The Shannon Estuary is a busy waterway and has a very high nature conservation value.
Over the last two years the level of increase in the estuary, especially its deep-water berths and potential to support the developing offshore renewable industries, has been massive. Both the ESB at Moneypoint through their Green Atlantic Hub and Shannon-Foynes Port Company have promoted their strategic importance along the western seaboard of Ireland. When you also consider the proposal to build a Shannon Technology and Energy Park at Ardmore Point, Co Kerry including an LNG terminal, there is a lot of pressure on the estuary.
The IWDG have been monitoring the Shannon dolphin population since 1993, making it one of the longest running dolphin monitoring projects in Europe. With such an intimate knowledge of the estuary and a long-term dataset, IWDG Consulting are uniquely placed to input into environmental assessment and interpretation and “represent” the dolphins interests.
IWDG Consulting are currently contracted to a number of projects in the estuary and are carrying out regular boat based marine mammal and seabird surveys, static acoustic monitoring and Vantage point surveys. we thank the ESB, New Fortress Energy, Natural Power and GDG for contracting IWDG Consulting to provide this input into the future of the Shannon Estuary.
