• Plans to monitor pollution by air [Irish Times, May 25, 1998]
• Contract awarded to design EU fishing 'sky spy' system [Irish Times, April 17  '98]
• Govt to deploy aircraft to deter fishing conflicts [Irish Times, Thursday, April 9, 1998]
• Minister to act on fishing incidents [Irish Times, April 6  '98]

Air surveillance for pollution control will become part of the new coastguard structure, according to the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources. 

The Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) is investigating the use of one aircraft to fulfil the State's obligations under new oil pollution legislation. Ideally, the service should be provided by an Air Corps Casa maritime patrol aircraft, but it may have to be contracted out due to the shortage of Air Corps crews. 

Yesterday, Dr Woods, who watched an IMES national search and rescue demonstration in Kinsale Harbour, Co Cork, said his officials were already examining the provision of emergency towage facilities to meet the new international counter-pollution commitments. One multi-purpose vessel for anchor handling and salvage may be purchased, and a second may be part-purchased with Britain. 

A trawler fire, a yacht in difficulties, a canoeist in trouble and a man caught under a rigid inflatable were some of the emergency situations staged in Kinsale during yesterday's demonstration, which involved the Naval Service patrol vessel LE Ciara and diving team, the Air Corps Dauphin, the IMES Sikorsky helicopter, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and IMES coast and cliff rescue units from the Old Head of Kinsale, Summercove and Oysterhaven, Co Cork. 

 Also participating were National Safety Council-approved lifeguards, the Garda Siochana and Civil Defence. 

 Among the equipment was the old breeches buoy gear, which dates back to the last century and has proved to be invaluable in situations which a helicopter and lifeboat cannot reach. In one such situation 13 Spanish fishermen were rescued by the local coast and cliff rescue unit after their vessel, The Big Cat, was grounded off Valentia. 

 The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources has pledged to initiate legislation which will transform the existing IMES into a national coastguard agency by the end of the year. The IMES currently comprises 600 volunteers attached to 50 area units around the coastline. 

 Earlier in the day, the contribution made by a "distinguished son of Cork and dedicated servant to the country" was recalled when Dr Woods named the new £1 million pier at Crosshaven, Co Cork, after one of his predecessors, the late Hugh Coveney, who died after an accident off Robert's Cove, Kinsale, just over two months ago. 

 Mr Frank Boland, chairman of the Port of Cork Company, described how he had been persuaded by the late TD two years ago to support the project, which would improve facilities for local fishermen. 

 The occasion was marked by a Naval Service guard of honour and the Army band of the Southern Command. Among the guests present was Mrs Pauline Coveney, her sons, Patrick, Simon and David; the Minister for Education, Mr al Martin; the Naval Service flag officer, Commander John Kavanagh, and Commander Rory Costello; the Garda Chief Superintendent, Cork Division, Mr Adrian Culligan; and Mr John Mulvihill, chairman of Cork County Council. 

 Four of the Coveney family are continuing their round-the-world sailing voyage in aid of the Chernobyl Children's Fund.

Ireland could provide the European Union's model for satellite tracking of ships at sea, following agreement on a multimillion-pound project involving the Naval Service. 

 The contract to design a new fisheries control system in Irish waters has been awarded by the Department of Defence to a consortium lead by Ernst and Young Management Consultants, it was formally announced on the LE Eithne in Dublin yesterday. It will be managed by the Naval Service on the Department's behalf. 

 The "nerve centre" for the Lirguard system, nicknamed "the spy in the sky" by fishermen, will be at the Naval Base in Haulbowline, Co Cork. Many new EU regulations have been introduced on conservation grounds, and by the next century many of the larger fishing vessels will have to carry "black boxes" to allow satellite monitoring of their movements as part of the control and enforcement regime. 

 Initially a handful of Irish vessels in the Killybegs supertrawler fleet will have to carry the new system when satellite monitoring is introduced in the EU from July. This first wave will apply to craft over 24 metres, and will affect only industrial trawlers, distant water vessels and ships fishing in non-EU or "third country" waters and on the high seas. 

 The Lirguard project involves handling increased data communications between the European Commission and the Union's enforcement agencies. Already the Naval Service has one of the most advanced information technology systems in Europe, rivalled only by France, and Lirguard is expected to provide a model for the EU. 

 The geographical information system (GIS) in Haulbowline has records of 7,000 vessels, and is a valuable tool for indicating changing patterns of fishing activity in the 200-mile exclusive economic zone. 

