Tag Archives: Shannon

Waterways Ireland news

Posted on Tuesday 2 September 2014 | Leave a comment

Lots of info pouring from Waterways Ireland at the moment: July Shannon traffic stats, which will take me some time to analyse, serviced moorings in Sallins, digital navigation thingies for the Erne and Lower Bann and an online survey.

Here’s the press release for navigation thingies. I’ll cover the online survey in a separate message.

Waterways Ireland Pilots Digital Navigation Guides to the Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland has developed an Online Navigation Guide for the Lower Bann for use on computers, tablets and mobile phones. In a major step change in the presentation of navigation guides for Ireland’s Inland Waterways, Waterways Ireland has, in consultation with user groups, developed, tested and now launched, pilot Online Navigation Guides, designed to provide a convenient alternative to printed navigation guides.

The online guide to navigation has been developed internally within Waterways Ireland using ArcGIS online. This interactive web mapping application details navigation features such as Locks, Moorings, Weirs, Navigation Markers and other facilities along the waterway. These data layers are then overlaid using ArcGIS online web maps. GPS surveys or digitising onscreen using Ordnance Survey Maps have been used to capture the location of features. The application enables the public to pan around the map, identify features, print maps, switch between base mapping & satellite view and switch on and off layers. The Lower Bann Guide is complete and available for free on our website and can be viewed on a PC, Tablet or Smartphone.

Waterways Ireland will update the maps on an ongoing basis so that the latest navigational information is always available online. Ongoing feedback is welcomed from users to keep the mapping information accurate.

With both the Lower Bann and the Erne System Navigation Guides presently available online, Waterways Ireland is commencing work with user groups on the Shannon and will subsequently cover the remaining waterways.

The maps are available on www.waterwaysireland.org by choosing the waterway and then selected the map tab. To directly access the Lower Bann & Lough Erne Online Navigation Guides, click [this] .

In the initial pilot period, broadband access or a wifi link will be required to use the online navigation guides for the Lower Bann and Erne Systems. Progress is being made on an offline/cached version which will be made available as soon as possible.
It is also planned that the next phase of the Online Navigation Guides will have additional layers of information for waterway & waterside recreational and tourism activity which the user can turn on and off.

In this transition period Waterways Ireland continues to offer a paper product to Waterway users. A comprehensive navigation guide for the Erne System, Shannon-Erne Waterway and Shannon Navigation is for sale at www.shopwaterwaysireland.org for €15/£12.60 and the Lower Bann Guide is also available.

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Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Safety, Shannon, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged boats, chart, digital navigation guide, Erne, Ireland, Lower Bann, map, Shannon, thingie, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Salmon at Ardnacrusha

Posted on Monday 1 September 2014 | Leave a comment

Might a salmon cannon work?

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Operations, Shannon, The fishing trade, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ardnacrusha, cannon, dam, ESB, Ireland, Parteen Villa Weir, salmon, Shannon

New guide to Shannon and Erne

Posted on Friday 29 August 2014 | Leave a comment

In German. Bit of a coup for Sven and Anita, I think. Hawthorn‘s bow appears in one photo.

Some of Ireland’s competitors on this and the next two pages.

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Posted in Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Operations, Scenery, Sea, Shannon, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways

Tagged Erne, guidebooks, Ireland, Shannon, Shannon-Erne Waterway, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Did you know …

Posted on Sunday 17 August 2014 | Leave a comment

… that Pollboy Lock, on the River Suck, can be filled in one minute and fifty-eight seconds?

Pollboy

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Shannon, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ballinasloe, boats, Ireland, lock, Operations, Pollboy, Shannon, Suck, Waterways Ireland

Ballinasloe footbridge

Posted on Tuesday 12 August 2014 | Leave a comment

Here is a new page with a brief account of the Ballinasloe Line of the Grand Canal and some photos of a footbridge that seems to have been built across it in the twentieth century.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Charles Wye Williams, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, Shannon, Sources, The cattle trade, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ballinasloe, barge, boats, bridge, canal, Fanning's, footbridge, Grand Canal, Ireland, Kylemore, lock, lost, Shannon, Suck

Salmon

Posted on Friday 25 July 2014 | 3 comments

In my youth, I tried angling once or twice, but with no success: the only time I ever caught fish was with mackerel feathers. So, despite having read Isaak Walton (several times), angling doesn’t really interest me. But it’s hard to read this without accepting that Something Must Be Done, whatever it is. Note, in particular, Dudley Mallett’s comment.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Shannon, Sources, The fishing trade, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged angling, ESB, Ireland, salmon, Shannon, waterways

Loos change as TippCoCo hopes to swipe the loot

Posted on Wednesday 23 July 2014 | 1 comment

Er … sorry about the outbreak of headlineitis: it’s corresponding with journalists that does it.

