Dublin Bay is an important maritime area, both in terms of anthropogenic activity and the marine
species that inhabit it. It hosts Ireland’s busiest port, is a popular area for marine recreational activities
and has a number of EU Designated habitats through Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas
of Conservation (SACs).
This PhD study aims to assess the impact of dredging and vessel traffic activities on harbour porpoise to be assessed as well as explore temporal and geographic trends in the use of the bay. Porpoise behaviour and habitat use will be investigated and modelled together with abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic noise.
This project is funded by Dublin Port and RPS Consulting Engineers and will support our PhD candidate Fiona Cummins
