly Isles accumulating but of Pete's visits to the many in 1978 to photograph the photographs to submit to a islands in the Southern Pacific marine life in the waters of photo agency. He returned to Ocean, places such as the Cook Roaringwater Bay. What Sherkin on a few occasions in Islands, Society Islands, the intrigued me from the very the meantime to continue his Marquesas, the Tuamotur start was his enthusiasm. He underwater photography and Archipelago and Tahiti. In Fatu had built his own acrylic tell me of his plans. As his Hiva in the Marquesas, where underwater housing for his journey began he headed for he photographed a White-tip camera, a Fujica SLR, as he Portugal with his then girl- reef shark - the famous Thor had no money to buy a ready- friend and then on to the Heyerdahl spent two years made one. Within a few days Caribbean. Always the grafter, many years previously and of his arrival he said he he spent a year there earning a wrote one of his books on his needed a darkroom to make living before sailing on alone time there. prints. The list of items he for Panama and the Pacific, In 2004 Pete sailed to Cairns, needed grew by the day, whilst his girlfriend remained Queensland, Australia. There including Cibachrome chemi- in Antigua. he "changed course", sold the

cals - at the time one of the Atkinson Images courtesy of Pete His book describes his boat and married the lovely and most expensive processes for many journeys to the South Clockwise from top left: Pete Atkinson in Apataki with his home-made housing for the Nikon F4 and very talented Thai photogra- developing photographs. One actionfinder; From the masthead of Eila, Pete gets an exquisite view of Baie Hana Vave in Fatu Hiva, The Pacific Islands, with Eila, pher Darin Limsuansub. In has to remember that in those Marquesas Islands; The clarity of the water at Beveridge Reef can be breathtaking; Grey reef sharks sometimes alone and other 2010 they move permanently days the Marine Station was swimming around Eila at the sand flat at Beveridge Reef. times with his companion to Phuket, Thailand, "where just a few years old and had Vicki Allen, whom he met in her. He owned Vigia for 7 years dinghy and drove a discreet boat from Seattle, the Nicky personal freedoms seemed very very little money but I took a the Cook Islands. He made sailing her about 15,000 miles. distance from her. They both Lou. They "slipped over the similar to living on a yacht." chance and said okay. I made many improvements to Eila The reader will find entered the water and the dol- side for a snorkel" and into the If one has dreams of visit- phone calls here and there and over the years, which he "Appendix II: Photography" phin swam around them crystal water, which had a ing the South Pacific Islands, succeeded in getting the nec- owned for 17 years and sailed like an A to Z of underwater "bombarding them with clicks strange aquarium feel. to leave behind the pressures essary items. We converted a her 45,000 miles. He gives a photography. It includes the and whistles, tossing her head Amongst the coral were many of modern living - knowing of bedroom in my home into a wonderful and most interest- many camera housings he as though sniffing out a clownfish, anemones and course that those dreams will darkroom, which meant I had ing description of Eila in built - the cameras and lenses, clearer sonic view". Then a clams, red pencils urchins, never come true - then the Pete on my doorstep every Appendix 1, with beautiful the Ektachrome film he used grey reef shark appeared and knife fish and shoals of fry next best thing is Pete's won- day. I soon learned that I was photographs. In it he describes and much more. In Pete's they thought there would be a and operu. Next morning as derful book of incredible dealing with a perfectionist the rig, sails, dinghy, com- words: "To take photos under- battle between them but no he crossed the lagoon in his photos and his interesting who was never happy with the pressor and how he navigated. water you need to be perfectly such thing. Both "were indif- dinghy he saw a huge crea- accounts of visits to the many photographs he took underwa- comfortable underwater. Per- ferent to one another; the ture, an adult whale with her A timber boat, Eila was built islands in this special part of ter. He always wanted to sonally, I am much more at shark more interested in the calf, in about 15 m of water. in 1935 at Bursledon on the the world. I am so happy that improve on what he had ease when I'm diving alone; a aliens - us." Over the next few When the whales moved south coast of England and he was able to follow his taken. During his time at the good buddy is usually a dis- days Bojangles came and away, with his mask he looked cost £11,000. She was 11 m dream and live this idyllic life Station, Pete's camera became traction, an incompetent went. Both she and Vicki in the water where they had on deck, 8 m on the waterline photographing the great won- our eyes underwater and we buddy is just a nightmare." swam together, often for a been and saw large schools of and had a beam of 2.75m and ders of the sea. His career has got a real glimpse of the Every page is an adventure, couple of hours, whilst Pete jacks and many grey reef 1.7m draft. The hull was seen him become an award- beauty of the marine life in the whether wonderful stories of took many photos. After four sharks. Pete caught one of the planked with pitch pine. She winning Getty Images waters around Sherkin. Many his journeys or stunning pic- days at anchor the winds jacks and went for a dive at a weighed 10 ton, had a Perkins photographer, with his photo- of his images were part of the 4.108 diesel engine and was tures of whales, sharks or increased from the southeast nearby reef. He put the fish graphs having won many our Exhibitions in Cork City over 40 years old when he dolphins or mantas. Oh to be and they had to leave. On the carcass under a heavy piece of awards, including the Innova- in the 1980s and 1990s. One purchased her. Elia carried able to visit those far away final night Bojangles visited rock on the seabed and soon a tion Award at the 2004 of my favourite's, brittlestars 130 litres of diesel in a fibre places and dive in those crys- them and Vicki and Pete said couple of grey reef sharks Wildlife Photographer of the on a sponge, which was taken tank but more importantly she tal blue waters. My favourite their goodbyes to her. turned up and he was able to Year and the award for "Best in the waters near the Station, carried a 90 litre stainless steel chapter was when he and his The chapter "The Remotest take photographs. As he British Underwater Photogra- hangs in our office today. tank for water and 45 litres in companion, Vicki Allen, met a Reefs" begins: "Lost in the retreated up the slope one pher" in 1999 and 2001. Pete always talked about jerrycans. He described how spinner dolphin, whom they immensity of the Pacific shark followed him and began his dream to buy a yacht and he gathered fresh water while named Bojangles, whilst between the Cook Islands and to bother him, repeatedly sail to distant waters and make at sea: "with a roll in the main anchored at Apataki, a sub- Tonga lies a tiny ring of coral making close passes quite Polynesia ~ An Ocean a career out of photographing and the boom topped up we group of the Tuamotu enclosing a shallow lagoon. fast. Even when he put his Realm by Pete Atkinson is whales, dolphins, sharks and can catch a lot of rain water Archipelago in French Poly- No trees, no islands, no land camera in the dinghy it came now available as an ebook at coral. People thought he was at sea. A funnel and tube at nesia. They were resting on at all. Just ocean and coral after him. As Pete said: "The www.peteatkinson.com/book insane but I believed he could the gooseneck directs this deck and they thought they beneath the endless sky." Pete shark could probably hear my US$9.99 48000 words, 339 and encouraged him to follow straight into the tank". saw a fish jumping about half goes on to describe approach- heart going boom-tiddy-boom pictures 223 pages. Signed a mile away, breaking the ing the northern edge of nineteen to the dozen". There his dream. On graduating In 1999, Pete sold Eila and hardcover copies, 11 x 13" from college he had got a job while in New Zealand bought calm of the atoll lagoon. Beveridge Reef where they are over a dozen wonderful landscape, weight 2kg, are as a technician in the zoology another boat named Vigia. She Through binoculars Pete saw saw two humpback whales. photos of sharks with this Department at Bangor Univer- was a 44ft long, 24 ton alu- it was a dolphin. Immediately They entered the lagoon and chapter and knowing Pete available from the author for € sity, North Wales, so he had a minium yacht, hard to handle in Vicki grabbed the snorkelling anchored on the shallow sand took most of these whilst in 75.00 including SAL p&p regular income. He had pur- gales. He installed a Roland gear and he his camera case flat. There was to the south of the water with them, confirms to Ireland. Email: chased a dilapidated wreck of electric piano, yes a piano, on and they both piled into the them a new wreck of a fishing what I have always said to [email protected] 16 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______17 Images courtesy of Pete Atkinson Images courtesy of Pete

Clear ocean water is driven over the reef at the south-east corner of the lagoon in Bora Bora where Vicki feeds double-saddle butterfly fish, Chaetodon ulietensis.

A grey reef shark passes close overhead at Beveridge Reef.

(See review on page 15)

Heteractis magnifica is a symbiotic host of the pink anemonefish, Amphiprion perideraion Vava'u, Tonga. Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, with its calf, in Vava'u, Tonga. POLYNESIA – AN OCEAN REALM By Pete Atkinson The mantle patterns of the thorny oyster, Spondylus varius.

Akamaru, Île Gambier, had an exceptionally photogenic palm tree. Vicki points at one of the many manta rays which Bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, come to Eila's bow. Tobi Bernhard won the top prize at Wildlife Photographer of the year in 2001 with a shot taken at gather outside the pass at Fanning Island. Beveridge Reef. Here he is feeding grey reef sharks at Pete’s favourite coral head. 18 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 Images courtesy of Inland Fisheries Ireland

Processing the nets and fish on Lough Easky, Co. Sligo.

