IWDG Consulting recently completed two geotechnical surveys in the Shannon estuary.
Two MMOs covered 24/7 for six weeks over Christmas and New Year off Foynes Island for Shannon Foynes Port Company as part of their Vision 2041 development of port facilities. A single MMO worked 12 hour shifts off Money Point Power Station for the ESB. The work off Money Point contributes to the development of the Green Atlantic Hub transition in the estuary to support offshore renewables.
This mitigation is important as the Shannon is a Special Area of Conservation with both bottlenose dolphin and otter as qualifying interests. Sightings upriver around Foynes was limited to otters though bottlenose dolphins are known to use this area of the estuary on as much as 40% of days according to Static Acoustic Monitoring data collected by the IWDG. There were more sightings of bottlenose dolphins around Money Point, which also included a number of seal sightings. Minor delays to start up were recorded but the work went ahead with no significant impacts ion dolphins or other marine mammals.
Both geotechnical surveys were carried out on the barge owned and operated by Causeway GeoTech. We thank them for their support and services to enable smooth operation.
IWDG Consulting would like to thank Andrew Shine, Fiona Cummins and Tess Peters for providing their excellent professional services to the IWDG