The Tipperary Star reports (on paper, not on its website) that Tipperary County Council intends to issue “swipe cards for boating facilities along Lough Derg”. Michael Hayes, the engineer for Nenagh Municipal District Council, said that the cards were sold along the Shannon but that the revenue went to Waterways Ireland whereas the council bore all the costs. He is quoted as saying that “We are pursuing it to have them pay some of the costs”: another threat to WI’s budget.

Councillor Phyll Bugler said that it was “not acceptable” that shower and toilet blocks closed early, although she is not reported to have commented on the cost of having staff to clean the blocks late at night.

I suspect that Waterways Ireland’s income from the smart cards is minimal.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Shannon, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged block, boats, county council, Ireland, Lough Derg, Nenagh, Operations, Shannon, shower, smart card, Tipperary, toilet, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland

GCC Shannon steamers 1866

Posted on Friday 11 July 2014 | Leave a comment

Here is a new page with an illustrated article from 1866 about the steam engines in three Grand Canal Company steamers of that era, which were used on the Shannon. I am grateful to Mick O’Rourke of Irish Shipwrecks for sending the article to me.

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Posted in Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Shannon, Sources, Steamers, waterways

Tagged Athlone, barge, boats, canal, Drogheda, Dublin, engineering, Grand Canal, Grand Canal Company, Grendon, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Lough Derg, O'Briensbridge, Operations, quay, Shannon, Shannon Harbour, Tipperary, vessels, waterways, workboat

Shannon traffic figures for June

Posted on Thursday 10 July 2014 | 9 comments

I am grateful to Waterways Ireland for letting me have the Shannon traffic figures for June 2014. All the usual caveats apply:

the underlying figures do not record total waterways usage (even for the Shannon) as, for instance, sailing, fishing or waterskiing on lakes or river stretches, which did not involve a passage through a lock or Portumna Bridge, would not be recorded
the passage records would not show, for instance, a change in the balance of types of activities from those in larger cruising boats to those in smaller (sailing, fishing, waterskiing) boats
figures like these, for a small number of months, will not necessarily be representative of those for the year as a whole. The winter months, January to March, see little traffic in any year; for April, May and June, the weather can have a large influence on the amount of activity especially, I suspect, in private boats.

On the other hand, the figures do include the Shannon’s most significant tourism activity, the cruiser hire business. And they are our only consistent long-term indicator of usage of the inland waterways.

Total (private + hired) traffic for the first six months of each year

Total traffic is down again, but only slightly. The decline does seem to be levelling off and a continuation of the relatively good weather could increase usage.

Private-boat traffic for the first six months of each year

Private traffic is down slightly on last year, but it has been pretty much the same for three years. I had thought that the good weather might have caused something of an increase, but on the other hand my own impression of Lough Derg traffic (not reflected in the passage figures) is that it has been fairly light.

Hire-boat traffic for the first six months of each year

For hire-boat traffic, there is no sign of an upturn, although the drop on last year’s figures is not very large.

Changes since 2003: private and hired boats

That table amalgamates the two before it, but shows the figures as percentages of the 2003 figures. For private boats, the Celtic Tiger (nach maireann) caused an increase; that effect has worn off and usage has not changed much since about 2011. For hired boats, the decline began long before the Celtic Tiger idiocy.

From 75/25 to 50/50

Hired boats were once the major users; private boats have almost caught up.

How to save money

I don’t know how much the various locks cost to run, so I can’t work out any measure of value for money, but the sea lock in Limerick and the Lough Allen Canal must surely be candidates for the chop.

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Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Shannon, shannon estuary, Sources, Tourism, Uncategorized, waterways, Waterways management, Weather