Sampling Fish for the Water Framework Directive

A surface floating monofilament multi-mesh CEN standard survey gill net on Lough Brin, Co. Kerry. Processing fish for length, weight and scale samples. on the findings of fish stock cal status of fish stocks in tive (WFD). The fundamental roach (42 per cent) and pike 2014. A total of 13,480 fish By Suzanne surveys undertaken in all each water body. objectives of the WDF are to (38 per cent). were counted. Brown trout Campion water bodies (lakes, rivers IFI has been assigned the protect and maintain the sta- In general, salmon, was the most common fish and transitional waters) dur- responsibility by the Environ- tus of waters that are already brown trout, sea trout and species recorded (96 per cent ing 2014. The report, mental Protection Agency of good or high quality, to Arctic char were the domi- of sites), followed by salmon IN December 2014, Inland ‘Sampling Fish for the Water (EPA) to deliver the fish prevent any further deteriora- nant species in the north, (77 per cent), eel (56 per Fisheries Ireland (IFI) Framework Directive’, also monitoring requirements of tion, and to restore all waters west and south-west of the cent), stone loach (50 per launched a summary report outlines the current ecologi- the Water Framework Direc- that are impaired so that they country. Perch were cent), minnow (39 per cent), achieve at least a good eco- recorded for the first time in and three-spined stickleback logical status. a lake in Donegal. This (39 per cent). Sixty per cent The fish monitoring pro- introduction was illegal and of river sites were classified gramme has been conducted the source is unknown; fur- annually since 2007 at spec- ther investigation will be as ‘good’ or better status, ified locations. The second undertaken by IFI. with two sites having year of the third three-year Experimental hydro improved in status since they cycle began in 2014 with an acoustic surveys were car- were last classified. extensive surveillance mon- ried out on Loughs Caragh, A total of 50 fish species itoring programme; 70 river Allen, Melvin, Beagh and (or 40,362 individual fish) sites, 26 lakes and seven Leane to complement the were recorded across two transitional water bodies routine surveys. Initial transitional waters (seven were surveyed throughout results show that Lough transitional water bodies). the country. Allen has a large population The highest number of This work provides infor- of pelagic fish, dominated by species recorded in a water mation on the ecological pollan and juvenile perch; body was 29, in the Lower status of fish species pres- Lough Leane continues to ent in selected waterbodies Shannon Estuary. Flounder sustain a good population of as well as information on and sand goby were the Killarney shad; Lough Beagh their abundance, growth most widespread species, has a healthy Arctic char and population demograph- while sprat was the most population; and Loughs ics for fishery managers, abundant. Some important Melvin and Caragh continue legislators, angling clubs, angling species documented to sustain small Arctic char fishery owners and other populations. during these surveys interested parties”. According to the report, included brown trout, Euro- The information captured 62 per cent of lakes were pean sea bass, salmon, sea in the report gives us an classified as ‘good’ or better trout, pollack and conger increased understanding of eel. Overall both waters the dynamics and changes status, with three sites hav- achieved ‘good’ status. in our fish populations at ing improved in status since sample locations through- they were last classified. The report is available for out Ireland.” The geographical variation review and download at: in ecological status reflects www.wfdfish.ie/wp-con- the change in fish communi- tent/uploads/2010/05/WFD_ 2014 Report Findings ties of upland lakes with Report_2014_FINAL.pdf. During 2014, 26 lakes were little human disturbance An interactive fish survey surveyed with 19 fish versus the fish communities map is available at species and two types of of lowland lakes subject to www.ifigis.ie/wfdfishmap. hybrids identified. A total of more intensive anthro- 12,205 fish were recorded. pogenic pressures. Suzanne Campion, Head of Eel was the most common A total of 14 fish species fish species recorded (96 per and one type of hybrid Business Development, Classification of river sites using the FCS2 Ireland classification tool (the five symbol colours on the map cent of lakes surveyed) fol- (roach x bream) were Inland Fisheries Ireland. indicate ecological status from high to bad, the arrow symbols indicate an increase or decrease in ecological status since previous survey, the circular symbols indicate no change in status since previous lowed by brown trout (81 per recorded in 70 river sites (or www.fisheriesireland.ie survey or new sites surveyed). cent), perch (65 per cent), 50 water bodies) during www.wfdfish.ie. SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______19 1 low-lying areas in the surrounding By Walter Mugdan communities of West Orange, Montclair and Glen Ridge. January, 2016 Many hundreds of residential IT is hard to imagine that something properties were contaminated with as innocuous as a glow-in-the-dark ECO ECHOES: radioactive materials, of which the watch dial could be the cause of ter- homeowners knew absolutely noth- rible human tragedies, and be the ing until the early 1980s. By the source of a bitter environmental The Environmental Legacy of the First middle of the previous decade Amer- legacy that has been difficult, disrup- icans had finally begun to wake up to tive and expensive to address. the deeply disturbing environmental The story begins in 1917 when the Generation of Glow-in-the-Dark Watch Dials legacy of our industrial past. Infa- U.S. Radium Corporation opened a mous sites like Love Canal near factory in the town of Orange, New Jersey. Its business there was to Niagara Falls in New York State extract radium from ore to produce a spurred Congress to pass, in 1980, paint that was luminous – that is, it the so-called “Superfund” law that would glow in the dark. In fact, the gave the U.S. Environmental Protec- brand name of the paint was Images courtesy of US EPA. tion Agency (EPA) the responsibility “Undark.” As the United States pre- to identify and clean up the worst of pared to enter the First World War, it these sites. contracted with U.S. Radium to pro- The author’s previous articles in duce glow-in-the-dark watch dials Sherkin Comment have described for American soldiers. the landmark Superfund law. One of Radium is the highly radioactive its notable features is that EPA can element identified in 1898 by Marie require those responsible for the Curie – the first woman to win a contamination to carry out or pay for Nobel Prize, and the first person and the cleanup. the only woman to win one twice. In The U.S. Radium factory site the early part of the twentieth cen- itself, and the contaminated proper- tury many quack medical claims ties in Montclair and Glen Ridge, were made about radium, asserting were among the earliest sites to be that it could cure a variety of ills. In placed on the national Superfund pri- fact, it is extremely dangerous, ority list, in 1983 and 1985, causing cancer and other diseases. respectively. By that time, however, Its “daughter” decay product, radon the company was out of business, so gas (which occurs widely in nature), the cleanup work had to be paid by is second only to tobacco as a lead- the government from the fund that ing cause of lung cancer, causing gives the law its colloquial name. some 21,000 deaths annually in the The work has been hugely expen- U.S. alone. Clocks and watches glowing in the dark from the use of radium. sive, in addition to being disruptive U.S. Radium hired young women to paint the watch dials. Younger her. Eventually, four other former to the affected residents and com- people tended to have the steadier employees joined the lawsuit. When munities. Contaminated soil had to hands needed for the fine work of the case finally reached court in be excavated from hundreds of painting the dials. Many young men 1928, the five women were so sick properties, while the residents were were heading off to military service they could not even raise their hands relocated to temporary living quar- and, in any event, it was believed to take the oath. Before the case ters. Some homes had so much that women were better at this sort reached the jury the company settled, radioactive waste material under- of task than men. The women used agreeing to pay each of the five neath that the only solution was for delicate, camel hair paintbrushes in $10,000 (about $138,000 today), EPA to purchase the house, and their work. They would bend close plus a $6,000 annual payment as demolish it to get at the wastes over the watch dials as they applied long as they remained alive. The below. Tens of thousands of tons of the paint. Worse yet, in order to company also agreed to pay all their these dangerously radioactive bring the paintbrushes to the fine medical and legal expenses. wastes had to be carefully handled point needed for this work, they This legal action by the Radium by workers in cumbersome protec- would repeatedly lick the brush, Girls, as they came to be known, tive gear, containerized for ingesting radium paint as they did was history’s first example of what shipment, and sent across the conti- so. Some of the women also used the is now called a “toxic tort” lawsuit – nent for disposal at specially paint on their fingernails for a novel, that is, a personal injury claim based constructed and permitted facilities. Radium vault demolition in 2008. glow-in-the-dark polish. on exposure to a toxic chemical. The cleanup work has cost over The notorious case and the publicity Within just a few years, many of $206 million in public funds. surrounding it were an important the women began to suffer terrible We will never know how many factor in the development of occu- diseases. Among the most painful residents suffered health effects from pational health and safety standards and disfiguring consequences was their exposure to the radioactive “radium jaw,” or necrosis of the jaw- and laws. (Radium paint continued wastes on which they were living, bones, which received some of the to be used for watch dials into the sometimes over many decades. What highest doses of radioactivity as the 1960s, but the workers were prop- we do know is that we owe a deep women pointed their brushes with erly trained and provided with debt of gratitude to the unfortunate their lips. It is not known how many protective equipment.) of the 80 to 100 women employed by However, the unfortunate story but brave Radium Girls, who used U.S. Radium died, but the number is of the U.S. Radium Corporation their last energies to expose the probably high. does not end there. During its ten unforgiveable actions of a callous The gruesome story becomes even years of operation the company employer, and start to lay the ground- worse: it turns out the U.S. Radium processed many thousands of tons work for safer conditions for company was keenly aware of the of ore to extract the radium. The left industrial workers everywhere. danger of exposure to the radioactiv- over waste – still dangerously Images courtesy of US EPA radioactive – was simply dumped 1 ity. Managers and chemists who Soil sampling. Walter Mugdan is Director of the worked for the company routinely on the factory property and Division of Emergency & Remedial remained there for decades. But it used shielding and protective cloth- sible campaign of disinformation, Radium workers to their occupational Response, U.S. Environmental gets even worse: much of the waste ing when handling the material; but suggesting that the women’s ail- radium exposures. In 1926 the com- Protection Agency, Region 2, New the women painting the dials were ments were attributable to syphilis, a pany ceased its operations in Orange. ore was given away to be used as York City, New York, U.S.A. Any assured their work was safe, and sexually transmitted disease. One severely ill former employee, backfill for residential construction were even encouraged to point the In 1925 the Essex County Medical Grace Fryer, decided to sue U.S. projects, for use as aggregate to opinions expressed in this article are brushes in their mouths. Worst of all, Examiner issued a bombshell report Radium. It took her nearly two years make concrete for sidewalks and his own, and do not necessarily the company engaged in a reprehen- officially linking the deaths of the U.S. to find a lawyer willing to represent foundations, and for fill to re-grade reflect the views of the U.S. EPA. 20 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 the late 1970s, French landings from the English Channel slumped to 1082 BLACK SEA-BREAM tonnes during the 1980s, but there- after gradually increased again to 3780 tonnes during the 2000s (4864 tonnes was landed during 2010). (Spondyliosoma cantharus) in Irish Waters Apart from a minimum size regula- tion of 23cm TL, the species is not subject to any EU TAC and Quota regulations and little is known about the stock’s current status. Although BSB have occasionally been reported by anglers from Irish waters since 1967, the species was only recently (2010) included by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee in its list of eligible species at a minimum qualifying specimen weight of 1kg.

