Carna Research Station, County Galway
Siobhan Vye
School of Biological Sciences
Carna Research Station, County Galway
The grant enabled me to travel to Connemara, Co. Galway and run an experiment in rock pools on a shore near the Carna Research Station. The experiment manipulated nutrient enrichment and the presence of an invasive sea weed (Sargassum muticum), with the aim of identifying the effects on biodiversity. Data collected from this experiment will give an important insight into the cumulative effects of multiple stressors and will form the final part of my PhD project.
During the week-long trip, a colleague and I travelled to the field site and set up the experiment. This included identifying suitable rock pools, measuring the diversity of the rock pools and quantifying the abundance of the invasive seaweed. We spent 6 – 7 hours on the shore each day, from around 6am until mid-afternoon. The early mornings and long hours were more than made up for by some lovely Irish spring sunshine. Highlights of the trip include the picturesque setting and the amazingly colourful algal diversity within the rock pools! Unfortunately, the well-known Irish rain did make an appearance on the last day, but it wouldn’t be field work in Ireland without it! In addition, the trip provided an opportunity to liaise with the very welcoming staff and academics at Carna Research Station, NUI Galway. This has allowed me to forge links with members of the international marine research community.
My thanks go to the Challenger Society for facilitating a productive and rewarding trip.
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Potential Availability of NERC Ship Time During the 25/26 Programme Year
The NERC Marine Facilities Programme for 2025/2026 for the RRS Discovery and the RRS James Cook has been published on the Marine Facilities Planning website.
The RRS Discovery programme currently contains a 79 day alongside slot between the 2nd of November 2025 and the 19th of January 2026, which is available for science delivery if funded science projects can make use of this time. Due to the location of the vessel, the ship is most likely to be able to deliver fieldwork in the North and East Atlantic regions. Some support for science capability within the National Marine Equipment Pool is potentially available, although there is no capacity for use of autonomous vehicles or remotely operated vehicles. Any fieldwork within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) will need the appropriate diplomatic clearance submitted to coastal states at least 6 months in advance, and to NMF with sufficient lead time for processing via the FCDO.
If interested in making use of this ship time, please contact NERC Marine Planning (marineplanning@nerc.ukri.org) ASAP to start discussions.
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NOC Association AGM 2025
NOC Association (NOCA) AGM 2025
The 14th AGM of the NOC Association will be held on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th May 2025. This free, on-line event will take place on Zoom, across two consecutive mornings, each starting at 10:00 and ending at 12:30. Although discussion topics are being finalised, we will focus on national capability (NC) science, ships, and autonomous vehicles, and how the community can engage. There will be an update on AtlantiS and on the new marine science scoping group. All are warmly welcome to join. To participate, please complete your registration here. For enquiries: Jackie Pearson, Secretary to NOCA: jfpea@noc.ac.uk