This article is from page 36 of the 2007-05-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
THE pioneering marine research of the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation in Kilrush will be high- lighted in an RTE documentary this month.
The Estuary: Secret of the Shan- non, which looks at a new system for studying dolphin activity, can be seen on May 11 on RTE One at Pelt} yee
The ‘Getting Wet’ segment of the series was shot over several weeks in August and September last year. It is one of a weekly four part series
which also looks at history, industry and the future of the estuary.
The series began on May 4 and is narrated by actress Brenda Fricker
In the programme Dr Simon Ber- row, Project Leader of the SDWF and PhD student Joanne O’Brien, will outline their work in “acous- wee
‘Historically, dolphins have been studied with visual and surface tech- niques but acoustics is much more powerful. We put a piece of equip- ment called a hydrophone in the estuary off Kilcredaun Point and it sent signals via a cable to a computer
set up in a cow Shed in Carrigaholt. The software can pick up and record dolphin sounds from one or two kil- ometres away, he said.
Ms O’Brien, from Kilrush, will only be the second PhD dedicated to whale and dolphin study in Ireland.
The federation’s research, funded mainly by conservation organisa- tions, community groups and edu- cational grants, is among the first of its kind in Ireland. Dr Berrow is the SDWF’s only core staff member.
“We also made the first attempt to deploy the hydrophones in winter last year. The weather was very bad
so it was a challenge. That would help with construction projects for example so it has commercial apph- cations,’ Dr Berrow added.
Dr Berrow is concerned about the environmental impact that local fac- tories may be having on the estuary’s ecosystem and has written to anyone with an Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licence to ask for a contribu- tion to the SDWF to fund more staff and research. Just one company, Irish Cement, has expressed an in- terest in giving funding.
The SDWE attracts interested stu- dents from all over Europe.