Photography courtesy of Andrew Marriott – MarLIN Andrew Photography courtesy of Since then, only two specimens have Photography courtesy of www.wicklowboatcharters.ie been ratified: the first specimen, weighing 1.11kg (39cm TL), was captured by David McCormick off Killybegs on 21.08.2011, and the sec- ond specimen, weighing 1kg, was Black Sea-Bream (Spondyliosoma cantharus). captured by Eddie Butler off Kilmore Quay on 08.09.2014. Although a sandy sea-bed in which the female taceans, molluscs, worms, echino- larger specimen, weighing 1.362kg, sheds her eggs, 32–554k depending derms, squid and small fish. was captured on rod and line by Fred on size. The eggs are guarded by the The BSB is a highly migratory Cooper in Carnlough Bay on male until they hatch (after 9–10 shoaling semi-pelagic species which 21.07.1979, and a specimen of simi- days). The young tend to form a loose has been increasingly targeted by lar size was taken by a commercial school around the nest for several commercial fishing vessels in NW trawler off the SW coast in 1967 weeks after hatching, but by autumn, European waters since the late-1970s, (Went, 1968), the vast majority the juveniles (7–8cm) and sub-adults primarily by French pair-pelagic (83%) of BSB recorded by both Black Sea-Bream taken by Collie Ennis off Wicklow on 16.08.2014. (<20cm) are commonly found in trawlers in the English Channel (72% anglers and commercial vessels from coastal waters where they remain for of landings) and to a lesser extent, in Irish inshore waters to date weighed By Declan T.G. Quigley Kennedy (1976) regarded the species 2–3 years before migrating to deeper Biscay. BSB are currently not abun- <1kg (Mean 654g; Range 86–1362g). as “scarce” in Irish inshore waters. offshore waters (50–100m, occasion- dant enough in Irish waters to support Indeed, specimens weighing >1kg are ALTHOUGH Black Sea-Bream Although there are still relatively ally to 300m) west of the English a targeted fishery. Indeed, over the very rare in commercial catches (Spondyliosoma cantharus) [BSB] few authenticated records of the BSB Channel where the pre-spawning last decade, a total of only c.8 tonnes throughout the species range. BSB are widely distributed in the Eastern from Irish inshore waters (N = 29), it adults overwinter, often near wrecks was reported as a by-catch by Span- are specifically targeted on a seasonal Atlantic, ranging from Scandinavia to is interesting to note that almost 55% and rocky outcrops. The vast majority ish (64%) and French (36%) vessels basis by anglers in the English Chan- the Mediterranean and Black Seas of the records reported since 1846 (75%) of BSB recorded from Irish fishing long-lines (64%) and gill nets nel. The current UK Rod-Caught and southwards along the African were recorded from Co Kerry (Table inshore were taken during the first (36%) in Irish offshore waters, prima- (Boat) Record, weighing 3.125kg, coast to Angola and northern 1). Elsewhere, the species has been half of the year. rily off the SW coast. was captured by J.A. Garlick on a Namibia, the species is generally recorded infrequently from Irish While female BSB mature at an BSB would appear to have been wreck off Torquay, Devon in 1977. It regarded as uncommon north of the inshore waters: E (17.2%), SE-S early age, their fecundity is relatively specifically targeted as an alternative would appear that the largest speci- English Channel. However, it is pos- (20.7%) and NW-N (6.9%) coasts, low. However, their low fecundity is to the Red Sea-Bream (Pagellus bog- mens may have a preference for sible that BSB and other sparid with no records from the west coast compensated to some extent by the araveo) [RSB], a species which was wrecks and/or rocky outcrops and to species may eventually become more (Quigley & Flannery, 1997 & 2005; parental care provided by the males at heavily over-exploited during the some extent this may afford them common in more northern European Quigley, 2002). the nesting site and the species’s rela- 1960s and 1970s, and eventually col- some level of protection. waters if the present increasing trend The BSB is a protogynous her- tively long life span (up to 20 years of lapsed during the early 1970s It is interesting to note that a few in sea water temperatures continues. maphrodite i.e. most individuals age). Nevertheless, the overall growth (Quigley, 2013). It is possible that the BSB, albeit none of specimen size, Indeed, the remains of BSB have initially develop as functional females rate of both males and females in the exponential increase in aquaculture have recently been caught by anglers been found in Danish archaeological (at 20cm TL and 2–4 years of age) English Channel is relatively slow. production of Gilthead Sea-Bream on the wreck of the SS Laurentic at sites dating from the last Atlantic prior to becoming functional males (at For example, specimens weighing (Sparus aurata) [GHSB] in the the mouth of Lough Swilly and from warm period, 7000–3900 BC. 35cm TL and 7–8 years of age). 1kg (39–40cm) are at least 8–9 years Mediterranean since the early 1990s several areas along the east coast, Despite the general paucity of his- Although the species is not known to of age. Although the estimated maxi- (Quigley 2015) may have modulated including Carlingford Lough, Wick- torical references, the discovery of spawn in Irish waters, it regularly mum size reported for the species is the economic viability of commercial low and Wexford. Brennan (1982) BSB remains at Illaunloughan Island spawns in shallow (5–10m) inshore 60cm SL, this would appear to be fishing for wild BSB over the last remarked that although BSB “are not specifically fished for in Ireland, they (off Portmagee), an early (7–9th cen- waters of the eastern English Channel exceptional, and the average length is couple of decades (Figure 1). tury) medieval monastery, suggests between mid-April and mid-June 20–30cm TL. While BSB primarily The hermaphroditic nature and could well be present in some areas that the species was captured and when seawater temperatures reach feed on green algae (particularly slow growth rate of BSB may have without anglers being aware of it”. o consumed in SW Ireland for many 12–14 C. BSB are one of the few Enteromorpha), they are also oppor- important consequences for the sus- generations. Rutty (1772) remarked nest-building species of sea-breams. tunistic omnivores that exploit a wide tained reproductive capacity of the Declan T.G. Quigley, Dingle that the species (as Cantharus ron- The male digs a depression in the variety of other prey, including crus- stock. Between 1977 and 1979, the Oceanworld (Mara Beo Teo), The deletii) was found off the coast of Co modal size of BSB decreased signifi- Wood, Dingle, Co Kerry. Mobile: cantly from 37–38cm to 28–30cm as Dublin “about the rocks of Bullock, 087–6458485 the UK fishery expanded. From an Dunleary and Killeny Bay”, Thomp- Email: [email protected] son (1846) described an unripe male annual average of 6088 tonnes during specimen weighing 1.36kg (40cm FL) which was captured on 18.05.1846 on “foul ground” at Cul- tra Point, Belfast, and a second specimen, measuring c.45cm, was taken at Kilmore Quay on 15.11.1846. Andrews (1860 & 1870) reported on the occurrence of the BSB (as C. griseus) off the SW coast of Ireland. Couch (1862) remarked that the species was “common on the west and south coasts of England and Ireland, but as it is a solitary fish it can scarcely be called abundant”. Kennedy (1954) noted that “only rel- atively few specimens had been taken on the Irish coast”, and Went & SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______21 Into the Noosa Everglades

