Mr. Patrick Lyne:

We do not have an acoustic monitoring network. We monitor seismic surveys. Basically, that is a desk-based operation and we monitor shipping noise based on AIS, which is essentially desk-based as well. In July 2018 we had an event off the coast of Mayo which, to the best of my knowledge, resulted in the largest mass stranding of beaked whales anywhere in the world. From memory, we had around 64 or 65 - maybe it was 56; I cannot remember - Cuvier's beaked whales. A number of species ended up dead on the beaches in Scotland and Ireland. This could potentially, based on research, represent over 50% of the population of Cuvier's beaked whales in Ireland. That all happened potentially on one day in July. All the indicators are that it was an acoustic event by a foreign navy operating in Irish waters. We do not have any control, we do not have any monitoring ability and we have nothing in place to prevent that from happening again. If this were a marine protected area, it would just be a sorry state of affairs. We cannot maintain populations if we do not monitor what is happening under the water. It is absolutely crucial that we have the ability to monitor acoustically and we do not have that. The Marine Institute does not have a hydrophone, as far as I know. The Naval Service does not have a hydrophone. The only hydrophones that exist in the State are in the possession of third level colleges and NGOs, and one is with a company involved with wind farms.