USA to Killary Harbour
by Tim Ryan, Local Aids to Navigation Inspector
Occasionally on my inspection and audit visits around the coast I come across a challenging requirement, and endeavour to work with the Local Lighthouse Authority (LLA) to come up with an effective solution at a reasonable cost.
Mayo County Council is the Local Lighthouse Authority with responsibility for the provision and maintenance of Local Aids to Navigation (LATON) along the county's coastline. Their jurisdiction incorporates the ports of Westport, Newport, Kilalla, and Ballina amongst others. Killary Harbour sits on the boundary of Counties Galway and Mayo, and in 2008 Mayo County Council in partnership with Galway County Council installed a number of lighted Aids to Navigation (ATON) to improve the safety of navigation into this deep water refuge.
Local users had requested that the Council install a buoy or beacon to mark the Black Rocks on the approach to Killary Harbour, which are covered at high water and pose a hazard to vessels transiting the area to or from the north. It was impractical to establish a beacon on the rocks and therefore the establishment of a buoy to the south west was deemed to be the most appropriate course of action. Due to the exposed nature of the location and the depth of water a substantial buoy was required at potentially a significant cost.
During one of my visits to Ballina, a Council engineer queried if The Killala Buoy would be appropriate for this application. The Killala Buoy turned out to be a US Coast Guard (USCG) buoy which had drifted across the Atlantic a few years previously and been recovered by the Kilalla Coast Guard in 1991 as it posed a hazard to vessels in the area.
The buoy was partially submerged in a field but appeared to be complete and in reasonable condition. The USCG were contacted and while they were reluctant to send a ship to collect their wayward buoy, they were more than happy for Mayo County Council to recycle it for use at the Killary site. The Council removed the buoy to their machinery yard where they cleaned, repaired, and painted the buoy restoring it back to useful condition. The buoy was fitted with a Sealite SLC500 self contained solar led lantern, complete with GSM communications and GPS location tracking.
Having applied for and received Statutory Sanction to establish the buoy, the Council approached Irish Lights with a view to deploying it when ILV Granuaile was next in the area. The buoy was loaded onboard Granuaile on 14 October, and deployed at the entrance to Killary Harbour on 27 October. The buoy's new lease of life finds it established as a port hand lateral buoy at position 53°38.056'N, 009°53.385'W.
This is a perfect example of co-operation between local, general and international lighthouse authorities to deliver an appropriate and cost effective Aid to Navigation.