more than one metre. Nevertheless, we sped By Anthony Toole across it and slowed down only as we approached the narrows of the next river sec- QUITE suddenly, it seemed, we drifted into tion, which marked the start of the Noosa silence. Yet we realised, just as quickly, that the Everglades and the entrance to the Great Sandy quietness consisted only of the absence of chatter National Park. Here, the river carried tannins and the noises of the engine and swish through from the forest trees to create a sharply defined the water of the boat we had left. We had merely brown patch that extended several hundred exchanged these for the hiss of cicadas in the sur- metres into the lake. rounding forest, which rose to a shrill whistle, We passed through another neck and into a then fell to a sibilance, recurring in an endless smaller lake over which the blooms of blue water sequence of waves. And during the troughs, we lilies rose above extensive rafts of their foliage. heard only the light splash of paddles and soft lap Islets of vegetation that rose over the surface were of water against the sides of the canoe. populated by colonies of pelicans and pied cor- A Brahminy kite watched us from its perch morants. We pulled across to Fig Tree Point, on a tall eucalyptus, but before I could photo- where we disembarked for a coffee-cake-and-bis- graph it, it spread its wings and drifted off into cuits break before thirteen of us, took to five the canopy, leaving us to continue our gentle canoes for the next five kilometres of our journey. progress toward Harry’s Hut. We moved into the Everglades, taking a few At 9 am, about thirty of us had packed into the minutes to get used to steering our canoe away cruise vessel, which took us into the narrows of from the tree branches that either hung over the the Noosa River, past an incongruous mixture of water or had fallen and lay like skeleton arms plush waterside dwellings and houseboats that reaching up from the mud. After we had gone had seen better days. Our skipper and guide, about a kilometre, we heard the chug of the Trevor, had been doing this job for thirty-five cruise boat coming around the bend behind us years, and knew every twist of the river and and waved at our erstwhile companions who every hidden shoal and tree branch, and assured had opted for the less energetic journey. us that the boat was capable of safely negotiating The Noosa Biosphere marks an overlap water no more than knee-deep. between Queensland’s southern temperate and The river narrowed even further as it split northern tropical zones. As a result, it contains around the heart-shaped Makepeace Island. This some 60 distinct habitats in which more than was owned by Brett Godfrey and Sir Richard 1300 species of plant thrive along with more than Branson, who had transformed it into an exclu- 700 species of native fauna, which include 30 sive resort open to anyone willing to spend a few amphibians, 150 fish, 63 mammals and 75 rep- thousand dollars each night to stay here. Little of tiles. Eastern grey kangaroos hop freely through the resort was visible to us, as the shoreline the bush over which large numbers of flying foxes retained its almost pristine density of vegetation. take to the air at dusk. Among the reptiles are Noosa stands at the mouth of its eponymous blue-tongued lizards, red-bellied black snakes and river, at the northern end of Queensland’s Sun- lace monitors, which survive on a diet of insects, shine Coast, a strip of bays and sandy beaches small mammals and birds’ eggs. running north of Brisbane, in Australia. The The most abundant creatures, however, are towns that characterise the coastline are in quiet the birds, which number more than 300 species. contrast to the brash, high-rise clutter of the These constitute over 44% of all Australia’s bird Gold Coast, to the city’s south. species, more than can be seen in the vastly Noosa’s name comes from an Aboriginal larger Kakadu National Park in the Northern word, ‘Noothera’, meaning ‘shady place’. Euro- Territory. Small birds find that the forest pro- pean settlement began here in the 19th century, vides shelter from predators. Larger ones are when loggers arrived to cut down the scribbly less concerned about being seen. gum and blackbutt trees, and increased when Shortly after passing the Brahminy kite, we gold was discovered in nearby Gympie. Lat- saw a white-breasted sea eagle on another tall terly, however, property development around tree. It was completely indifferent to our prox- Noosa has been restricted, limiting the heights imity. A black kite circled high above us. Small of buildings and the growth in population. This, flocks of rainbow lorikeets flew across the river together with the proximity of Noosa National and cockatoos squawked noisily from the trees. Park, to the east of the town, led in 2007 to the We heard the cackle of a kookaburra and spot- region being declared a UNESCO Biosphere ted a brush turkey scratching its way through Reserve, one of only fifteen in Australia and the the undergrowth. Anthony Toole Image courtesy of first in Queensland. Such designation recog- We arrived at Harry’s Hut, a forest camping Clockwise from top: Pelicans; Entering the Noosa Everglades; Mooring at Harry’s Hut; Rainbow Lorikeets; nises the achievement of a balance between ground, with an appetite that would do justice to Water Lily; Pied Cormorants; Brush Turkey; Kookaburra; Catfish; Water Dragon. nature and human usage, emphasising the needs the splendid barbecue that Trevor had prepared of conservation, sustainable development and for us while we paddled upstream. We had a aged to reach what is now Fraser Island only be explored on foot or by means of 4WD scientific research. choice between steak, barramundi and a vegetar- (Sherkin Comment, No. 32), also part of the vehicle. Indeed there are many walking tracks, Noosa River runs for sixty kilometres, and its ian option, with salad and cooked vegetables. Great Sandy National Park, where they either varying in length from a few hundred metres to excellent water quality is due to the protected Several of us then plunged into the river to swim died from starvation or were killed by aborigi- ones that take several days to complete. Our 6½ nature of its catchment, one-third of which lies in its warm waters among the shoals of catfish nals. The captain’s wife, Eliza Fraser, after -hour excursion had covered only a small length within the Great Sandy National Park. The shal- that circled around the cruise boat. whom the island is named, was kept alive by the of the Noosa River, but it had been continuously low, brackish lakes to either side of the For the return trip, to give myself a better natives until she was rescued by a convict, John fascinating, even exciting and a great deal of mainstream are tidal, and are important nurs- opportunity to photograph some of the bird life, Graham, somewhere in the vicinity of Fig Tree fun, and had given us much more than just a eries for juvenile fish. As we continued upriver, I opted to take the cruise boat, leaving a young Point. Her story provided the inspiration for the glimpse of one of Australia’s great remaining and across the small Lake Cooroibah, we had to lady to take my place in my son’s canoe. On 1976 novel ‘A Fringe of Leaves’ by Australian pristine wildernesses. slow down so as not to upset the occasional arrival at Fig Tree Point, I found the jetty Nobel Prize winning author, Patrick White. anglers’ canoes. guarded by a water dragon, which held its We waited little more than half-an-hour for Anthony Toole, 65, Cheswick Drive, Gosforth, The river narrowed again, then opened out ground until I crept to within five metres of it, the canoeists to re-join us, then we headed back Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 5DW, U.K. E. into the vast Lake Cootharaba, Queensland’s then it disappeared into the undergrowth. to Noosa. The Cooloola area of the Great Sandy [email protected] largest salt-water lake. Despite its huge area, its In 1836, the ship Stirling Castle ran aground National Park, in which we had spent our day, http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/anthonytoole average depth, Trevor informed us, was no farther up the Queensland coast. The crew man- occupies more than 60 000 hectares. Most can 22 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 Whales, Helicopters and a Quad Bike Further experiences of a marine biologist tlenose and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, By Chris Spurrier hawksbill and green turtles and numerous shore- bird and waterfowl species. As well as diving IN my previous article I described how Jacques and snorkelling on the shallow shoal and sur- Cousteau had been the inspiration behind my rounding reefs we conducted aerial surveys by interest in marine biology; as soon as I was old helicopter to count dugong and cetacean num- enough I had learned to dive. I worked on zoo- bers and to investigate proposed pipeline routes. plankton during my first season as a volunteer at This type of experience may be closer to the Sherkin Island Marine Station in 1980, but I was romantic image that is often conjured up of a itching to get involved in a diving project. The marine biologist’s work and was indeed team from the Natural History Museum (NHM), approaching the glamourous lifestyle portrayed London, as it is now known, that had visited that by Jacques Cousteau’s television programmes. summer included the sponge taxonomist Shirley But it is the exception rather than the rule and I Stone and the marine biologist and polychaete have had my share of cold, wet, muddy, tiring (bristle-worm) taxonomist Dr David George. and monotonous work as well. Nevertheless my Both were influential in the development of my preference is for work in Britain and Ireland career. Shirley had made a big impression on where I have a better understanding of the Matt Murphy, and when I expressed an interest in marine life that abounds in our seas. returning to Sherkin in 1981 I was duly dis- Although I didn’t actually get the one job that patched to meet Shirley at the Museum to work I did apply for in the late 1970s as Lundy Marine out the details of our future sponge study, which became two years of detailed diving observation Warden, I happened to know Nigel Thomas, the on half a dozen monitored specimens in differing successful applicant, because I had been at col- environmental conditions. lege with him and so as not to be totally outdone I assisted him in setting up an underwater trail The financial reality of volunteering for three Photograph courtesy of Patrick Campbell, NHM years was beginning to make itself felt so I The author sieving mud samples collected for the analysis of infaunal invertebrates. during a visit to the island in 1978. Nigel went returned to working as a milkman for another on to become a managing director of a success- year or two and later became a window-cleaner. ful environmental consultancy, now taken over But at the same time, encouraged by the oppor- by a larger company. I kept in touch and was tunity I had been given at Sherkin and the invited to work for them several years ago when knowledge I had acquired, I continued to develop a large part of their work involved epifaunal my interest. I became an active member of the analysis of samples very similar to those I had Marine Conservation Society (MCS) in the UK been working on at the Museum; I am still and contributed to their programme of diving employed by them from time to time to address surveys, sometimes enlisting the help of my local their quality control requirement. sub-aqua club with whom I regularly dived all The majority of my recent work has involved around the British Isles and Ireland. more local studies in Kent and Sussex, particu- It wasn’t until 1987, having taken part in a larly on chalk shores. I have helped to collate preliminary Channel Tunnel sublittoral survey data as evidence to support the work of the Photograph taken by Charles Walker & reproduced courtesy of David George with MCS on behalf of the Nature Conservancy Photograph courtesy of Patrick Campbell, NHM Wildlife Trusts in pushing for the designation of Council the previous year, that I was offered my Four-wheel drive ‘all-terrain vehicle’ and trailer Helicopter used for aerial surveillance of an Marine Conservation Zones. I believe that our first paid work as a marine biologist in a team used to collect mud samples at one of the offshore shoal in the UAE. I discovered that knowledge of the marine environment has come monitoring sites during an EIA study along the although shorts were fine on the ground they were a long way since I began my career, but the led by Dr Elizabeth Wood, an independent con- course of a gas pipeline in Cumbria. not the best attire at 10,000 feet with the doors sultant, who had been contracted by Eurotunnel open for photography! lethargic pace at which legislation is directed at to undertake the underwater environmental sur- protecting it is a continuing source of frustra- vey. In 1981 the Health and Safety Executive bles and cobbles which supported a mainly of the sensitive saltmarsh habitat until the tion. It is a credit to Ireland that when the (HSE) in the UK had introduced new legislation encrusting fauna characterised by diverse bry- recovery to its original condition was complete importance of Lough Hyne was recognised it that required certification for divers to be able ozoan (sea-mat), hydroid (sea firs) and sponge several years later. was designated as Europe’s first Marine Nature to carry out paid work, which was targeted pri- communities. I had already acquired some of As part of the marine contracts team I was Reserve as early as 1981. In England, Lundy marily at the commercial diving fraternity. But the skills needed to identify sponges and the involved in many and varied projects. The didn’t become a statutory reserve until 1986 and it also applied to scientific divers and in order to expertise of colleagues at the Museum allowed NHM has kept a record since 1913 of all there are still only three in the UK. Although facilitate the work of existing scientists who me to develop a proficiency in new animal cetacean strandings (whales, dolphins and por- various other categories of marine protected dived, a ‘granny clause’ permitted them to groups. By now I had gained some of that much poises) on the UK coastline. Large beached area are now in existence there is still a long receive a certificate (known as a Part IV) on the needed experience that was previously lacking. animals attract considerable media attention way to go before the UK government’s prom- basis of a demonstrated experience. I was fortu- When I was a student, the perceived route to and public interest and I attended northern bot- ised objective of an ecologically coherent nate that my diving history on Sherkin had employment was through specialisation in a tlenose, minke, fin and killer whale strandings network is achieved. But I am happy in know- allowed me to take advantage of this clause, so particular field, usually through a doctorate, but as well as retrieving dozens of porpoises and ing that the work I have done over the years I already had my HSE Part IV qualification. I have always found a good all round knowl- dolphins for post mortem examination by vet- continues to contribute to this process. At the same time as the diving surveys for edge, with the added bow-string of familiarity erinary pathologists at London Zoo with whom I do not consider myself to be an expert in any Eurotunnel, an intertidal (shore) study was with some of the less well-known groups, to be we collaborated on the project. I played a key field but I have gained a considerable experience being carried out by the NHM, led by Dr an advantage. role in maintaining an accurate record of all which began with the opportunity given to me George who was then also chairman of MCS. My free-lance status and flexibility afforded such events on a national database. Paper on Sherkin. My career may not have been typi- This connection led me, in 1990, to join the div- me the opportunity to take on other diving sur- records were always retained and updated cal of other marine scientists but I have always ing team in the Marine Biological Services veys when offers came my way (I have never alongside the digital version: the comments in enjoyed the freedom that my freelance arrange- Division at the NHM that was headed by Dr actively pursued work) and so I have partici- the Editorial by Matt Murphy (Sherkin Com- ment offered and in hindsight I am glad that I did George. They were carrying out an environmen- pated in a range of conservation review studies ment No.59) were particularly pertinent. not commit to an approach at one time to join tal impact assessment (EIA) of the planned for government bodies and work contracted by I also had the opportunity to travel abroad, on the Museum full-time. In an environment of installation of a long-sea sewage outfall for independent consultancies. one occasion to assess the damage to a coral reef redundancies and cut-backs, I still have plenty of Anglian Water in Norfolk. At the end of the The Museum study in Norfolk continued for in the Red Sea from a cargo ship’s grounding, work as a window-cleaner to fall back on. I am diving work I asked if there was anything useful a number of years, including several following and during several fieldwork trips to the United probably the only marine biologist who declares Arab Emirates to carry out an EIA for an oil I could do to help at the Museum on wet and construction and implementation of the outfall window-cleaning as his joint occupation on tax company in relation to a proposal to develop the windy days when I couldn’t clean windows and to monitor its potential impact. It is unusual returns, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I ended up working as a freelance marine biol- these days to get the opportunity to work on rel- gas potential of a concession area. The environ- ogist there for the next 20 years! atively long-term studies of this nature, but the mentally sensitive site in the UAE was within a Chris Spurrier is a freelance marine biologist The study in Norfolk employed the well- NHM was also involved in another EIA, this Marine Protected Area and had additional known ‘sawn-off waste paper bin and post time for a proposed gas pipeline, near Barrow- accreditation as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve based in Kent who specialises in encrusting office sack’ methodology to collect benthic sed- in-Furness, Cumbria. Its route crossed a Site of primarily because it supported the majority of fauna. He is hoping to return to Sherkin this iment samples which I then helped to analyse. Special Scientific Interest and following post- the world’s second largest population of summer to impart some of his knowledge of The mixed seabed substrate included flint peb- reinstatement work, we monitored the progress dugongs. But it was also of importance for bot- bryozoans to a study of the local fauna. SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______23 Sun’s lifeline for remote Indian hospitals An experiment using solar panels to provide electric power so that blood banks can be run in rural areas could save many thousands of lives across India. By Nivedita Khandekar cer at Hapoli hospital, says: “Screening Good option tests for transfusion-transmissible infec- Of the 650 districts in India, about 60 do NEW DELHI, 15 April, 2016 − The tions − especially HIV, Hepatitis B, Image courtesy of Robbie Murphy perennial problem of power cuts in India Hepatitis C, syphilis and malarial para- not have a blood bank because of lack of makes the storing of blood for transfu- sites − are carried out before blood is electricity or human resources. But that sions virtually impossible in rural areas, okayed for transfusion. The results take will now change. forcing seriously ill patients to travel three days and, with no refrigeration, it Dr Apurba Ghosh, secretary general of many miles for treatment. But now an would not be possible to store the col- the Federation of Blood Donor Organisa- The Lough experiment with solar power in a remote lected blood units for future use.” tions of India, says: “Solar energy can be Himalayan hospital has changed that. Before the blood bank started, patients a good option to run those blood banks The erratic electricity supply in the were referred to a tertiary care hospital if waiting for power among these 60 dis- Ziro Valley’s Hiro general hospital, in the they needed blood, and that meant at least tricts. We can now aim for more blood of Cork City Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh, half a day’s journey. So many went banks across the country.” northeastern India, meant that its blood directly to hospitals in bigger towns in India has 2,760 recognised blood bank could not operate as its stock needed the neighbouring state. banks for a population of approximately in the early part of to be kept at a constant 2°C to 6°C. With the solar-powered facility, the 1.25 billion, and most of the blood banks The hospital, at an altitude of 5,357 local population can now look forward to are in urban or metropolitan centres. feet, is about five-hour drive away from the 20th century not having to send patients − including Mobile solar panels can also be used the state capital, Itanagar. The area is pregnant women needing Caesarian sec- for cooling blood in donation camps held heavily dependent on the central grid as it IN my younger days, the Lough was a dirty, muddy tions − to faraway places because of the in rural areas. does not produce enough of its own lack of blood stocks. pool, with rough earthen edges which easily broke power, and many areas in the mountains The Indian government has endorsed Not that the idea caught on instantly. into the water. It was known locally as Paddy Canty’s are still without any electricity supply. this idea. Dr Manisha Srivastava, a mem- Only four people came forward at a blood pond, after a local man who reared ducks on it. The But with India rapidly increasing the ber of the Ministry of Health and Family donation camp held last December. But building of the concrete walks a wall around the use of solar power to meet its climate Welfare Technical Resource Group on more volunteered later and, by January, a water’s edge was a great development - a wonderful change commitments, costs are coming blood transfusion, says: “This will be total of 14 units of blood were received. amenity. down, so Hiro hospital decided to exper- really useful for remote areas, which Five of these were used in transfusions, so The Lough froze over most winters, and was such iment to see if it could use solar have a perennial power shortage. the project was deemed a success. a source of ice (for freezing food, fish etc.) that a electricity to get a stable supply to store “The blood storage centres in the number of ice-houses grew up around it. One of blood and also to carry out the necessary Dr K Horming, medical superinten- plains will be run on solar energy (using dent at Hapoli hospital, says: “The these was built against the right-hand gate as you tests to screen for diseases. portable photovoltaic panels), and for entered the grounds of the Lough Church. This was government has now sanctioned solar those in the hills there can be a combina- still in use - for saving waste paper for sale - during panels for 10 kilowatt power generation tion of solar and ice-lined boxes.” my years in the parish (1955 to 1970). Another much Medical facilities for the hospital’s delivery, emergency, larger ice-house was on the left-hand side of the immunisation, occupational therapy, and The blood bank was started in October Nivedita Khandekar, an independent road leading down to the Lough. This was large the nurses’ rooms.” last year with a private sponsor for a five- enough to become a builder’s headquarters in my In addition, the Arunachal Pradesh state journalist based in New Delhi, writes on kilowatt solar power system. It provided time. Later it was replaced by a series of houses. government has incorporated plans for environmental, developmental and climate enough power to make blood tests and Skating on the Lough was always fun, and the few solar-powered blood banks for its two change issues. storage possible, and the idea is now who owned bicycles were able to cycle around in general hospitals and 13 district hospitals. Email: [email protected]; being extended within this hospital and in relative safety. One fascinating item was that the many other more remote medical facili- “We have already sanctioned funds for it Twitter: @nivedita_Him swans kept a small round area free of ice by contin- ties across India. in the 2016-17 budget,” says Ramesh Courtesy of Climate News Network uing to swim around it. Dr Joram Khopey, the blood bank offi- Negi, Arunachal Pradesh’s chief secretary. www.climatenewsnetwork.net Some years before my time a Fr. Patrick Cahalane, C.C., decided to drain the Lough. He achieved this mainly by using the exit from the western end of the Lough where a grating allows excess water to escape underground to join the Mardyke stream and ulti- mately the River Lee. An old friend Joseph Wrenne (father of Fr. Frank Wrenne, R.I.P.) who lived at Ophelia Place on the east side of the Lough told me that he had clear memories of walking across the dried-up Lough to UCC where he was professor for some years before becoming Cork County manager. The project died a sudden death: people woke up one morning to find the Lough back - fed by springs, bringing the water from the hills to the south. People draining the Lough should have been alerted to the impossibility of this by taking account of the large amount of water flowing constantly out of the Lough through the grating at its western end. Fishing in the Lough was a favourite pastime of youngsters in my time. We visited there with rod, line and hook on a daily basis, bringing home our catch (roach - about the size of gold-fish) in a jam jar. There were regular fishing competitions and later, yachting competitions, which were very popu- lar. Today we can be thankful that the project of draining the Lough did not succeed. Rev. Fr James Good 24 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 The Essential Guide to Beachcombing and the Strandline By Steve Trewhella & Julie Hatcher Wild Nature Press Publications of Interest www.wildnaturepress.com ISBN: 978-0-9573946-7-4 wigs and springtails; plants such as Rock go to the authors notes at the back of the 2002, are better than a thousand words in listed at the back of the book). The valley Samphire, Sea Mayweed and Sea Rocket; book. They give the reader a better under- showing the work undertaken. must be a special place for Mark Joyce as Price £16.99 stg / 2015 and many coastal birds. The book includes standing as to why they were the ideal The chapter on flooding on the Dodder he has taken a number of others. I will It is almost inevitable photographs of some of the regular birds people to bring together this fascinating shows how such events are not confined to mention a few of the photographs that when walking along found on the strandline, such as Oyster- history of the Rivers Dodder and Poddle. the present day. We learn of the major stand out for me. Granny’s hands taken at the shoreline that catchers, Ringed Plover, Sanderling and Don McEntee has been a Senior Engineer rainstorms and floods from 1600s to the Recess tell a story of age and hard work, you’ll spot something Turnstones. since 1998 and Michael Corcoran, now present and the damaged caused. For ex- better than a thousand words. Young Sadie of interest - shells, One of the most essential pages to read retired from the City Council, began ample on 4th September 1931 the Dodder holding a spider crab shell over her face as seaweeds, crabs, jel- in the book is the one on “Keeping Safe”. working for the City Council in 1948 in flash flood rose 4.5m, inundating Mill- only a child can. The shipwreck the lyfish, flotsam and Beaches and rocky shores are hazard administration. The latter has already town cottages (since demolished), and Plassey washed ashore in Inis Oirr in jetsam, sandhoppers, places, the weather forecast and tide written a history of the Dublin tramways causing extensive damage to Lower Dod- 1960. This brought memories of my hon- birds, plants - the list times need to be checked before setting and the history of water and drainage in der Road and Ballsbridge and the railway eymoon on the island in 1962. The is endless. Discover- out. Carry a mobile phone, beware of cliff Dublin. After his retirement, he was in- bridge at Lansdown. It also outlines more windswept hawthorn on the bog road at ing what’s what in falls and soft mud and sinking sand un- vited back on a part-time basis to the contemporary floods in 1986, 2002 and Roundstone shows how the weather can this unique environment has been made derfoot. Tell someone where you are Drainage Division to record and cata- 2001. Along with flooding, other natural be severe so similar to an exposed area easier by this excellent book “The Essen- going and time of returning and always logue thousands of old drawings on to the events have affected the rivers - in the here on Sherkin. There are a host of beau- tial Guide to Beachcombing and the Stran- wash hands after handling debris on the computer. chapter on Droughts and Snowfalls we tiful photographs from throughout the re- dline”. Written in a very accessible way, shore. It should also be noted that one Along with the learn that in 1887 a drought lasted for 161 gion at Leenore, Dog’s Bay, Roundstone, the book highlights a real cross-section of should be careful of what you do handle Liffey and the days from 23rd May until 31st October. Inish Nee, Glinisk. The final section of the the objects and species you could find, as there can be many hidden dangers in Tolka, the Dodder, Whilst in January 1814 the worst snowfall book is of 20 portraits of people in the re- many accompanied with clear photo- this type of debris. together with its rendered roads impassable for months. gion. His daughter Alice’s cute smile, graphs - the Common Razor Shell, Flat The book is dedicated to the authors’ tributaries, has The lay person will find the history of the John cutting turf in the bog and the Periwinkles, Queen Scallop, tests of the children and grandchildren who accompa- served the city of river Dodder and Poddle intriguing. This thoughtful face of Steven, who also fea- Green Sea Urchin, claws of the Edible nied them to the beach on numerous occa- Dublin well. Over book is a credit to the two authors, whose tures on the cover. Crab, the moulted shell of Shrimp and sions, helping them to scour the strandline the centuries it has exploration and documentation of the For those who hold Connemara dear to Lobster, a dolphin’s vertebrae or a piece of for treasure. Not only would this book provided water to rivers’ engineering history, have provided their hearts, this is a wonderful reminder drift wood covered in shipworm holes. make a wonderful gift for any parent, the mills, monaster- an invaluable record for future generations. of its wildness and its beauty. For those The book explain how sea glass, shells grandparent, aunt or uncle, but vice versa. ies and farmers who have yet to visit, its a flavour of and pebbles collected from the beach plus It is a book that will appeal to anyone in- along its course. It has also provided a what’s to come. a sprinkling of imagination can provide a terested in going for walks along to the water supply to the Townships of Rath- A Portrait of Connemara great activity, especially after a beach beach or just interested in the seashore. mines and Rathgar, later to be incorpo- by Mark Joyce walk on a blustery day. Sea glass are rated into the wider Dublin public water pieces of glass that have rolled around the network. One learns so much of the his- www.currach.ie beach or seafloor and are well worn, The Rivers Dodder tory and work on both the Dodder and the ISBN: 978-1-78218-844-5 rounded and frosted. The colourful array and Poddle Poddle, which included flour, paper, Price: €19.99/2015 and variety of fishing buoys found can Mills, storms, droughts and the woollen, iron and cotton mills, in the also make an interesting display at a sea- This is a book of public water supply main from 1843 to 1912. The book illus- side home. However, the plethora of rub- trates, describes and numbers each mill photographs, cap- bish that washing up on the shore, which turing landscapes By Don McEntee and marks them on OS maps. the authors document in the section on and portraits of & Michael Corcoran The book covers 23 chapters and in- “Marine and beach litter”, highlights the cludes a feast of drawings, maps and Connemara. The www.fourcourtspress.ie extent of this problem. The book looks at paintings, some of which go back to the author grew up in how the litter enters the sea and the prob- ISBN: 978-1-907002-27-4 17th century. Photographs abound of this beautiful re- lems it creates for wildlife. It gives us in- gion, in the town- Price: €19.95 /2016 rivers, bridges and spillways. There are 37 formation on threats and conservation bridges over the Dodder, some are little land of Recess. He tells of his childhood This book is the third title issued by measures and ask us all to committed to used, while others are major road bridges. being idyllic - his summers free to roam www.naturesweb.ie Dublin City Council exploring the engi- the “The Two-Minute Beach Clean”. They An unusual one is the metal footbridge at the hills and roads with abandon. He cy- neering history and heritage of the city. Download a free and explain that if more and more people were Beaver Row, which replaced a wooden cled the region to such places as Round- Dublin has a large number of rivers, the to spend just two minutes removing litter footbridge to facilitate workers living on stone, Doohulla, Ballyconneely, Clifden exciting newsletter for three largest are the Liffey, Dodder and each time they visit the beach, this small Beaver Row access to the Beaver Hat Fac- and Cleggan. Those journeys through the children, featuring Tolka. This book is about the Dodder and difference could mean all of us making a tory on the north side of the River Dodder. countryside had a permanent imprint on interesting and informative its tributaries, of which the Poddle is the BIG difference. Another is the pedestrian ford at Bushy his mind as one can see from the photo- news on nature and the most notable, focusing primarily on their This ever-changing ecosystem, is not Park, which is a series of stepping stones - graphs in this book. The first photograph environment. engineering history and topography. only home to marine life but many other a reminder to people that before bridges of the mountains reflecting in the waters The authors have spent most of their animals and plants that live on the edge of were built this was the only means of of the Inagh Valley is a wonderful intro- working life with Dublin City Council. Produced by Sherkin Island the water, including insects such as crossing the Dodder. The photographs of duction. Indeed it is my favour of over Before reading this book one should first Marine Station ground beetles, woodlice, crickets, ear- the Bohernabreena Spillways, upgraded in 100 photographs (captions for each are