 Its specific applications include a vessel-monitoring system for satellite tracking, which has an obvious safety dimension; a system of monitoring effort or catch; and catch reporting and entry/exit reporting by vessels at sea. 

 All of the "stakeholders" in fishery protection, including the seven patrol ships, the two Air Corps Casa patrol aircraft, the coast radio stations and the Department of the Marine will feed into the system at Haulbowline. 

The first phase, costing £670,000, will be dedicated to analysis, and the second will involve buying hardware and software to build the system from September. It is hoped to have this completed by December. 

 Among those attending the contract signing were the Flag Officer of the Naval Service, Commodore John Kavanagh, and representatives of the Department of Defence. The Ernst and Young consortium includes Oracle Ireland, Smith System Engineering Ltd and Paradigm Technology Ltd. 

Air Corps Casa maritime patrol aircraft are to be deployed as a deterrent in fishing conflicts off the south and west coasts, it has been agreed following a meeting between the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, and the Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, in Dublin yesterday. 

The Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) is also to act as the first contact point for Irish skippers in difficulty, and there is to be a review of the legal situation to give the Naval Service more power to act in reported clashes. 

 The ministerial meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the Naval Service and Air Corps, was requested by the Minister for the Marine following recent incidents involving Irish and Spanish vessels off the southwest coast. 

 Dr Woods said he was anxious to establish a system of "rapid response", given that lives could be at risk. Two recent incidents involving Castletownbere vessels have already been raised with the British authorities, as the country of registry for the Spanish flagships allegedly involved. 

 The Air Corps has two Casa maritime patrol aircraft, which work with the Naval Service on fisheries protection in the 132,000-mile fishery zone, but both defence wings are stretched, with limited equipment and numbers. 

The Naval Service is empowered to board and take statements only in incidents occurring outside the 12-mile limit, but the legal constraints under which its sea fisheries officers work have been questioned recently by several maritime law experts. 

Meanwhile, the Department of the Marine has been pushing for increased efficiency on boardings at a time when naval deck officers are in such short supply that vacancies have been advertised outside the State. 

The Minister for the Marine, who has direct responsibility for the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES), is to issue a notice to fishermen alerting them to the IMES coast radio network as the first contact point. A code of conduct to avoid fishing gear conflicts is also to be discussed. The meeting was an acknowledgment of the growing level of tension in fishing grounds at a time of increased competition and pressure on stock. The Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation has kept a record of reported incidents, which tend to reach a peak during the hake and albacore tuna fishing seasons.

The Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, may seek more direct Air Corps intervention in alleged fishing vessel harassment incidents when he meets the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, this week. 

 The Minister is understood to be concerned about the response time to reports of incidents involving Irish, French and Spanish flagship vessels. It is believed he intends to propose deployment of spotter planes as a deterrent, following reported disputes on fishing grounds. 

 The Air Corps has two Casa maritime patrol aircraft which work with the Naval Service on fisheries protection in the 132,000-mile fishery zone. But both defence wings are stretched, with limited resources to control the second-largest sea area in Europe. 

 Dr Woods is also understood to be keen to seek a greater role for the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) in such situations. He has requested representatives of the Naval Service, the Air Corps and IMES to attend this week's meeting, which will be held with the Minister for Defence. 

 Following the most recent spate of incidents off the south-west, the Minister had said he intended to review the legal situation which had precluded intervention by the Naval Service outside the 12-mile limit. 

 Dr Woods has said he is still committed to this review. 

 In a recent letter to The Irish Times, Dr Clive Symmons, lecturer in maritime law at NUI Galway, questioned the assumption that the Naval Service could not act, given that Ireland has now ratified the UN Law of the Sea Convention. 

 Dr Symmons said he had no doubt that some of the recent actions of Spanish and other vessels against Irish craft would come within the definition of "international piracy" as defined under Article 101 of the convention. 

Every State had the right to seize such a "pirate ship" and arrest it. If for diplomatic and political reasons Ireland did not wish to take this approach, he proposed a more moderate solution through amended fisheries legislation. 

 The ideal preventive measure, codes of practice for fishermen, will also be discussed at the meeting. Dr Woods has already consulted the European Commission and his Spanish, French and British counterparts on this issue. In many cases, different methods of fishing gear are the main cause of conflict. Irish vessels, which are usually smaller, are not always innocent parties.