This article is from page 8 of the 2014-07-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE first in a series of controlled explosions at the site of the new Doolin Pier took place last Wednesday, without any significant harm coming to local sea mammals, including Dusty the Dolphin.
The blasting, which is being carried out by Clare contractors, L&M Keating Ltd, had been scheduled to take place on a number of occasion earlier this month but had been delayed because of weather.
The explosions took place just after 9.10pm last Thursday evening. A number of members of the Clare based, Irish Whale and Dolphin [IWDG] were in the area to over see the explosions.
With Dusty basing herself on the Aran Islands for the last number of months, no sea mammals were harmed in the explosions – with a small number of fish the only reported casualties.
“The Marine Mammal Mitigation Plan was successfully delivered by IWDG and no marine mammals were affected. Despite heavy rain, sea conditions were very favourable,” said a spokesperson from the IWDG.
“Visual and acoustic monitoring 60 to 150 minutes pre-blast detected no marine mammals or otters and blasting went ahead. Post-blast monitoring recovered two dying pollack which were thought to have been killed by the shock wave but no other affected marine life was observed.”
More blasting in expected to take place in Doolin later this week provided that weather conditions are suitable. The blasting is to clear rock for the construction of a new start of the art pier at Doolin and an exclusion zone will also be put in place on land to ensure that no humans stray too close to the blast site.
During Wednesday’s scheduled explosion, a number of volunteers were also with Dusty the Dolphin on the Aran Islands, ensuring that the bottle nose dolphin did not stray too close to Doolin or be effected as a result of the shock wave.