Galway’s status as home to some of Ireland’s cleanest and unspoilt waterbodies is the subject of a series of new educational booklets launched this week.
John Sharpson, an Irish language teacher and presenter of RTE’s Home School Hub, was the special guest at Scoil na bhForbacha where ‘Connemara Blue Dots: A Precious Resource’ was officially unveiled as part of World Wetlands Day 2024.
Blue Dot waters are regarded as Ireland’s best quality and most natural water bodies considering their high ecological quality and greater diversity of species that are sensitive to pollution.
The bilingual publications illustrate how dozens of Blue Dot Waters throughout West Galway provide top water quality conditions for the country’s most iconic and threatened animal and plant species.
This includes the wild Atlantic salmon, brown trout, artic charr, freshwater pearl mussel and slender naiad, and the areas where they live and thrive.
Councillor Liam Carroll, Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council said, “It is important to acknowledge the good work being carried out by community groups around the county in working to improve and preserve waterbodies and wetlands.”
“The theme for World Wetlands Day 2024 relates to human wellbeing being inextricably linked to the health of the world’s wetlands. All of us must value and steward our wetlands. Every effort to protect and restore them counts.”
Funded through the Local Biodiversity Action Fund by the National Parks & Wildlife Service, the booklets are written and produced by Streamscapes as part of an educational initiative of Galway County Council and the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO).
Their publication follows on from a series of workshops which were delivered to ten Connemara primary schools last autumn and are an action from the current Galway County Heritage & Biodiversity Plan and under the National Blue Dot Catchments Programme coordinated by LAWPRO.
Rosina Joyce, Biodiversity Officer with Galway County Council commented, “Wetlands are a key part of our core identity here in County Galway. Our bogs, rivers, lakes and coastlines define who we are as a people.”
“These booklets inform the readers of the biodiversity treasures found within our Blue Dot ecosystems. It is only by being aware of what we have, that we can begin to take steps to protect it.”
