Maharees wins national award for work to save endangered coastline

THE Maharees Conservation Association, which formed in February 2016 with the aim of saving the sandy peninsula from coastal erosion, has been awarded the national Clean Coasts ‘Ocean Hero’ Group of the Year award 2017

The Maharees is under siege from the sea, which is eroding the land at a rate of one metre per year and threatens to cut off the community living at the tip of the peninsula. When there’s a severe storm the rate of erosion is much more dramatic and locals witnessed 19 meters of commonage at Maharabeg disappear into the sea during storm Darwin in 2014.

If the constant erosion can’t be stopped the Maharees will literally be washed away, and since 2016 the Maharees Conservation Association CLG has been working with the local community to protect the coastline. This has involved planting marram grass to stop exposed sand dunes blowing away in the wind, and winning the support of agencies such as Kerry County Council, the OPW and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The group is also working closely with Dr Eugene Farrell of NUIG, who is conducting ongoing surveys into the causes and effects of erosion at the Maharees with the aim of developing a longterm strategy for protecting the peninsula. And, along with all that, they were able to find time for a very successful beach clean up this autumn.

Chair of Maharees Conservation Association, Martin Lynch said: ‘We owe a lot of our success to the agencies and groups who have been our partners in much of our work to date: Clean Coasts and our excellent Clean Coasts rep Susan Vickers; the Kerry County Council Biodiversity Officer Cathy Fisher, Area Engineer Colm Nagle and Senior Engineer Gerry Riordan; Dr Eugene Farrell of NUI Galway; the NPWS; IT Tralee; Chair of the Maharees Working Group Minister Brendan Griffin TD and Cllrs Michael O’Shea and Seamus Cosai MacGearailt. We would also like to thank the Maharees community and visitors for their help and for respecting our dune system.”

Maharees Conservation Association members (back, from left) Aidan O’Connor, Jackie Bowler, Huw Roberts, Katherine Syme, Patricia Browne, Martin Lynch, Denny Cronin and Martha Farrell with (front, fromleft) DaraghO’Connor,AnnaRoberts,Jemma Skinner,...