A number of foreign marine scientific research programmes (FMSR) are undertaken in Irish waters each year. Summary details of the surveys are available in the table below.
If you're interested in participating in any of these surveys as the Irish Observer onboard, please see details of our Foreign Vessel Observer Scheme to check that you qualify.
All observers are required to comply with current Covid-19 safety regulations and protocols on board the relevant vessel.
FOREIGN MARINE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH SURVEYS 2022
| COUNTRY | VESSEL NAME | LOCATION | CRUISE OBJECTIVES | FROM (DATE) | TO (DATE) | IRISH OBSERVER |
| UK | Scotia | ICES Mgt area VIA | Bottom trawl survey targeting juvenile gadoid species. | Feb 15th | Mar 6th | TBC |
| UK | FV Achilles | Irish Sea | To estimate the distribution, abundance and population structure of cod, haddock and whiting by semi-pelagic trawling, using commercial fishing gear. | Feb 20th | Mar 25th | TBC |
| UK | CEFEAS Endeveour | Celtic Sea, Bristol & Western Channel. | Ground-fish survey using 4m beam trawls operating as part of the internationally coordinated Working Group on Beam Trawl Surveys. | Feb 20th | April 15th | TBC |
| UK | Queen of Ulster | North West of Ireland | Retrieval and Redeployment OF ACOUSTIC ARRAY. | Feb 20th | April 3rd | TBC |
| Spain | Vizconde De Eza | South Porcupine bank & Porcupine Seabigh | Acoustic abundance estimates and distribution patterns of blue whiting. | Mar 2nd | Mar 12th | TBC |
| Netherlands | Tridens | Western Approaches & West of Ireland | Estimate the spawning stock abundance of Blue Whiting using acoustic methods. | Mar 9th | April 15th | TBC |
| Spain | Ramon Margalef | Northeastern Atlantic | To estimate the spawning stock biomass of the northeastern Atlantic mackerel and horse mackerel stock. | Mar 20th | April 3rd | TBC |
| UK | Altaire | Scottish and Irish West Coast | Blue whiting survey to acoustically determine the stock biomass in the east Atlantic. | Mar 23rd | April 19th | TBC |
| Germany | Walther Herwig III | West Ireland and Porcupine Bank, the Celtic Sea, Northern part of the Bay of Biscay. |
The main objective of the survey is to produce both an index and a direct estimate |
Mar 23rd | April 23rd | Berth available |
| Norway | MV Vendla | Atlantic Ocean Northwest of Ireland | The cruise is part of the international blue whiting survey coordinated through the ICES working group of International Pelagic surveys with participants from Ire, Norway, the NLs, Faroes and Spain. | Mar 24th | April 2nd | TBC |
| Norway | Unknown | Porcupine Bank and SE of Rockall Bank | To test catch regulation devices in the Blue Whiting fisheries. | Mar 28th | April 11th | TBC |
| UK | Scotia | The Rockall Plateau, NW slope and NW Ireland. | To conduct a trawl survey to estimate the abundance and distribution of anglerfish. | April 11th | April 30th | TBC |
| UK | James Cook | Whittard Canyon/PAP-SO | Sustained observatory (Annual service visit; High Seas), and mooring recovery and deployment in Whittard Canyon. | May 1st | May 9th | TBC |
| Netherlands | Tridens | North Atlantic Ocean, Celtic Sea, Bay of Biscay | To collect data of the distribution of mackerel and horse mackerel eggs, to collect data on fecundity of female mackerel and horse mackerel and to obtain hydrographical data. | May 9th | May 27th | TBC |
| Germany | RV Maria | Continental Shelf adjacent to the Rockall Trough | To investigate the carbon and nitrogen cycling in the shelf region off Western Ireland and compare this to the open ocean productivity and export. | May 21st | June 4th | TBC |
| Netherlands | Tridens | North Atlantic Ocean, Celtic Sea, Bay of Biscay | Biomass estimation of mackerel and horse mackerel stock. To collect data of the distribution of mackerel and horse mackerel eggs, to collect data on fecundity of female mackerel and horse mackerel and to obtain hydrographical data. | June 6th | June 24th | TBC |
FOREIGN MARINE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH SURVEYS 2021
