Monday 4th Feb 10:00.
The fishing trawler Celestial Dawn, which foundered on rocks by Dingle lighthouse on Saturday, has survived the night without any further damage, and no more oil has been released into the sea.
Monday 4th Feb 12:00.
A meeting of the powers-that-be was held this morning, at which it was decided to secure the vessel where she is lying now. Divers will then be brought in to examine the extent of the damage more closely - but this will not happen before Tuesday or more likely Wednesday.
We are all relieved to hear that it was agreed at the meeting that pollution control and the welfare of the dolphin are being treated as the highest priority.
Monday 4th Feb 16:00
The dolphin is swimming around as normal and just now was mainly in the channel narrows rather than by the wrecked trawler. No oil is visible but there is still quite a strong smell near the wreck itself. There is no boat activity today and no one has been in swimming yet so we have not seen him close to. The sea is very churned up and there is debris around as well it being cold and windy so it is not ideal swimming conditions.
A Department of the Marine spokesperson gave an interview with Radio Kerry this afternoon in which he confirmed the plan of action we reported this morning. A small floating boom has been fixed around the boat but in our opinion it would not actually do much to hold back an oil spill unless the weather was flat calm, which it is not. The winds are still gusting strongly at times and there is nothing happening just yet in terms of the salvage operations.
Graham Timmins
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