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.
FOREIGN MARINE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH SURVEYS 2020
| COUNTRY | VESSEL NAME | LOCATION | CRUISE OBJECTIVES | FROM (DATE) | TO (DATE) | IRISH OBSERVER |
| UK | Scotia | ICES Management area VIA | Bottom Trawl Survey targeting juvenile gadoid species | 18/02/2020 | 08/03/2020 | Observer Selected |
| UK | Cefas Endeavour | Celtic Sea, Bristol & Western Channels | Groundfish Survey | 15/02/2020 | 15/03/2020 | Observer Selected |
| UK | Cefas Endeavour | Celtic Sea, Western & Bristol Channels | Groundfish Survey | 10/03/2020 | 23/04/2020 | Observer Selected |
| Norway | King's Bay | Atlantic Ocean Northwest of Ireland | Acoustic Assessment of the Blue Whiting Spawning Stock | 20/03/2020 | 02/04/2020 | 1 Berth available |
| Spain | Miquel Oliver | South of Ireland: South Porcupine bank and Porcupine Seabigh | Acoustic abundance estimates and distribution patterns of Blue Whiting | 16/03/2020 | 28/03/2020 | 1 Berth available |
FOREIGN MARINE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH SURVEYS 2019
| COUNTRY | VESSEL NAME | LOCATION | CRUISE OBJECTIVES | FROM(DATE) | TO(DATE) | IRISH OBSERVER |
| UK | Cefas Endeavour | Celtic Sea | Groundfish Survey using otter trawl | 05/02/2019 | 19/02/2019 | Observer selected |
| UK | Cefas Endeavour | Celtic Sea | Groundfish survey using 4m beam trawl | 01/04/2018 | 14/04/2019 | Observer Selected |
| Netherlands | Tridens | NW of Ireland | Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey | 11/03/2019 | 05/04/2019 | Observer Selected |
| Spain | Miguel Oliver | SW of Ireland | Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey | 13/03/2019 | 24/03/2019 | Observer Selected |
| Germany | Walther Herwig III | West of Ireland & Celtic Sea | Mackerel & Horse Mackerel Egg Survey | 21/03/2019 | 26/04/2019 | N/A |
| Spain | Ramon Margalef | SW of Ireland | Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey | 25/03/2019 | 03/04/2019 | N/A |
| Netherlands | Tridens | Western Channel & Celtic Sea | Mackerel & Horse Mackerel Egg Survey | 06/05/2019 | 24/05/2019 | One berth available |
| Germany | Maria S Merian | Atlantic | Oceanographic survey | 22/05/2019 | 26/05/2019 | N/A |
| Netherlands | Tridens | SW Ireland & Celtic Sea | Mackerel & Horse Mackerel Egg Survey | 03/06/2019 | 21/06/2019 | One berth available |
| Netherlands | Pelagia | Whittard Canyon Complex | The unknown role of Submarine canyons – Pathways or sinks for Organic Carbon | 06/06/2019 | 23/06/2019 |
TBC |
| UK | Cefas Endeavour | Irish Sea and Bristol Channel | To carry out a 4m beam-trawl survey of groundfish. | 01/09/2019 | 01/10/2019 |
One berth available |
| Spain | Vizconde De Eza |
Porcupine bank incl. slope in SW Ireland |
Abundance estimations and distribution patterns of demersal-benthic species. | 07/09/2019 | 11/10/2019 |
Observer Selected |
| UK | Altaire |
North Biscay, Celtic Sea, West of Ireland and West of Scotland. |
Mackerel Egg and horse survey. | 01/07/2019 | 22/07/2019 |
TBC |
| France | Thalassa |
Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea |
EVHOE Survey |
05/11/2019 |
05/12/2019 | Observer Selected |
| UK | Scotia |
ICES Management area VIA |
Trawl survey & CTD Sampling | 06/11/2019 | 24/11/2019 |
Observer Selected |
| Germany | Walther Herwig III |
Irish/Celtic Sea |
OSPAR/HELCOM monitoring | 05/12/2019 | 18/12/2019 |
Observer Selected |
Updated 11th November 2019