| COUNTRY | VESSEL NAME | LOCATION | CRUISE OBJECTIVES | FROM (DATE) | TO (DATE) | IRISH OBSERVER |
| UK | MRV Scotia | ICES Management area VIA | Bottom trawl survey targeting juvenile gadoid species. | Feb 17th | Mar 10th | TBC |
| UK | Achilles | Area Vlla - Irish Sea | To estimate the distribution, abundance and population structure of cod, haddock and whiting in the Irish Sea by semi-pelagic trawling, using commercial fishing gear | Feb 25th | Mar 25th | TBC |
| Norway | Vikingbank | Porcupine bank & South East of Rockall bank | To test catch regulation devices for limiting catch sizes and conduct underwater observations of the fishing gear. | Mar 8th | Mar 26th | TBC |
| Netherlands | Tridens | Western approaches & West of Ireland | Estimate the spawning stock abundance of Blue Whiting using acoustic methods | Mar 10th | Apr 15th | TBC |
| UK | Queen of Ulster | Donegal Coast | A total of 33 Acoustic Listening Stations (ALS) are planned to be deployed at different locations off the coast of Co. Donegal | Mar 15th | Mar 26th | TBC |
| Spain | Vizconde de Eza/Miquel Oliver | South Porcupine bank and Porcupine Seabigh | International Blue Whiting spawning stock survey (IBWSS) | Mar 17th | Mar 28th | TBC |
| Norway | MV Vendla | Atlantic Ocean Northwest of Ireland | Acoustic assessment of blue whiting spawning stock. And Observations on hydrography. | Mar 24th | Apr 2nd | TBC |
| UK | RRS Discovery | Porcupine Abyssal and Whittard Canyon | The cruise will also recover and redeploy a mooring (acoustic Doppler current meters, CTD instruments [microcats], time-series sampling sediment trap). | Mar 25th | Apr 14th | TBC |
| UK | RRS James Cook | NOC Porcupine Abyssal Plain site | EXPORTS will foster new insights on ocean carbon cycling that maximizes its societal relevance through the achievement of U.S. and International research agency goals. | Apr 15th | May 31st | TBC |
| UK/USA | Discovery | PAP site region | The aim of the EXPORTS 2021 North Atlantic deployment is to sample the demise of the annual spring bloom. | May 1st | Jun 1st | TBC |
| Norway | FISKABAS | Atlantic Ocean and Scotland | Fishing, tagging and releasing ca 30000-50000 mackerel. Biological sampling of ca 1000 mackerel | May 5th | Jun 3rd | TBC |
| Germany | ATAIR | Southwestern Irish Shelf, Goban Spur & French Shelf in the Atlantic | Physical Oceanography - water mass variability & transports in the Eastern basin of the subpolar North Atlantic. | Jun 1st | Jun 14th | TBC |
| UK | Discovery | Rockall Trough | Bottom Boundary Layer Turbulence and Abyssal Recipes (BLT Recipes) | Jun 19th | Jul 29th | TBC |
| UK | Endeavour | Irish Sea and Bristol Channel | To carry out a 4m beam-trawl survey of ground fish to obtain fisheries data. | Sep 1st | Oct 1st | TBC |
| Spain | VIZCONDE DE EZA | Atlantic: Porcupine bank | Abundance estimations and distribution patterns of demersal-Benthic species. | Sep 3rd | Oct 5th | TBC |
| UK | RV Scotia | Rockall bank | Bottom trawl survey targeting juvenile gadoid species on Rockall bank | Sep 9th | Sep 19th | TBC |
| UK | Queen of Ulster | North West of Ireland | Retrieval of acoustic array in the North West of Ire.(SeaMonitor - EU Interreg VA Project) | Sep 20th | Oct 10th | TBC |
| UK | MRV Scotia | ICES Mgt area Vla & Vlb | Bottom trawl survey targeting commercial species on the continental slope. | Sep 22nd | Oct 5th | TBC |
| UK | Discovery | Rockall Trough | Bottom Boundary Layer Turbulence and Abyssal Recipes (BLT Recipes) | Sep 25th | Oct 30th | TBC |
| France | Thalassa | Celtic Sea & Bay of Biscay | French Bottom Trawl Surveys in Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea | Nov 10th | Dec 5th | Confirmed |
| UK | Discovery | North Atlantic | The purpose of this project is to commission the newly installed SBP27 system | Nov 6th | Nov 14th | TBC |
| UK | MRV Scotia | Scottish and Irish West Coast | Demersal trawling survey to assess pre-recruit year class strengths of cod, haddock, whiting, Norway pout, mackerel and herring. | Nov 17th | Dec 4th | N/A |