Back Row (L-R): Dr Terence O’Carroll, Dr Shelagh Malham, Dr Peter Robins, Nicholas Chopin, Brian O’Loan, Prof Lewis LeVay, Trevor Jones

Front Row (L-R): Breda Curran, Esther Howie, Dr. Julie Webb, Joanne Gaffney, Benen Dallaghan

Bord Iascaigh Mhara Team

Dr. Terence O’Carroll is the Aquaculture Technical Manager based at the BIM offices in Dun Laoghaire.

Benen Dallaghan is the GIS officer based at the BIM offices in Dun Laoghaire.

Nicholas Chopin is an Inshore Survey Officer based at the BIM offices in Galway. He is responsible for the seed mussel larvae monitoring including husbandry monitoring, organising larvae sampling and analysis. Using drift buoys, grabs, dredges, acoustic data and underwater video methods Nick is collecting and processing a vast quantity of in situ data.

Niamh Mcgowan-Weafer is the Aquaculture Technical Financial and Administrations Co-ordinator.

Paul Byrne is a developer with over 20 years’ experience in computer engineering, IT and web. He is based in the BIM offices in Dun Laoghaire.

Amy Geraghty has recently completed a PhD in UCC and has completed a BSc in Zoology in UCD and an MRes in Ecosystem-based Management of Marine Systems from the University of St. Andrews and the Scottish Association for Marine Science

The Bangor Team

Dr Shelagh Malham is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Ocean Sciences and works for the Centre for Applied Marine Sciences in Bangor University. Her research is focused on environmental interactions in relation to shellfish. The holistic approach encompasses such wide ranging themes as catchment to coast processes, ecosystem health, estuarine functioning, pathogens and human health, macronutrient processing, pollution, climate change (temperature, acidification, sea level rise), shellfish mortality/disease, larval connectivity and shellfish sustainability. Her work results in the direct impact required for commercial enterprises in catchment, coastal and oceanographic areas. Shelagh is the ISPP Operations Director.

Dr Julie Webb is the Post-Doctoral Research Officer on the project. Responsible for the delivering the science within the ISPP Operation and developing the larval monitoring regimes.

Dr Nicholas Jones is a Research Officer on ISPP and is responsible for monitoring the reproductive condition of local mussel populations, undertaking larval distribution and seed settlement surveys, as well as designing and monitoring an off-shore bivalve cultivation system. He has worked in both the private and public sector including a number of commercial fish hatcheries in the UK and overseas. Also has worked as a reseacher in sclerochronology on a number of collaborative projects with the British Geological Survey, where growth records and geochemical signatures in the shells of bivalve molluscs were used to analyse past environmental conditions near drilling sites, in both the North and Irish Seas.

Dr Thomas Galley is a Research Officer on ISPP, responsible for monitoring the reproductive condition of local mussel populations, undertaking larval distribution and seed settlement surveys, and designing and monitoring an off-shore bivalve cultivation system. Tom has over 10 years experience as a research scientist in the field of marine aquaculture, working on larval and juvenile culture techniques, nutrition and physiology in both temperate and tropical species. In addition he has worked on a number of international EU funded bivalve research projects across collaborating institutions; on the BLUESEED and REPROSEED projects key aims were to produce triploid mussels using chemical triggers, investigate the development of a sustainable supply of high quality blue mussel seed and to understand the factors influencing metamorphosis and post-settlement movement in the bivalves Mytilus edulis and Pecten maximus.

Dr Peter Robins is a Research Fellow and will be building on the models he created during SUSFISH. His research involves modelling studies, based around the European shelf seas. These include marine renewable energy, biophysical larval transport modelling, coastal and estuarine processes and morphodynamics.

Jenna Alexander is a Research Support Officer working on bivalve genetics.

Esther Howie is the Operation Manager who is responsible for delivering the Irish Sea Portal Pilot Operation in line with the Business Plan. Esther is based in the Marine Centre Wales and contact information can be found here

Karen Tuson is the Research Project Support Administrative Officer for ISPP.

About Bord Iascaigh Mhara

BIM’s mission is to support and enable an increase in value creation of a sustainable Irish seafood sector across the supply chain, from catch to consumer.

Strategy

Read BIM Statement of Strategy Enabling Sustainable Growth 2018-2020 (pdf 1,810Kb)

BIM’s strategy aims to enhance the competitiveness of the Irish seafood sector focusing on the following five key strategic priorities:

1. Sustainability
2. Skills
3. Innovation
4. Competitiveness
5. Leadership

Overview of BIM

BIM’s vision is to lead the Irish Seafood sector through our effective support and deep expertise so that Ireland becomes the international leader in high value differentiated products that satisfy the growing demand for healthy, safe, responsibly and sustainably produced seafood.