Biodiversity Ireland Identification plant that is over 10m tall, with a single trunk. A Centre. Stoneflies are an important component of (NBDC). The Autumn/Winter issue contains a very shrub is a woody plant, generally under 10m with Ireland’s freshwater habitats and, due to their sensi- interesting article on the All Ireland Pollinator Plan Guides to Ireland’s Ladybirds several trunks. Similar to the Ladybird swatch, each tivity to habitat degradation and organic pollution, 2015-2020, which sees 68 organisations enlisted to & Ireland’s Trees and Shrubs “page” features a different species, with a photo- are a key water quality indicator group. The 82 save our bees. We learn that without bees Irish farm- graph of the leaf and the tree in bud, a small illustra- page book presents the first comprehensive ers who grow such crops as strawberries, tomatoes Swatches are available from the NBDC for tion of the tree shape, its average height, habitat etc.. overview of the state of knowledge on this impor- and oil rape would have greatly reduced yields. Here € 6.00 each (postage free). The final “pages” contain a Winter identification tant group in Ireland. in Ireland we have 98 different bee species, which in- Size: 8.5 cm x 12.5 cm. keys, which will help your identify trees or shrubs The authors, Hugh Feeley, Jan- clude the honeybee, 20 different species of bumble- The National Biodiversity based primarily on winter bud structure and arrange- Robert Baars and Mary Kelly- bee and 77 species of solitary bee. The economic Data Centre have introduced ment. Quinn, have combined detailed contribution of pollination by wild bees has been as- two new identification Both of these laminated swatches, each of which descriptions of stonefly ecology, sessed at being worth €1,800 to €2,400 per hectare. swatches to their series – one would fit into your hand, are ideal for the classroom comprehensive 10km distribution Padraig Whooley of the Irish on Ireland’s Ladybirds and the or to carry around on a countryside walk. They also maps, complemented with beauti- Whale and Dolphin Group writes other on Ireland’s Trees and include details for submitting recordings to the Na- ful images and photographs of all how his interest in whales began 23 Shrubs. tional Biodiversity Data Centre. 19 species that occur in Ireland. years ago after attending an IWDG The Ladybird swatch pro- The Stonefly of Ireland dataset upon which this meeting in Trinity College, Dublin. vides information on the iden- atlas is based is also published through the Data Cen- Since then his life has been a jour- tification of 19 Irish ladybird The Stonefly (Plecoptera) of Ireland – tre’s mapping system Biodiversity Maps, and the ney identifying whales and dol- species. Each species has its Distribution, Life Histories & Ecology records are available for other researchers to use. phins, especially in West Cork own “page” giving the name, The Stonefly (Plecoptera of Ireland – Distribution, where he lives. In recognition of his outstanding con- By Hugh Feeley, Jan-Robert Baars description, distribution and further information, to- Life Histories & Ecology can be ordered online from tribution to biological recording in Ireland the NBDC & Mary Kelly-Quinn gether with a colour illustration of the upperside and the National Biodiversity Data Centre for €22 (inclu- awarded him its Distinguished Recorder award in its possible variations. An illustration of the species’s National Biodiversity Data Centre sive of postage & packaging) http://www.biodiversi- 2015. Other articles include “Catch the Bug” by larval stage is also given, along with a life-sized scale www.biodiversityireland.ie tyireland.ie/product/the-stonefly-plecoptera-of-ireland/ Brian Nelson who introduces the shieldbugs with 15 drawing. Ladybirds are identified by the number of wonderful colour photographs. Liam Lysaght, the spots or streaks and colour on their upperside, vary- ISBN: 978-1-911172-01-7 Director of NBDC talks on “Why I record biodiver- ing from 2 spots to 24, depending on the species. Biodiversity Ireland Magazine Price: €22.00/2016 sity”. The second swatch describes the 35 native Irish trees www.biodiversity.ie This is an excellent magazine available online at and shrubs, with the exception of detailed willow de- The Stonefly (Plecoptera) of Ireland – Distribution, Biodiversity Ireland magazine is published twice an- http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/downloads/publi- scriptions. A tree is generally defined as a woody Life Histories & Ecology is the first distribution atlas produced by the National Biodiversity Data nually by the National Biodiversity Data Centre cations/biodiversity-ireland/ SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______25 Heritage Churches of County Cork

