Northern Turn

This chapter highlights the two communities, Kilkenny and Belfast, that had each been shaped by a great aristocratic dynasty. It narrates the power of both families and how it drastically diminished in the early eighteenth century. Kilkenny retained its status as an inland regional capital with an old urban fabric, a Catholic business community and a weak Protestant presence. Belfast, on the other hand, was much more of a colonial town (in every sense) than Kilkenny, an international trading hub dominated by a wholesale merchant community that was overwhelmingly Presbyterian. The chapter focuses more on eighteenth-century Belfast, its general merchants trading overseas and its physical transformation. Despite the ease of navigation in Belfast Lough, the town lay too far north to attract British or European vessels destined for southern Europe, nor was it optimally placed as a transatlantic stopover. The chapter also elaborates on the transatlantic partnership of Thomas Gregg and Waddell Cunningham, which principally involved the export of Irish linen and the importation of flaxseed, grain and flour. Finally, the chapter discusses the merchant community that benefited most from the growth of the passenger trade: Derry. It also explores how Drogheda became the largest grain market in Ireland, then follows the growth of Dublin's international trade.

SHORT-TERM AND MEDIUM-TERM FORECAST OF OIL SPILL TRAJECTORIES: APPLICATION TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL SCALES

ABSTRACT This paper presents two methodologies to provide short-term and medium-term forecast of oil spill trajectories at local and regional scales. For short-term predictions (within 48 hours), a high-resolution operational oil spill forecast system is developed in Belfast Lough (Northern Ireland). Hydrodynamics are based on a Delft3D model which uses daily boundary conditions and meteorological forcing obtained from Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) and from the UK Meteorological Office. Downscaled currents and meteorological forecasts are used to provide short-term oil spill fate and trajectory predictions in the Lough using the oil spill numerical model TESEO. The system is integrated in a user-friendly web application that allows end users to launch the oil spill model both in case of pollution threat and for training purposes. For mid-term predictions (15–60 days), a stochastic methodology to provide probabilistic oil spill forecasts is presented and applied to the Bay of Biscay (Northern Spain). The method encompasses the following steps: 1) Classification of representative atmospheric patterns using principal component analysis and the k-means technique; 2) Setup of an autoregressive logistic model taking into account seasonality, covariates, long-term trends and autoregressive terms. In the case of an accident, we sample the evolution of the metocean conditions using the autoregressive model, which provides us with possible evolution patterns for these conditions during the forecasting period. These results are used to force the oil spill transport model TESEO allowing the characterization of trajectories in probabilistic terms. Drifting buoys released in Belfast Lough and observations reported during the Prestige accident have been used to validate the operational system and the medium-term forecasting methodologies.

The population structure and biology of the ocean quahog,Arctica islandica, in Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland

The spatial distribution, density, growth rate, longevity, mortality and recruitment patterns of the long-lived clamArctica islandicain Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland, UK are described. TheA. islandicapopulation at Belfast Lough appears to be restricted to a small area at the mouth of the Lough. Additional searches for specimens further into the Lough and into deeper waters found no evidence of a larger more widespread population and we report population densities of 4.5 individuals m−2. The ages of the clams were determined from the number of internal annual growth lines in acetate peel replicas of shell sections. The population growth curve was fitted using the Von Bertalanffy growth equation: Lt = 93.7 mm (1−e−0.03(t–1.25)). Based on catch curve analysis, the Belfast Lough population has an estimated longevity of 220 years and a natural mortality rate of 0.02. We compare growth characteristics and life history traits in this population with other analogousA. islandicapopulations. The overall growth performance and the phi-prime index were used to compare growth parameters with data from the literature and we observed no significant relationship between the growth performance indices and longevity or latitude. Analysis of the age-structure and reconstructed dates of settlement indicate that this population has experienced almost continual recruitment over the last century with a gap in successful recruitment into the population 90–100 years ago and another 140–150 years ago. The size-structure revealed a scarcity of small individuals which we believe may be an artefact of the dredge sampling process.

Benthic Habitats and the Effects of Fishing

<strong><em>Abstract. </em><strong>Fishers have often complained that standard United Kingdom groundfish survey data do not adequately reflect the grounds targeted by commercial fishers, and hence, scientists tend to make overcautious estimates of fish abundance. Such criticisms are of particular importance if we are to make a creditable attempt to classify potential essential fish habitat (EFH) using existing data from groundfish surveys. Nevertheless, these data sets provide a powerful tool to examine temporal abundance of fish on a large spatial scale. Here, we report a questionnaire-type survey of fishers (2001–2002) that invited them to plot the location of grounds of key importance in the Irish Sea and to comment on key habitat features that might constitute EFH for Atlantic cod <em>Gadus morhua</em>, haddock <em>Melanogrammus aeglefinus</em>, and European whiting <em>Merlangius merlangus</em>. Plotted grounds were cross-checked using records of vessel sightings by fishery protection aircraft (1985–1999). A comparison of the areas of seabed highlighted by fishers and the observations made on groundfish surveys were broadly compatible for all three species of gadoids examined. Both methods indicated important grounds for cod and European whiting off northern Wales, the Ribble estuary, Solway Firth, north of Dublin, and Belfast Lough. The majority of vessel sightings by aircraft did not match the areas plotted by fishers. However, fishing restrictions, adverse weather conditions, and seasonal variation of fish stocks may have forced fishers to operate outside their favored areas on the (few) occasions that they had been recorded by aircraft. Fishers provided biological observations that were consistent among several independent sources (e.g., the occurrence of haddock over brittle star [ophiuroid] beds). We conclude that fishers’ knowledge is a useful supplement to existing data sets that can better focus more detailed EFH studies.

A Neolithic ceremonial timber complex at Ballynahatty, Co. Down

IntroductionBelfast Lough is a deep indent of the Irish Sea into the coastline of Northern Ireland. Its southwestern continuation is the Lagan Valley, which separates the steep scarp ofthe Antrim Plateau (height c. 300 m) from the hills of Co Down (c. 120 m) to the southeast. The River Lagan flows along this broad, undulating valley floor through thick deposits of glacial sands and gravels before emptying into the Lough at Belfast. Eight kilometres southwest of Belfast, the river passes the townland of Ballynahatty, a sandy plateau 100 ha in extent. This was the site in the 4th millenium BC of a small passage tomb, orientated to the northwest (Collins 1954: 48; Lawlor 1918: 16–19). Though now denuded of its covering mound, it provided the subsequent focus for a series of atypical passage tombs utilizing ever smaller settings of stone (Hartwell 1998: 33–6). Shortly after 3000 BC this was followed by a complex of large and elaborate east-facing timber structures (Ballynahatty 5 and 6). These in turn were eventually replaced by the earth and stone hengiform enclosure of the Giant's Ring, built around the original passage tomb.