A DECADE OF MAPPING IRELAND’S SEABED
Peadar McArdle

Ireland is a small island which lies on the continental shelf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean and which occupies a strategic European position. We are endowed with a huge seabed resource - almost ten times our land area - and stretching from our coastline to the deepest parts of the Atlantic Ocean. We are a nation with a proud seafaring tradition, one that stretches back to its earliest settlers some 8,000-9,000 years ago. Our maritime history is reflected in our literature and music, in our explorers and scientists, their names are as diverse as St. Brendan and Robert Shackleton.

Yet consider this quotation: "We probably have more information per square metre about the surface of the moon than we have about the seabed, which occupies three quarters of the earth’s surface. This is especially true in regard to our own (Ireland’s) area of sea floor." Surely this is a nineteenth century assertion? Wrong! It is taken from an article published in 1996. Its author was none other than Ray Keary, our late distinguished colleague whose memory we celebrated in early October at the Seabed 10 conference in Liberty Hall.

This reminds me of the link, however tenuous, between Liberty Hall and seabed mapping. That link comprises the ships Helga. Helga the second was stationed close to Liberty Hall at Easter 1916 in order to shell the buildings of central Dublin. But Helga the first was employed a few years earlier in the earliest exploration of Ireland’s Atlantic seafloor. It would be many decades before the strength of opinion on the potential of our Marine would drive several key developments - a specific Government Minister and Department, the establishment of the Marine Institute and the first seabed surveys by PAD in 1995 to support our claim for seabed delineation under UNCLOS. As far as seabed mapping is concerned we, as a community of stakeholders, developed a shared vision of considerable challenge and sold it persistently and, eventually, successfully. In all this, I want to emphasise the driving determination of our partners, the Marine Institute, and the visionary leadership of its Chief Executive, Dr. Peter Heffernan.

As a result of the combined efforts of many, Government invested €32 million in the period from 1999 to 2005 in order to complete the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS), a comprehensive mapping programme of all our waters deeper than 200m. Long-term investment in a truly valuable resource had started. In 2006, Government announced a new follow-up programme, called INFOMAR, which was intended to invest €4 million per annum in order to complete the nearshore seabed areas. Following a review of its initial progress which showed INFOMAR benefits running at four times its costs, Government at the end of 2008 confirmed its intention to continue support for INFOMAR although - given the current financial climate - at the understandably lower annual investment level of €3.4 million. The special conference, Seabed 10, was held to mark the tenth anniversary of the start of INSS and to launch the new GSI vessel, R.V. Keary.

The seabed surveys are designed to produce comprehensive information on all aspects of our seabed, providing a sound basis for its sustainable management, supporting policy and regulation at national and European levels, and underpinning research and services for a wide spectrum of maritime activities. The speakers at Seabed 10 documented the breadth and depth of benefits arising from INFOMAR (see www.infomar.ie for the conference programme). While this has required significant financial investment it has also built an effective cooperation between a range of national and international partners. The partnership between the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute has been particularly crucial to the success of the programme. Indeed the availability since 2003 of the R.V. Celtic Explorer, with berths for 19 scientists, has been a key milestone in the history of Irish marine science and geoscience.

Of course a mapping programme focused only in data acquisition would quickly fail. GSI has built what is a major digital data store by national standards, with a capacity of 16 terabytes, and there are backup copies in the Marine Institute and elsewhere. Earlier this year the INFOMAR team shared in an eGovernment Award for its cross-agency metadata infrastructure. INFOMAR databases have supported about 50 postgraduate studies - a level adequate to sustain a considerable skillsbase in geoscience and marine science in Ireland. At the same time media attention has enhanced public awareness of the value of our work and of the enterprise and career opportunities that arise from it. INFOMAR also supports key government policies such as developing the smart economy, increased pupil participation in S&T, and deepening scientific cooperation both between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and Ireland and UK.

Ireland’s seabed mapping is a story of people - of scientists, crews, support staff, customers and stakeholders. I want to pay particular tribute to the INFOMAR team drawn from the Marine Institute and the Geological Survey of Ireland. Its membership is too extensive to allow for individual acknowledgement but I know that Peter Heffernan will join with me in saluting the excellent leaders over the years - Yvonne Shields, Mick Gillooly, John Evans and Tommy Furey of the Marine Institute, and Deepak Inamdar, Mick Geoghegan, Eibhín Doyle and Koen Verbruggen from GSI. However none of these will mind if I conclude the list with a mention of the late Ray Keary, a highly motivated and dedicated scientist, who constantly pointed to the value of our offshore resources, who provided encouragement to all marine scientists, and who was the inspiration for INSS. We were delighted that Barbara, his widow, and members of his family joined us for the launch of R.V. Keary.

We have achieved much, but there is much left to do. Remaining areas, if investment is sustained at current levels, will not be fully surveyed before 2030. And given the uncertain financial climate we cannot assume that any specific level of support will be provided indefinitely. We must continue with great determination to produce excellent science and to ensure that our stakeholders are fully aware of its implications and potential benefits. If we continue to strive for these goals then the extent of our success will be constrained only by the level of our ambition.

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