Lough Hyne Marine Reserve, West Co. Cork

Lough Hyne Marine Reserve, West Co. Cork

Introduction

Lough Hyne is a semi-enclosed marine lake situated 3 miles west of Skibereen and some 50 miles from Cork City in Southwest Ireland. It measures just 0.8 km by 0.6 km and it is believed that the Lough was a freshwater lake up to 4000 years ago, when a rise in sea levels joined it with the sea. It is now a highly sheltered, seawater basin connected to the North Atlantic Ocean via a narrow inlet called Barloge Creek.

Picture by R. McAllen

Lough Hyne as viewed from the summit of Knockomagh Hill photo: R McAllen

At the northern end of Barloge Creek, there is a very narrow, shallow constriction known as the “Rapids”. The “Rapids” are no deeper than 5m at high tide and this highly restrictive sill leads to an asymmetrical tide with water flooding in for 4 hours and ebbing for 8.5 hours. Water flow within the Rapids can reach 3ms -1.

Lough Hyne was designated Europe’s first Marine Nature Reserve in 1981 in order to protect the rich biodiversity that occurs within its depths. The Lough supports many different marine habitats and environmental conditions (cliffs, beaches, boulders and saltmarshes in water movement ranging from still to very fast - 0.05 ms -1 to 3ms -1). The deepest part of the Lough is some 52m in the Western Trough. Whilst the rich fauna and flora of Lough Hyne have been protected for over 20 years, scientific research has been ongoing for well over 100 years.

The “Rapids” situated at the southeast entrance to the Lough leading into Barloge Creek. University College Cork’s Renouf lab is seen next to the rapids.

(Photo: R. McAllen)

A Brief History of Scientific Research at Lough Hyne

The first recorded biological study at Lough Hyne occurred in 1886 when the Rev. William Spottswood Green made the first recording of the Purple Sea-Urchin Paracentrotus lividus. A species that has become one of the most studied organisms in the Lough and is currently the subject of a long-running population survey by Dr Anne Crook (University of Reading).

The start of more regular biological studies began in 1923, when Prof Louis Renouf from University College Cork began visiting the Lough. In 1928 an ex-army hut was assembled beside the Rapids to act as the first on-site research laboratory. Although being destroyed by tidal surges and reassembled in 1942 and again in 1962, the hut acted as the starting point for regular marine research and led to the construction of two further wooden huts in the 1930’s which attracted the attention of overseas workers.


Left:The wooden research huts alongside the Rapids – circa 1950, right:Jack Kitching and John Ebling’s research camp at Glanafeen. – circa 1950

Among the first visitors to the Lough in the 1930’s were J.A. Kitching and F.J. Ebling. They were regular visitors until the onset of WWII, but the returned in 1946 to begin regular summertime work until 1986. Kitching and Ebling’s team would consist largely of undergraduates camping for the summer in large tents on the southern shore of Lough Hyne.

After visiting Lough Hyne for a number of years Prof. Kitching erected a further two laboratories. A small concrete building on the east side of the Rapids was completed in 1954 and was known as the Dromadoon laboratory. The other was built at Glanafeen on the southern shore of Lough Hyne between 1952 and 1957. This led to the influx of visiting marine biologists especially from the U.K. Unfortunately during the 1960’s the condition of the labs owned by University College Cork deteriorated and were largely unused after 1967. There were few Irish biologists working at the Lough at this time and the remaining buildings beside the Rapids totally collapsed in 1976.

Jack Kitching (Diving) and Jock Sloane collecting samples from near the Rapids.

However, in 1975 Dan Minchin from the Irish Department of Agriculture and Fisheries took an interest in the Lough to look at the biology of scallops and their predators using a caravan on the north shore as his lab. This renewed interest led to University College Cork staff and students beginning to conduct research at the Lough once more and in 1987, a new two level building known as the Renouf lab was opened alongside the Rapids (see Figure 2 for picture). At the same time, Prof. Kitching donated his two labs at Glanafeen and Dromadoon to UCC.

