Dublin Bay - The Future

From todays independant, there is talk of building a circular road through the bay, either by tunneling under it, or building raised viaducts with the road on top, or a combination of the two.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/motorists-face-new-tolls-to-cover-cost-of-83644bn-dublin-bay-tunnel-1593882.html
It seems likely that (assuming it goes ahead at all), a large part of it at least would be built on viaducts (and I know that had been suggested previously as a means to protect the bay and the city from rising sea levels). The route options are outlined at:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/route-options-for-motorway-1593884.html

If this is so, it would be a fantastic opportunity to lay down some artificial reefs which could be done with little cost, there would already be lots of heavy lifting machinery around working on the construction so getting them to drop off some disused railway cars etc shouldn't be a huge deal. Also, there would need to be some parking/rest areas built in anyway, and they'd probably stick some touristy buildings along it somewhere, so getting fishing platforms added should be relatively easy too.

Construction could have a huge impact on fish life and angling in the bay, but if the right steps are taken it could prove to be a huge boon too. And it wouldn't be impossible, with the right kind of lobbying, to get the provision of some of these facilities made a condition of the planning permission.

I remember this subject of artifical reefs being discussed at various Irish Federation of Sea Anglers meetings, ie To stop trawlers netting fish on the Causeway coast and other venues some thirty years ago. To my knowledge no such reefs were ever approved I apologise in advance if i am wrong . I sincerely hope your endevours are more favourabley looked and acted upon good luck.

Already have John . I have not requested a position on the Committee as there has been some official correspondence with the Dept of the Marine requesting an Angling / commercial member. I explained that we would need a separate task force to select an unbiased person to delegate for both groups I have just asked that I be be allowed to attend as a stakeholder and representative of our club and the site in General

Kev

Hi Kevin
Did you get a response on this? Any chance you could scan it and post it up?
John

There was a seminar in November, also some submissions posted
http://www.dra.ie/dublin-bay-task-force.html

No submission from IFSA or ACI
One from ERFB

Dublin Bay Task Force Public Seminar (November 22nd 2008)

Learning Integrated Coastal Zone Management

Eugene Nixon Learning ICZM and MSP .pdf

Kevin Lynch ICZM and the Bantry Bay experience .pdf

Martin le Tissier ICZM the international experience.pdf

Tom Leahy S2S update .pdf

why dont the dept of marine contact the owners of all the derilect trawlers give them a month to move these eyesores in our harbours .if they dont scuttle them out at sea there would also be a lot more room in the harbours for pleasure craft who are willing to pay 300 a year for moorings and you also get a reef to fish off

I'd suggest getting rid of the crab/lobster pots in the Bay. They are a hazzard to all boats. Some only have a small 5litre bottle as the buoy. Others have yards and yards of extra rope (especially on slack water) that could get caught in an engine. The area between Dun Laoghaire, Dalkey and out as far as the Muglins is like a mine field.
It makes motoring and drifting dangerous in the area.

The reefs are a great idea but as said i cant see it happening.

Permanent buoys or witches hats for racing yacths so they dont just set up a course around you while you are already anchored up. This will avoid near misses with 40+foot boats that sail straight at you shouting "out of way" and cause everyone involved to have to change there trousers when you roar back "WE'RE ON AnCHOR!!!!" and they start to tack about 20 yards from your boat. (sorry, still a little annoyed over this to say the least)

Id love to see a big US style pier on stilts, Would be great for fishing and for tourists