interesting to read that an aerial photograph by A Review by Matt Murphy the late Dr. Daphne Pochin Mould (see Sherkin Comment No 59) confirmed the presence of the THIS book is the third in a series of publications ecclesiastical enclosure at Tullylease. on heritage sites and buildings in County Cork, The following are other examples that have published as part of the County Cork Heritage been selected to represent the typical examples Plan. The first two were the Heritage Buildings and the Heritage Houses of the County. of each period of church building in the county: As part of this project, numerous Heritage Saint Colman’s Cloyne, is the long-standing Groups and individuals throughout the County cathedral for the Church of Ireland Diocese of were asked to get involved, by recommending Cloyne. As a cathedral, housing the bishop’s the inclusion of any churches in their local area, throne or cathedra, it is the primary or ‘mother’ together with any stories or details they could church of the diocese. An important, largely 13th century building, it is one of only a few Clockwise from top left: Kilcatherine Church, provide about them. There was a huge response, Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula; Saint Colman’s greatly outweighing the scope of the publication. large Gothic churches in Cork and is located on the site of the late 6th century monastery of Cathedral, Cloyne; St. Colman’s Cathedral Cobh, The book begins by explaining how through the interior of St. John the Baptist Church, Kinsale. the millennia worship has always been a feature Cloyne’s patron, Saint Colman. of human society. We learn about the rise of Also named in honour of Saint Colman, is Also included in the book is a Pictorial of Christianity throughout the world but especially Cobh’s Catholic church, Saint Colman’s Cathe- Additional Heritage Churches of County Cork, in Ireland. In Munster, tradition holds that Chris- dral. Sitting overlooking the town and Cork such as St. Columba’s Catholic Church in Dou- tianity was brought by three missionary saints, Harbour, the building is both physically and glas, Tullig (or Tullagh) Church of Ireland, just Images courtesy of “Heritage Churches of County Cork” Images courtesy of “Heritage Churches before the arrival of Saint Patrick in Ireland. metaphorically the pinnacle of Neo-Geothic outside Baltimore, the Catholic Church of the They are Saint Ailbe of Emly in Tipperary, Saint architecture. Most Holy Rosary, Kilcoe, the Methodist Unit of Cork Council has been carrying out, doc- Déclán of Ardmore in Water and Saint Ciarán of A short distance from Ovens is the magnificent Church in Clonakilty, Church of Ireland parish umenting various aspects of the County’s Cape Clear Island in West Cork. Through their remains of the 15th century Franciscan friary of church in Inchigeelagh and the early 19th cen- heritage sites and building is providing an work, and that of the many later Irish saints, the Kilcrea. It presents a picturesque view of the tury Catholic Church on Cape Clear. important record for us and future generations. country was gradually converted to Christianity upstanding built heritage of one of the power- This is a fascinating book. It gives a real by the end of the sixth century. Many of these houses of medieval Christian worship in Cork. insight into the development of the county’s Heritage Church of County Cork. Heritage Saint Fachtna’s, Rosscarbery, is the smallest saints are associated with and actively venerated Church buildings throughout history. The book Unit Cork County Council. cathedral in Ireland and is still in use as the in various places across Cork, for example, the highlights the significance of these buildings in ISBN: 978-0-9525869-2-0 (pb) cathedral church of the Church of Ireland Dio- their communities, buildings which many may patron saints, Colmán, Finbarr and Fachtna of ISBN: 978-0-9525869-3-7 (hb). Available from cese of Ross. Dotted throughout the book are have taken for granted or given a second thought the respective modern Dioceses of Cloyne, Cork www.skibbheritage.com. Price: €14.00/2015. and Ross and Saint Gobnait of Ballyvourney, “Did you know....” For Saint Facthna’s: Inside to in heritage terms. The work that the Heritage Saint Fanahan of Brigown (modern-day Mitchel- the narthex of the cathedral, above the door to stown) and Saint Molaga of Aghacross. the western porch, is the carved head of a The history of churches in Cork County has bearded Saint Facthna. Kissing this stone is been at least 1,500 years in the making. The reputed to be a cure for toothache! type of church buildings evolved over time, St. John the Baptist Church in Kinsale is set from small timber structures, to bigger, more on the hillside overlooking the town and was permanent buildings. Many of these large and completed just three years after the passing of impressive Heritage Churches remain in use the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829. It rep- today and this publication looks at these resents a significant phase of expansion and churches, aiming to create an awareness of the construction for the Catholic Church, replacing rich variety in age, size and style of this key part an earlier, less ostentatious building, which of the heritage of County Cork. stood on the same site. With over a thousand Heritage Churches in The landmark Methodist Church in Bandon the county, it was not possible to include every stands at the eastern end of the town centre, at church so thirty examples were selected. These Bridge Street. Bandon, because of its historical range from St. Caithighearn’s Church, Kil- background, as a newly settled plantation town, catherine, south west in the Beara Peninsula, has a large number of churches of various north to The Church of the Holy Cross in denominations. Charleville and east to St. Mary’s Collegiate The Sisters of Mercy Convent in Bantry was Church in Youghal, arguably the finest example one of a number of educational religious institu- of a medieval gothic church in County Cork, tions built throughout Cork in the 19th century. which has been in use for nearly 800 years. The purpose of the convent at Bantry was to pro- The book carries us through the Early vide education to girls of the prosperous town Medieval Period (5th to 11th century), the High and its locality, across the spectrum of lower and Medieval Period (12th to 14th century), the middle class Catholic families. We read that the Late Medieval Period (15th and 16th century) construction of the convent and chapel in the and on to the Post Medieval Period (17th to 1860s and 1870s was only possible as a result of 19th century). Each chapter sets out the histori- donations by the Murphy family, of Murphy’s cal context of the period, including the major Brewery fame. Fanny Murphy was one of the religious and societal developments and events founding sisters of the convent. that influenced changes in practices and places Many of the churches featured in this publi- of Christian worship. An illustration showing cation are subject to statutory protection. The the Timeline of Church Development over this early to late ruined medieval churches are gen- time, gives a marvellous overview. erally considered to be of archaeologial Example one of the Heritage Churches is an importance, while churches post-dating 1700, Early Christian Monastery at Tullylease near most of which are still in active use, are gener- Charleville. The first monastery built on the site ally included in the Record of Protected was of timber by St. Berrihert in the 7th century Structures and afforded statutory protection. followed by the stone church in the 12th cen- Some churches by virtue of their combined tury. The ruin houses a nationally important archaeological and architectural importance collection of medieval grave slabs and other may be protected under both the National Mon- inscribed stones including St. Berrihert’s grave uments Act 1920-2004 and the Planning and marker, described as one of the finest Early Development Act 2000-2010. Some Heritage Christians decorated cross slabs in Ireland. It is Churches, however, have no formal protection. 26 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 JUNIOR PAGES Black John the Bogus Pirate