The Glanafeen lab was subsequently renamed the Kitching lab in recognition of Prof. Kitching’s services to biological research at Lough Hyne. In December 2001, the Dromadoon laboratory was renamed the John Bohane Laboratory in recognition of the role of John Bohane as Caretaker of Lough Hyne for over 60 years.

Rapids reconstruction Project
The immense power of the water moving through the narrow Rapids on the ebb and flood tides is a very destructive force. Since the 1950’s there has been concern over the deterioration of the Western wall in the Rapids and the subsequent erosion of grassland on the western side. The original Western wall was a famine wall built in 1852. However, over the last 10-20 years, both the deterioration of the wall and the scale of the grassland erosion have increased markedly. This led to concerns about possible changes in the tidal flow regime, which governs so much of the habitat diversity and subsequent faunal diversity within the inner Lough.

Figure 6: The scale of the deterioration of the Rapids Western Wall and subsequent grassland erosion June 2006 (Photo: R. McAllen).

This concern led Dr Rob McAllen to try to gain grant aid to get the Rapids wall rebuilt and the grassland reclaimed. Due to the Rapids isolated location and with no access roads available it was necessary to bring in all building materials and machinery via barge, which greatly increased the cost of the project. However, Dr McAllen managed to get the necessary grant funding for the project, principally from the Irish Heritage Council Biodiversity Fund and then subsequently further grant aid from National Parks and Wildlife Service, Cork County Council and University College Cork. By June 2006 Dr McAllen had raised over €100,000 for the project and in September and October 2006 the work was carried out.

Figure 7: Barge delivering materials and machinery during the Rapids reconstruction work (Photo: R. McAllen)

Figure 8: Work nearing completion (Photo: R. McAllen)

Figure 9: Work complete November 2006 (Photo: R. McAllen)

Current Research at Lough Hyne

EPA Postdoctoral Fellowship – Dr Mark Jessopp – Nutrient and Ecosystem Dynamics in Ireland’s only Marine Nature Reserve
This project aims to address the nutrient and ecosystem dynamics within Ireland’s only statutory marine reserve with a view to the possible long-term effects of nutrient flux on the rich biodiversity within its depths and in surrounding coastal waters. The project will be the first long term comprehensive analysis of the water quality within Ireland’s only protected marine reserve site and will integrate land use, habitat quality and water management and so influence regional catchment management plans under the Water Framework Directive leading to and impacting on future coastal biodiversity monitoring programmes with a possible view to potential climate change scenarios.

Amy Dale – The community ecology of seagrass beds around Southwest Ireland.
This project will examine the diel, seasonal and inter-annual variation in the community structure of the infaunal and epifaunal macrofauna, inhabiting a variety of seagrass beds in Barloge Creek, Lough Hyne Marine Reserve and at Ventry Bay, Co. Kerry in SW Ireland. The project is co-supervised by Dr Rob McAllen and Dr Pat Whelan. Amy is currently writing up her Thesis.

Sheila McCullagh – Scavenging Biology of Lough Hyne (MSc by research)
This project is using video analysis and potting trials to look at the spatial and temporal abundance of scavenging communities at different areas of Lough Hyne. Co-supervised by Prof. John Davenport and Dr Rob McAllen.

The Department of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science of University College Cork currently have had a number of PhD students complete their studies at Lough Hyne recently:

Rob Thomas – Recruits in space: supply and patchiness on the seabed.
This project focussed on the recruitment of marine invertebrates at different spatial and temporal scales and examined how the themes of patchiness in larval supply and recruitment, affected the composition and structure of intertidal and shallow sublittoral marine communities. The project was co-supervised by Dr Rob McAllen and Dr David Barnes (British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge). Rob Thomas was awarded his PhD in 2007.

Mark Jessopp – The exchange of larvae between marine reserve and adjacent non-reserve areas. – Part of the MARDEM project partnership.
This project was funded by the HEA North-South Cross Borders initiative in collaboration with Dr Tasman Crowe,.University College Dublin and Dr Mark Johnson, Queen’s University, Belfast. The MARDEM project looked at the way in which marine reserves and SAC’s are designed and monitored. This particular project looked at the exchange of larvae between marine reserves and other adjacent coastal areas to assess the importance of larval transfer and to suggest criteria by which future marine reserves should be designated. The project was supervised by Dr Rob McAllen and Mark Jessopp was awarded his PhD in 2006.

