As you read this article now and tonight as you sleep, out at sea lies much of the hardware that informs the learning of the Marine Institute. Out there, where nobody goes but the brave and the birds, bob the weather and data buoys that captured the ferocity of the recent storm that lashed the west coast of Ireland.
Dr Rick Officer, CEO of the Marine Institute, stands at the helm of this crucial organisation. An Australian who has made Ireland his home for over two decades, he leads the body responsible for monitoring the seas and gathering research to inform marine policy. Ireland, an island nation, oversees a vast marine territory—seven times the size of its land area—making the role of the Marine Institute all the more significant. And it is about to become even more central.
At a time of great geopolitical change, the importance of accurate marine research and data has never been greater. The ocean space is set to become more crowded than ever before, with renewable energy facilities, underwater data and communication cables, and an increasing focus on marine protection. The Marine Institute plays a key role in ensuring these developments are informed, sustainable, and beneficial to Ireland’s economy and environment.
On the day of my visit, 30 Transition Year students are on work placement at the Institute, gaining firsthand insight into the research and science that drive Ireland’s maritime industries. This growing interest in marine sciences reflects a broader awareness of the opportunities within Ireland’s ocean economy and in Dr Officer’s welcome address to them, he points out the potential for career that exists in this field and how the role of the Institute is to inform their own future decisions.
The Marine Institute’s 2024 Ocean Economy Report highlights the sector’s strength, with nearly 40,000 people employed in maritime jobs and an annual turnover of €6.5 billion. Offshore renewable energy is one such emerging area of focus, and the Institute is committed to guiding its development responsibly.
Coexistence
The Marine Institute’s role in this sector is crucial. Dr Officer emphasises that development must be balanced with environmental protection and coexistence with traditional maritime industries.
“The Institute and the information we garner has a strong role in making sure that those developments go where they should, that they’re located with mitigation to impacts on the environment, and really importantly, in coexistence and without conflict with the established marine and maritime industries,” he explains.
“There’s no reason why all of that can’t occur, but it requires a whole lot of planning, conversation, and cooperation. That’s where we sit—providing the information that enables good discussions and good decisions.”
Internationally, Ireland’s Marine Institute punches well above its weight. “One of the things that I’m really proud of is the amount of representation that Ireland has through the Institute on international committees and bodies,” says Officer. “We already do punch above our weight here, with a number of chairs of international working groups and senior positions in all sorts of organisations.”
At a time when the political appreciation of research and knowledge is being undermined in some economies, the Institute is glad to fly the flag for integrity and independent analysis of the marine space.
“From the European Marine Board to the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas, and even the World Organization for Animal Health, Irish expertise is at the forefront of global marine science and policy,” Dr Officer says proudly.
The Institute’s technological infrastructure is another key pillar of its work. Its buoy network, maintained in collaboration with Met Éireann for nearly 20 years, provides real-time data critical for weather forecasting and marine safety. The benefit of this was apparent in the recent Storm Eowyn with the early information about wind speed.
“It was actually the buoy network that was deployed by the Institute in collaboration with Met Éireann that gave us the first wind speeds—we’ve been maintaining that service for coming up to 20 years now,” Dr Officer explains. “That network was able to inform the planning for the storm, forecast the weather that was coming. And that buoy network operated without a blip during the storm. We recorded waves over 20 metres at one of those buoys—which is absolutely phenomenal. That’s the height of a seven-storey building. It’s enormous,” he said.
Looking ahead, Dr Officer sees marine spatial planning as a crucial focus area. “There’s going to be a lot around potentially competitive use of marine space. So trying to turn that from a competition into a collaboration is the goal—that requires good marine spatial planning,” he says.
“We’re keen to consolidate our services to government and industry in that area.” He also said that he is proud that the Institute and its research is seen as an honest broker in the often contentious field of marine planning.
Marine protection is also a growing priority.
“Marine Protected Areas are listed in the new programme for government,” he points out. “There’s a new regulation in Europe around nature restoration, which fits with that conservation and biodiversity protection agenda. I’m hoping and expecting that the Marine Institute will have a strong role in knitting these things together, delivering them in a cohesive manner.”
Collaboration
The Marine Institute’s reach extends beyond Ireland through international collaborations. This has been going on for a number of years now through various European funding programmes,” Dr Officer says. “We have a new programme called Aquarius, which is essentially a consortium of research vessels across Europe and the infrastructures that can be deployed from those vessels. So that means that an Irish researcher, if they want to work on an icebreaker, can find access through this programme to a German icebreaker, or if they want to work in some sort of mesocosm experiment, they can find access to that. And the Irish infrastructures are therefore put up into this as well. It means that we can collaborate internationally, and that knits together this cohesion across Europe.”
Ireland’s seabed holds an extraordinary wealth of information and the INFOMAR mapping has produced some extraordinary images that fascinate the public.
“Understanding the depth, and understanding the seabed characteristics, is so important for locating offshore developments, including energy, telecommunications, pipelines, and cables,” he says. “But there’s also this huge public interest in shipwrecks as well. We’ve had huge public engagement over the location of shipwrecks.
“These are archaeological sites, war graves in many cases, and sometimes they’re very ecologically important reef habitats. And sometimes they pose ecological risks as well. They may be carrying cargoes with unexploded ordnance. There are all sorts of dimensions to this.”
One of Dr Officer’s key priorities is ensuring that the Marine Institute’s work is communicated clearly to the public. “What I’d like to focus on this year is relating that impact—actually explaining in very relatable terms what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and why it’s important. That will be a priority for me and for the team here.”
In a time of rapid change, the Marine Institute is committed to remaining an objective and trusted voice in marine research. Galway is proud to be home to this wonderful facility, this robust structure on our coast, and home to the ongoing conversation about our interaction with the seas.
As Ireland’s marine space becomes increasingly vital to its future, the Institute will continue to guide the conversation, ensuring that economic growth and environmental stewardship go hand in hand.
