This article is from page 16 of the 2011-05-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
DINGLE business interests’ success in making the West Kerry town a haven for tourists on the back of the bay being home to one dolphin over the past 28 years contrasts sharply with West Clare’s failure to cash on the tourism potential of Shannon Estuary dolphins.
The May monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council heard councillors bemoan the fact that West Clare is the poor relation to Dingle when it comes to dolphin-watching tourism.
“Dingle have one dolphin and they’ve managed to make a multimillion euro industry out of it over the years,” said Cllr Ian Lynch.
“The Shannon Estuary has a family of dolphins, but we don’t seem to be able to market this properly and we haven’t exploited the resource that we have.”
This has led to calls for the Gateway to Shannon Dolphins Committee to make renewed efforts to kickstart the dolphin-watching industry on the estuary.
This committee was established a number of years ago but last Thursday’s meeting heard that it has been inactive over the last number years.
“The committee is led by Paul Edson, with the help of Dr Simon Berrow [Irish Whale and Dolphin Group], but it hasn’t met for the last couple of years,” revealed town clerk, John Corry.
“There is huge potential for the Shannon dolphin project and it should be developed, because it’s something that’s unique to the estuary and we should do everything to market this,” said Cllr Tom Prendeville.