Sir, - In 1987 The Irish Times co-operated with me in the running of the first Coastwatch survey. Readers were invited to complete the questionnaire you printed on their local shore. There was a great response. Summary results were published and specific issues then followed up.
Over the next 10 years the survey spread and it is now taking place in 23 European countries with over 260,000 volunteers. It would not have happened without the initial Irish Times support and thus it is with a heavy heart that I now write to distance myself from the print version of our next partnership, 10 years on.
On Wednesday, September 10th, The Irish Times printed the Coastwatch Europe questionnaire for the 1997 survey and regional co-ordinator names - brilliant! Hidden behind the sports news, no flagging, with a problem-riddled article accompanying the questionnaire - not so brilliant!
To clarify:
Quotes attributed to me about the importance of electric cables, as well as erosion links to fertiliser on dunes were incorrect.
Coastwatch Ireland does not exist. The branch of Coastwatch Europe in the Republic is the Irish Coastal Environment Group (ICEG). In the North it is a network of individual environmental groups, young farmers' clubs and scientific interests, brought together by Mary Carroll. It is the first time that the survey will be run in all Ireland in this manner. If it is a success and co-ordinators decide to link more formally for the island of Ireland, e.g. for follow-up action, we will bear the Coastwatch Ireland name in mind.
It is not hoped to survey the whole 7,000 kilometres of Ireland's coastline. Over 20 per cent is inaccessible in the first place. Our goal is a representative sample of the coast from every county, north and south. That will still need reader swarms for the first October fortnight.
The results are to be used in many ways, the most important being to feed into coastal zone management, to strengthen public participation in environmental matters and to lobby for better enforcement of legislation and overdue legislative changes.
The questionnaire return addresses were omitted. They are: in the Republic, Karin Dubsky, Coastwatch Europe/ICEG, TCD, Dublin 2; in the North, Mary Carroll, 45 Rossmore Avenue, Belfast, BT73HB.
Readers who have missed or binned the print version on September 10th are invited to send a self-addressed A4 envelope to us for regional coordinator name, questionnaire, explanatory notes and test kits. Or if they have access to the Web, they find the full package, including regional co-ordinator contacts, on the Irish Times page for September 10th. - Yours, etc.,
From Karin Dubsky
International Coordinator, ICEG, Coastwatch Europe, TCD, Dublin 2.