Dougie Watson – Recruitment variability in space and time by benthic invertebrates on Irish Shores.
This study focused on settlement and recruitment on machined slate panels over a monthly time scale. Five sites were used (two within Lough Hyne) for this portion of the work. Other studies included comparisons between recruitment to panels and naturally occurring boulder substrata, recruitment differences with regard to orientation of substrata, assemblage structural differences dependant on immersion date and how assemblage structure varied with increasing time of immersion.

Ian Davidson – Using marine benthic migrations to assess biodiversity
The purpose of this research was to investigate intertidal and shallow subtidal epifaunal diversity and assess the influence that small scale (spatial and temporal) migrations has on biodiversity measurement. In particular, the biodiversity along gradients of substratum, immersion, depth, and flow and determining the relative influence of mobile and sessile taxa in the assemblages was studied. The study was carried out primarily at Lough Hyne because of the variability in physical conditions in such a small area. Overall, this study should contribute to a better understanding of community patterns and processes in shallow marine systems.

Kate Rawlinson – Using marine migrations to assess pelagic biodiversity..
This project was an ecological study of the spatial and temporal variation in zooplankton composition and diversity of a semi-isolated community. The study paid particular attention to the influence of environmental parameters on zooplankton vertical migration, and the effect of local and regional factors on community composition and diversity.

Other Institutions currently using Lough Hyne research facilities

Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom – Dr David Sims & Group
Royal Holloway – University of London – Dr David Morritt
University of Wales, Bangor – Dr John Turner & Group
University College Dublin – Dr Tasman Crowe
Queen’s University Belfast – Drs Mark Johnson & Louise Allcock
British Antarctic Survey – Dr David Barnes
Reading University – Dr Anne Crook
National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland –Dr Liz Sides and colleagues
Dr Colin Little and Dr Cynthia Trowbridge
University of Aberdeen – Dr Stuart Piertney
North Atlantic Fisheries College, Shetland - Dr Tony Hawkins
SIMRAD, Oslo, Norway – Dr Frank Knudsen

Public Awareness and Heritage Week Events
For the last four years Dr Rob McAllen and the Lough Hyne Research Team have been involved in a number of events to raise public awareness of the UCC research at Lough Hyne and the importance of protecting our marine life. These have been in the form of talks and displays largely in conjunction with Ms. Terri Kearney at the Skibereen Heritage Centre. Each August since 2006 during Heritage Week, Rob and various postdocs and students have put on a display of marine life from the Lough where the public (old and young alike) have had the opportunity to see, touch and learn a little more of what is actually living within the depths of the Marine Reserve.

Figure 10: Rob McAllen shows some of Lough Hyne’s Marine Life to the crowd
(Photo: T. Kearney)

Figure 11: Children with starfish at the Touch Tanks
(Photo: T. Kearney)

University College Cork Research facilities

The Renouf laboratory –

The main research lab containing two accommodation rooms upstairs for 10-15 people and is equipped with a kitchen (cooker, fridge, microwave, kettle) and a small communal area. It also houses the UCC dive equipment store. It also has its own boat pontoon and there is access to the rapids and a sheltered bay close by.

Figure 12: The Renouf lab (Photo: R.McAllen)

The John Bohane Laboratory –

Situated on the eastern shore of the rapids with access from the Lough itself or via a path down the Dromadoon hill. The lab contains bench space for four workers and there is a 12-tank water flow through system next to the lab for specimen storage and on-site experimental setups. There is electric on-site.

Figure 13: The John Bohane lab adjacent to the Rapids Below: The Kitching Laboratory (Photos: R.McAllen)

The Kitching Laboratory –

Situated in the southwestern corner of the Lough at Glanafeen. Access is currently via boat only. This lab has ample bench space for experimental work and is very suitable for day teaching. There is a large grass area attached to the lab suitable for camping, but a months advanced notice is required to prepare the site. There is no electric on-site but battery operated lamps are available with recharging by solar panels.

