The Republic's move to develop marine-management systems may prove far too limited if confined to the narrow coastal zone. Research under way at University College, Cork, is the latest project to confirm the need for a more extensive approach to the State's offshore environment.
The endangered northern right whale, the blue whale and the rarely seen beaked whale are among several hundred sightings of cetaceans - whales, dolphins and porpoises - recorded by UCC's Coastal Resources Centre. Funded by the oil and gas industries, the three-year programme has also gathered more than 85,000 seabird records.
As Dr Oliver ╙ Cadhla of the centre explains, there was little first-hand scientific information to support the hypothesis that the Republic's offshore waters are home to internationally significant populations of cetaceans and seabirds.
The UCC programme has involved 34 research cruises, amounting to more than 500 observer days at sea. ╙ Cadhla's colleagues on the team included Mick Mackey, Dr Niamh Connolly, Dr Emer Rogan, Natasha Aguilar and Tom Kelly. The aim, agreed with groups studying the Rockall Trough, to the west of Ireland, and the Porcupine Basin, to the south-west, under the petroleum infrastructure programme of the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources, was to collect definitive baseline data on where the animals are, and in what numbers, and investigate seasonal trends in habitat use.
The team used a standard strip-transect methodology - one of the most common ways of measuring wildlife populations - to assess seabird populations, as well as acoustic techniques to monitor cetaceans. This allowed them to collect data even when the weather was too bad to use binoculars. The acoustic work involved towing a set of hydrophones, or underwater microphones, behind a boat.
The team were able to collect data aboard Naval Service vessels and other ships, using the information to create detailed distribution and abundance charts for 40 species of seabird and 22 species of cetacean encountered off the Atlantic coast. They also surveyed western Irish waters and the Rockall Trough in August last year, from Emerald Dawn, a Dingle-based fishing boat.
The aim was to estimate the population and gather distributional data in the region during crucial breeding and foraging periods, according to ╙ Cadhla. The study yielded estimates for western Ireland's most common summer-occurring species, the white-sided dolphin, or Lagenorhynchus acutus, of which there were 5,490, and the common dolphin, Delphinus delphis, of which there were 4,496.
Among the thousands of seabirds the team identified were the pomarine, parasitic and long-tailed skuas, the rarer Wilson's and soft-plumage petrels and hundreds of migrant great and Cory's shearwaters.
The natural complexity poses "significant challenges" to developing management and conservation strategies, says ╙ Cadhla, although he adds that the animals' presence cannot yet be attributed to defined, manageable conservation areas.
The study is due to be published next year, when it will be vetted by the exploration companies, which will be affected by any management decisions taken by the State or the EU. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has already raised concerns about the effect on cetacean populations of exploration companies' underwater explosions. The group's website, at http://iwdg.ucc.ie, reports that a British company claims to have developed a way to detect whales, dolphins and porpoises in the vicinity of offshore oil and gas exploration and development.