About Sherkin Island Marine Station

How it began

In June 1975 Matt and Eileen organised a course for adults about oil pollution on the rocky shore, under the guidance of one of the world’s experts on oil pollution on the rocky shore, Dr Jenny Baker, from the British-based Field Study Council in Wales. It struck Matt and Eileen at the time that no monitoring programme of the rocky shore was being undertaken in Ireland by any institute or university so they decided to set up a field study centre (later to be known as Sherkin Island Marine Station) to undertake such a project. As the years progressed, they expanded the number of projects and when Eileen died in 1979, Matt continued their work.

Matt and Eileen in the 1970s, with two of the seven children.

Volunteers

Matt and Eileen realised that the only way for the Marine Station to function was to have the help of volunteers. Since 1975, well over 500 volunteers came to work at the Marine Station, mostly staying from April to October each year. Volunteers were mainly post-graduates who trained in a relevant field and included marine biologists, botanists, ornithologists, entomologists, photographers, zoologists, oceanographers, geologists and librarians. Most volunteers would say that the station was a tough and spartan place to work, which it was. So often, particularly in those early years, it survived from day to day.

Over the years, Matt and Eileen’s seven children played a vital role in the running of the Station and without them the Station would not have been possible.

Matt takes great pride in the fact that so many of Sherkin’s “bods” (as they are affectionately called) are spread throughout dozens of countries and that the Station gave them practical fieldwork experience. The “bods” who have come to the Marine Station over the years have helped make it what it is today. Some former volunteers have continued to be a wonderful help to the Station, long after they have left Sherkin and pursued their careers.

The Station over the years

The Station carried out many surveys on Sherkin Island and throughout Roaringwater Bay and beyond, since its foundation in 1975. It had two major monitoring programmes: the first on the Rocky Shore ran from 1975 to 2015 and the second programme, the monitoring of phytoplankton ran from 1978 to 2014.

Other surveys carried out at the Station included terrestrial plants, zooplankton, otters, birds, sponges, rockpools, seaweeds, sublittoral, sandy beaches, mudflats, and insects such as beetles, bees, flies, butterflies and moths.

Over the years, the Station broadened its aim. Not only did it record data from a wide range of plant and animal communities, but it also tried to raise the level of awareness of the marine environment in Ireland through conferences, exhibitions, publications, and school visits.

Its Survival

It was not easy running a Marine Station, especially on an
island. As it survived without State funding for its surveys, Matt had to hustle the highways and byways for funding. Countless people helped the Station over the years, too numerous to mention. In the early days, they lent microscopes and other essential equipment and in subsequent years a myriad of items was donated, from stationary to test tubes. Help was given in a host of ways, from construction to painting to cooking, as well as the sponsoring of such things as publications and competitions. The list is endless!

Survival from 1975 was tough financially but the plus side was the Station’s independence and ability to decide for itself which projects it undertook. Matt believes that many years of data collecting are vital if one is to even attempt to interpret the complexities of nature, work which he feels would not be funded long-term by government or state bodies. Its independence also meant that the Station could raise and comment on sensitive environmental issues.

Matt is immensely proud of the Station’s achievements and the monitoring programmes it ran and is looking forward to seeing the ongoing archiving of the Station’s work being put up online.

For further information about Sherkin Island Marine Station visit: www.sherkinmarine.ie