Figure 14: The Kitching Laboratory, Lough Hyne

UCC BOAT
We have onsite a 5m Tornado RIB with a 40hp 4-stroke Yamaha engine for work inside and outside of the marine reserve. In addition there is a 2.5m inflatable.
We also have our own compressor and diving research facilities on site at the Renouf lab.

Bench Fees (as of 1/1/2009)
Undergraduate or Postgraduate student - €10 per day
Researcher / Academic staff – €20 per day
RIB useage charge – €15 per day up to a maximum of €195 for the duration of your trip. (Petrol costs are additional).
Boat deposit (returnable) – €500

Lough Hyne Research permits
Before commencing any research activity (including diving) or specimen collections at Lough Hyne, workers must have obtained a permit from the Marine Reserve warden Mr Patrick Graham. Application forms for permits and contact details of the warden are available from the UCC Lough Hyne administrator Dr Rob McAllen on request.

Our Policy
Priority of lab space and facilities goes to the staff and students of University College Cork. However, because we have ample research space available we will always be as accommodating as possible to interested visiting parties and have successfully accommodated several groups simultaneously in the past. We urge potential users of the facilities at Lough Hyne to contact the Lough Hyne Research Co-ordinator, Dr Rob McAllen as early as possible to discuss requirements and dates of proposed future visits.

Contact Details

Dr Rob McAllen
Lough Hyne Research Co-ordinator
Department of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science
University College Cork
Enterprise Centre
Distillery Fields
North Mall
Cork City
Ireland
Tel: 00 353 21 4904647
Fax: 00 353 21 4904664
E-mail: r.mcallen@ucc.ie

*Accommodation booking form for Lough Hyne research facilities

Please fill out the form below and return to Dr Rob McAllen (address below) at least 4-6 weeks prior to your intended stay.

All potential users should please note the following:

If you are intending to use the Renouf laboratory, you may, at certain times of the year (particularly during the summer) be required to share facilities (including boats) with the UCC Lough Hyne Research Group. You will be given advanced notice of this.
The Kitching Laboratory and the Bohane Laboratory are not available for overnight accommodation. There is camping space around the Kitching lab if enough prior notice is given to enable us to prepare the area.
The Kitching lab has a large area of bench space suitable for experiments or day teaching (max 10-15 students).
The Bohane lab has bench space for 4 workers and has a recently installed 12 tank flow through system adjacent suitable for specimen holding or experimental work.
All divers at Lough Hyne, in connection with UCC research facilities must be covered by Divers Alert Network (DAN) membership (This can be obtained via their website www.daneurope.org) and also have in-date medicals from a recognised diving body. These will be checked before any diving can commence.
Persons wishing to dive must bring their own equipment or hire them locally e.g. from the Baltimore Diving & Watersports Centre (00 353 28 20300)
Visitors are requested to leave the facilities ready for the next group and to take all their rubbish with them upon departure.
Bench fees payment should be made by cheque (in EUROs) and made payable to “ The Department of Zoology, Ecology & Plant Science, UCC”.

Bench Fees (as of 1/1/2008)

E-mail: r.mcallen@ucc.ie

Proposal of intended visit to Lough Hyne

Please fill in the form below:

*Names of researchers (please provide a list of all members of the research party and annotate with those who are students; please attach an additional sheet if necessary**
Dates of intended visit
Please provide insurance details (including policy number) covering your proposed visit)
Renouf lab requirements (2 rooms upstairs for sleeping) max of 6-7 persons per room
Does your research involve SCUBA diving? If yes please provide details of relevant insurance policy information (DAN numbers, policy number and persons covered)
Does your research require the use of the UCC boating facilities (40 hp RIB and inflatable)? A fully refundable deposit of €500 is required at the time of booking if boating facilities are required.
Do you intend to use the Kitching or Bohane Laboratories? If yes, for what purpose?