By John Joyce

AVAST there, Mates! Did you know that the ocean covers 70% of planet Earth and creates 50% of the oxygen in the atmosphere – enough for ‘Every Second Breath’ that we take? Did you know that more people (12) have WALKED on the Moon that have even SEEN the deepest part of the ocean directly? Or that plastic waste – when dropped into the ocean – never EVER goes away! ‘Ocean Literacy’ is all about ‘understanding the ocean’s influence on YOU and YOUR influence on the ocean’. It is based on SEVEN PRINCIPLES: 1. THE EARTH HAS ONE BIG OCEAN WITH MANY FEATURES 2. THE OCEAN AND LIFE IN THE OCEAN SHAPES THE FEATURES OF EARTH 3. THE OCEAN IS A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON WEATHER AND CLIMATE 4. THE OCEAN MADE EARTH HABITABLE 5. THE OCEAN SUPPORTS A GREAT DIVERSITY OF LIFE AND ECOSYSTEMS 6. THE OCEANS AND HUMANS ARE INEXTRICABLY INTERCONNECTED 7. THE OCEAN IS LARGELY UNEXPLORED Over the next few issues of Sherkin Comment we’ll be looking at these seven principles, finding out where you can learn more about them and have a lot of fun along the way. Images & text copyright John Joyce

In the meantime, here are some resources to get you started: www.explorers.ie – The Marine Institute’s Education page for schools http://oceanliteracy.wp2.coexploration.org/ - Great ocean literacy site with lots of resources and information. Join me – ‘Black John the Bogus Pirate’- on Facebook at http://www.emsea.eu/ – Home of European Marine Educators Association And, of course, the excellent Sherkin Island ‘Children’s Corner’ at: https://www.facebook.com/BlackJohntheBogusPirate/ http://www.sherkinmarine.ie/childrenscorner.htm

Bringing the Ocean 1st PRINCIPLE - The Earth has One Big Ocean with Many Features to the Classroom While few countries have ‘Ocean While we talk about ‘The Seven Seas’, planet Earth has Studies’ as a dedicated subject on only ONE ocean to which every sea is connected. This their school curricula, it is possible to not only makes it possible to sail from one ‘Sea’ to ‘marinise’ existing curriculum strands another all over the world, but for every sea to by using marine examples. A good influence all the others. example of this is the ‘Explorers’ The Ocean is the largest single feature on the Education Programme, which is planet. It contains mountains higher than Mount supported by the Marine Institute, Everest and canyons many times longer and deeper and is funded under the Marine than the Grand Canyon. It regulates the world’s Research Programme by the Irish climate by stabilising the temperature of the Earth Government. It is tuned to the Irish and by creating an atmosphere, which protects life on SESE curriculum. Earth from the most dangerous forms of radiation from the Sun including intense ultraviolet light. The atmosphere, created by the Ocean, also protects us from small meteorites, which burn up due to friction For Fun Facts check out with the atmosphere before hitting the surface. www.spindriftpress.com SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______27

he strandline is a Tmarine environment where unusual objects are sometimes found. If Flotsam & Jetsam you walk on the shore, along the high tide mark, you will often find debris Common Cuttlefish Common Whelk Eggmass that has been left The Cuttlefish (see inset) belongs The eggs of the Common Whelk look behind by the outgoing to the same family as the Octopus like a mass of bubbles stuck together, tide. These may be ani- and Squid and lives in bays and each “bubble” containing one egg. mals and plants that estuaries. When the Cuttlefish is When the eggs are freshly laid, they have been drifting in the alive, the bone inside its body has are spongy but they are rarely seen in sea, having been washed many tiny holes which fill with gas. These help it that state. Usually, the egg-masses are off the rocks. They may float. empty by the time they have been washed also have come from When the Cuttlefish up on the shore, deeper waters, either dies and decays, the bone floats about in Rubbish as the young will floating freely or the water for a long time and is some- Unfortunately not every- already have attached to wreckage. times washed up on the shore. thing that washes up on hatched. The egg Much of what is found is the shoreline is totally cases dry out on possibly dead. Due to natural. The tide can the beach and the pounding of the The Mermaid’s Purse often brings in rubbish, become very waves, it is usual to find which has been dumped brittle. The Mermaid’s into the sea. Be careful only small pieces of Purse is the what you touch as it may plants or animals. It is egg case laid by be dangerous. important to remember the dogfish in Hornwrack this when you are trying deeper waters. Hornwrack looks like a plant, but in fact it to identify them, as they It has long, twisted tendrils on each is made up of many animals living together in a group, or colony. can look very different corner which are used to anchor the It is found in deep waters, and is only seen on the seashore when when whole. It is not egg case to seaweed or other struc- it is washed up after possible to list every- tures on the sea bottom. It is light storms. In deeper thing that could be brown and almost see-through. The egg waters, it can be washed up. The ocean case is usually only seen when it is found growing in huge covers a huge area, and washed up on the shore, and then it is beds on rocks and is inhabited by countless often dry and hard. It is normally stones where it also provides food and animals and plants. Here empty, as the young fish will have shelter for a large is just a sample of what hatched by the time the case is washed variety of creatures. can be seen. ashore.

From the book: “A Beginner’s Guide to Ireland’s Seashore” (see below). Images Paul Kay. Free postage on orders of €50.00 or more!

Sherkin Island Marine Station PUBLICATIONS

A Beginner’s Guide to The Wild Plants of Bere, Ireland’s Wild Flowers Dursey, Whiddy and other Colour Books ISBN-13: 978-1-870492-23-2 SB. 140mm x 100mm (208pp). Islands in Bantry Bay A5 (softback) 32pp ISBN: 978-1-870492-48-5 SB 170 x 245 mm (240 pp) €7.50 (plus p&p €1.00) €1.95 per book (plus p&p .60c) €19.99 (plus p&p €3.00) €11.00 for set of 7 (plus p&p €2.00) A Beginner’s Guide to Ireland’s Seashore Ireland’s Hidden Depths ISBN-13: 978-1-870492-96-6 SB 140mm x 100mm (208pp). ISBN: 978-1-870492-53-9. SB €7.00 (plus p&p €1.00) 277 x 227 mm (160 pp). Special Offer: €10.00 (was €17.99) The Natural History of Sherkin Island, (plus p&p €3.00) West Cork – An Introduction ISBN-13: 978-1-870492-38-6 SB 208 mm x 98 mm (72 pp). The Wild Plants of Sherkin, Sherkin Comment €2.00 (plus p&p €1.35) Cape Clear and adjacent ISSN: 0791-2447 Islands of West Cork Subscription €8.00 ISBN: 1 870492 86 2 SB (206 pp) On the Water’s Edge (4 issues per sub – p&p included) €6.00 Special Offer (plus p&p €3.00) €6.00 Special Offer (plus p&p €1.30) Books can be ordered through NEW Paypal or by cheque or postal order from An A to Z of Geology Supplement the Station’s website ISBN: 978-1-870492-33-1 A4 SB 24pp ISBN: 978-1-870492-58-4 SB 246mm x 170mm (36pp). www.sherkinmarine.ie

€5.99 (plus p&p €1.00) €2.50 Special Offer (p&p €0.75) or contact us at Sherkin Island Marine Station, Sherkin Island, Co Cork. Tel: 028–20187 Email: [email protected] 28 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61

In West Cork, on the southern coast of Ireland, there are seven inhabited islands: Dursey, Bere and Whiddy in Bantry Bay and Sherkin, Heir, Long and Oileán Chléire in Roaringwater and Long Island Bays. Each has their own unique features, helping to make them special places to live on or visit. To find out more about these islands, go to: www.westcorkislands.com. To explore all of Ireland’s islands go to: www.discoverireland.ie WestWest CorkCork IslandsIslands

Find the Island Long Island With the help of the map above, can you match the photograph with the island? Heir Island Sherkin Island (Answers on page 30)

Bere Island Oileán Chléire Dursey Island Whiddy Island Images courtesy of Robbie Murphy

1 ______2 ______3 ______4 ______5 ______6 ______7 ______

North, South, East or West? (Answers on page 30) ISLAND SEARCH (Answers on page 30)

a. Is Sherkin Island nearer to Whiddy Island or Dursey Island? ______Bere * Dursey * Heir * Long * Oileán Chléire * Sherkin * Whiddy b. Name the island which can be reached by cable car. ______c. Which island is the most southerly in Ireland? ______d. Which is the largest inhabited island in West Cork? ______e. Which island is nearest to Baltimore? ______f. Which island is nearest to the town of Bantry? ______g. Which island is nearest to Schull Harbour? ______h. Which island is north of Sherkin Island, in Roaringwater Bay? ______Sherkin COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______29

Make your way around the inhabited West Cork Islands. Take turns to roll the dice and move the relevant amount of spaces. First to arrive back at the pier is the winner.

3 Sea too rough so ferry cannot sail. 1 Go back to Start. Photographed a 4 5 Sailed around beautiful sunset Heir Island for on Long Island. Go forward the afternoon. 2 spaces. Go forward 3 spaces. 2 6 8 9 Missed the 10 ferry home. Go back Saw a rare 8 spaces.30 bird on Oileán Forgot to wear Chléire. sunscreen while walking Go forward Traffic jam! 7 around the island. 3 spaces. A farmer Miss a turn. must move Dolphins cows. bow-ride the Sherkin ferry. 11 Miss a turn. 29 Go forward 4 spaces. Someone threw a sweet wrapper Lost your off the ferry. ferry ticket. 12 Go back 4 Miss a turn. spaces. 14 13 28 Too many clouds to go stargazing. Go back 1 space. 27 Tent blew 15 down. Go back 20 Saw a whale while walking on Dursey. 4 spaces. 16 Did a loop walk Go forward 26 21 Spent too long 19 on Bere Island. 2 spaces. Go forward 3 collecting shells and spaces. Found a crab in was laterMiss for a dinner.turn. one of Whiddy’s rockpools. 22 17 Go forward 18 2 spaces. The cable car is full. Someone picked 25 Miss a turn. all the wild flowers. Go back 9 space.

