We attended a Seasearch Refresher Course in Lahinch and Doolin July 17th and 18th.

John Breen gave a very interesting lecture on the marine life that we are likely to see on a dive and how to identify it. He gave us an introduction to all kinds of life; seaweeds, worms, nudibranchs, anenomes, fish etc...

We had a visit to Sea World (http://www.lahinchseaworld.com/) to view some of the specimens in real life.They have sea horses, an octopus with eggs in its lair, breeding lobsters and their young at all stages, and many other exhibits too numerous to mention. It was a school tour for divers .

Sunday we had 2 lovely dives from Doolin and we filled in our seasearch observation forms. This course adds a new challenge to diving. It is amazing how many different species we see on each dive.

figure 1. Burren divers

"Seasearch aims to widen our knowledge of marine life and habitats.

The information gathered will be put into a database and helps everybody responsible for marine conservation to identify what is special about different areas,what may be affecting them and come up with informed strategies for their protection".

For more information, check the web site: http://www.seasearch.co.uk/