Went up the wrong lane and had to turn back. 24 23 Go back 1 space.

IslandIsland HoppingHopping 30 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 GAISCE – the President’s Award

on a five day Adventure Journey and a week-long Residential Project as Golden Day for part of their Gaisce Award challenge. Patron of Gaisce, Presi- Gaisce Awardees dent Michael D Higgins attended the special cere- mony at Dublin Castle where he met with the Awardees and their fami- lies. Former Rose of Tralee and Gaisce Bronze Award holder Maria Walsh was MC for the occasion. Margaret Tobin from Images courtesy of Gaisce – the President’s Award Carrick on Suir was among the Gold Awardees at December’s ceremony. Margaret is the third sib- ling in her family to complete the Award. For her Adventure Journey challenge, Margaret com- pleted a cycle in excess of 300 KM, which took her across counties Tipper- ary, Waterford, Wexford 2015 marked a big milestone for Gaisce as it celebrated 30 years in operation. and Kilkenny. Margaret said “through taking part FORTY SEVEN young gins at a ceremony which areas for a minimum of in Gaisce I learned that people from across the took place in Dublin on 52 weeks - developing a personal development island of Ireland were December 7th. personal skill, volunteer- occurs everyday through celebrating recently as In order to achieve the ing in their community everything we commit they were presented with Gaisce Gold Award, the and participating in a ourselves to”. Gaisce Gold Awards by young people successfully physical activity. The Liam Quigley a past President Michael D. Hig- completed five challenge Awardees also embarked pupil of Cashel Community School volunteered with the Order of Malta for his Community Involve- ment challenge. Liam From top: President Michael D. Higgins presenting Gaisce Gold found that his Gaisce Gold Awards to Margaret Tobin, Liam Quigley and Jack Pearson. experience helped him to decide to pursue a career Gaisce experience, Jack many cases, years. I would in music, he said “I per- said “I have learned that I like to congratulate all of sonally feel that through am capable of much more the Gold Award recipients Gaisce, I found my passion than what I thought, this today on completing the for singing and perform- experience has opened up Gaisce Gold Challenge.” ing up on stage. Singing doors for me within many Over 20,000 young peo- led me to study Musical areas of social and profes- ple participate in Gaisce Theatre in DIT Conserva- sional life”. each year. 2015 marked a tory Music and Drama”. Speaking at the Gold big milestone for Gaisce as Some Awardees trav- Award Presentation cere- it celebrated 30 years in elled abroad to complete mony, John Concannon, operation. Since 1985 over their Residential Project Chairman of Gaisce – The 300,000 young people have challenge. Jack Pearson President’s Award said participated in Gaisce. from Manorcunningham in “The Gaisce Gold Award Donegal travelled to Thai- challenge is not an easy For more information on land to volunteer at a one – it demands motiva- Gaisce - The President’s rehabilitation centre for tion, determination and Award or to rise to the Gaisce people living with AIDS focus over the course of challenge, visit www.gaisce.ie and HIV. Recalling his weeks, months and in

ANSWERS TO WEST CORK ISLANDS - PAGE 28:

Long (1,5,E); Oileán Chléire (1,2,E); Sherkin (7,3,E); Whiddy (15,6,N). Whiddy (7,3,E); Sherkin (1,2,E); Chléire Oileán (1,5,E); Long

Bere (9,3,SE); Dursey (14,6,NW); Heir (9,4,NE); Heir (14,6,NW); Dursey (9,3,SE); Bere (Over,Down,Direction): Search Island

e = Sherkin; f = Whiddy; g = Long; h = Heir. = h Long; = g Whiddy; = f Sherkin; = e

a = Whiddy; b = Dursey; c = Oileán Chléire; d = Bere; Bere; = d Chléire; Oileán = c Dursey; = b Whiddy; = a West? or East South, North,

7 = Dursey = 7

1 = Whiddy; 2 = Oileán Chléire; 3 = Sherkin; 4 = Bere; 5 = Heir; 6 = Long; Long; = 6 Heir; = 5 Bere; = 4 Sherkin; = 3 Chléire; Oileán = 2 Whiddy; = 1 Island: the Find SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 ______31 WILDWILD BLOOMSBLOOMS

Lesser Celandine Dog Violet

Primrose

Images courtesy of Sherkin Island Marine Station/Audrey Murphy

SPRINGTIME and early summer on the islands of West Cork (see page 28) means the arrival of Common Lesser Celandine Primrose colourful flowers. If you visit at that time, here are Dog Violet Ranunculus ficaria Primula vulgaris three flowers that you see on most of the islands. Grán arcáin Sabhaircín Viola riviniana Lesser Celandine is one of the first wild The Primrose is a low perennial This is also an opportunity to make your own jigsaw. Sailchuach chon flowers of the year. A low growing and a favourite of many. It has a You can cut each square of the flower scene above The Dog Violet is perhaps the perennial, its dark heart-shaped leaves rosette of long crinkly leaves from (make sure you have permission to use the scissors) commonest wild violet. A perennial, provide a beautiful backdrop to its very which grow pale yellow flowers and place each piece in the correct box on the it is found on hedge-banks, grassy glossy yellow petals. It is widespread and with deep yellow centres. These empty grid. places, woodlands and on common in damp shady places and is flowers are sweetly scented. It is mountains. The flower, which considered by some to be a garden weed. widespread in woods, scrub, grassy If you don’t want to cut the pieces then you could blooms from April until June, has By midsummer, all the plants have banks, sea cliffs and on mountain just be creative and draw the picture into the no scent and some late season withered, but survive below ground as a ledges. It has been exterminated in empty grids, square by square. flowers have no petals. Its seeds cluster of small tubers, ready to sprout some areas, having been dug up are dispersed by ants. again in late winter. and removed to gardens. 32 ______SHERKIN COMMENT 2016 Issue No 61 Recycling Stories from the US

cled. Once a material reaches that state it must cent in 2013. Approximately 35 percent of the By Mike Ludwig be disposed of in more conventional and usu- paper we use is not being recycled. ally destructive ways. Plastics are the worst of Sometimes a recycling effort falls prey to HAVE you ever wondered what happens to the the recycled materials. A plastic soda bottle can optimism. When New York City decided to materials we recycle? Moreover, are we really be recycled into fleece for jackets, non-food use recycled glass (crushed) as a component helping the environment, are just postponing containers, commercial-grade carpet, plastic of asphalt pavement one of the first efforts being buried by the things we throw out lumber, and park benches but the change can- was a roadway in front of the US Environmen- whether in a trash, or recycle bin? The answer not be reversed. The jacket, park bench or deck tal Protection Agency in lower Manhattan. appears to be a mixed story of varying degrees lumber cannot be recycled into another soda While the presence of glass in the pavement of success and failures. Successful recycling bottle so at the end of its second service life it presented no danger to humans or damage to requires attention to details to get the intended is waste. This phenomenon, known in the vehicle tires, there were problems. The City benefits. For instance, it takes only a few industry as "cascading" or "downcycling," has discovered two interesting and negative char- coloured bottles in the clear glass bin to destroy a troubling consequence. It means that most acteristics; the material reflected a lot of light, the value of the whole bin. If the coloured glass plastic – including the tiny proportion that finds and when the pavement was wet, it became is broken, removing it is not cost effective. The its way into another bottle will eventually end surprisingly slippery. Deemed serious prob- The recycling of aluminium, steel and other metals glass recycler will use the bin as coloured glass up in the landfill. lems, the pavement was quickly replaced. The is a much greener process than that of other materials. at considerably diminished value (coloured Reflective of this are the number of new biggest limitation from these discoveries was glass is currently worth about US$2.00 per ton. plastic products placed into service and by how that glassphalt use must be limited to lower- store shelves as a new can in just 60 days. Alu- Clear glass is worth about US$100.00 per ton.). much they exceed the recycling that does occur. speed roadways thus missing out its minium recycling is among the environmental Another problem is that relatively few materi- For instance, the water in plastic bottles busi- application to build or repair high-speed high- movement's great success stories. als are designed to be recycled and so the ness caused plastic bottle production to ways where pavement demand is high. Environmentalists may point to the success energy needed to complete a recycling effort skyrocket in the mid-1990s. Production of all Finally some good news! Aluminium, steel of aluminium and other metals recycling, how- can exceed the amount needed to create new plastic packaging increased by 1 billion pounds and other metals come from metal ores. They ever, the success of metal recycling usually items. This makes recycling that product in a single year during that period. Over the require mining, extracting, shipping and refin- comes down to money. Scrap metal prices have uneconomical and impractical. Glass, alu- same period, the estimated amount of plastic ing which are very energy-intensive and soared in recent years. Although price is driven minium and most metals in general, can be collected for recycling rose by just 69 million polluting processes. Recycling aluminium, by demand, costs of extraction, shipping and recycled with only minor losses. However, all pounds. Using the reported values of new pro- steel and other metals is a much greener other factors, recycling is likely to remain too often those recycling processes generate duction versus recycled indicates that for every process that requires far less energy and creates cheapest. Helping this along are municipalities pollutants that must be removed by the recy- 14-ton increase in new plastic production there much less pollution (usually). It is estimated and retailers that have found that metal, espe- cler. For instance, steel recycling is reported to was a one-ton increase in plastics recycling. that recycling aluminium cans requires just 5 cially aluminium recycling centers are popular be a source of the highly hazardous Dioxin While recycling has increased significantly percent of the energy needed to make a new with customers, and aluminium manufacturers family of toxic compounds. from those years, the evidence is clear that one. Unlike recycled plastics and other items, are willing to pay for recycled metals since they Another problem is that many materials do plastics are not meeting recycling objectives. there is no significant downsizing to metals save money over using virgin metal ores. not have the ability to be recycled indefinitely. The litter seen on land and sea are evidence of recycling. Typically, well over 95% of alu- Often, recycling is possible only two or three this. Similarly, the U.S. recycling rate of paper minium cans are recycled. Moreover, the Mike Ludwig, COWI/OCC 35 Corporate times before the material can no longer be recy- rose to 65.4 percent in 2014, up from 63.5 per- process is so fast that a recycled can be back on Drive, Trumbull, CT 06611, USA.

€11.20 The Eighth Definitive Stamp Series commemorating the

set of 16 stamps based on the Centenary of the Easter Rising, A these stamps commemorate a hugely significant event in the history of our country, an event which ultimately led to the founding of the modern Irish Republic. In addition, all of the stamps contain image recognition technology to allow users with smartphones with the CEE App installed, to link to specially compiled online material related to the stamps. Priced at €11.20 for the souvenir stamp sheet, €10.50 for the International booklet and €7.00 for the National booklet, this issue is a wonderful souvenir of this historic event and an essential addition to €10.50 any serious collection. €7.00 Order these exciting stamps now at www.irishstamps.ie or by calling +353 (1) 7057400.