EXPLORE YOUR SHORE, Galway 2025
Let’s Explore Your Shore, Galway Style
If you are interested in championing Biodiversity, then becoming an Explore Your Shore Champion is a great opportunity to challenge yourself and do something great for science!
There is no better exercise than walking along the canals, rivers, forests, and beaches searching for biodiversity and marine Bio-indicators.
After a while of Exploring you will start to notice that you become much better at spotting new insights, for example when you first start exploring the shore, it can be a daunting task. After walking around for ages, you just cannot seem to see anything, however, if you stick at it your ‘eye’ will go from ‘urban to the environment’, which means that you will start to see more biodiversity.
It is an amazing experience to understand how to see biodiversity, and it is only learned by experience, so everyone can learn!
Marine Bio-indicators
A marine bio-indicator is a marine species or community (e.g. intertidal community) that is regularly observed to track changes in their population, health, or other signs. These changes help us understand the condition or quality of the marine or coastal environment and can be used to track human impacts on our seas.
There are so many resources and roles available for all walkers to learn about Explore Your Shore.
In 2025 The Aquarium has completed three Seashore Spotter experiences and we have also recorded some of the Birds we saw as we walked from our river to the seashore.
Our Hopes for Explore Your Shore, 2025
As we move into PRIME Explore Your Shore Recording Time, we hope:
To encourage more people to Explore Your Shore, by sharing some cool images and videos of the life found along the shore.
To discover 3 NEW Species that have never been recorded on Grattan Beach, Salthill, Galway City.
To improve our macro photography and record more of the flora and fauna beside the shore.
To find and record a Glass eel.
To improve our video and interpretation.
These goals are quite challenging, but we are looking forward to exploring the shore as it is really rewarding and good for your physical health.
Recommended Reads
- The Essential Guide to Rockpooling, by Julie Hatcher and Steve Trewhella
2. Ireland’s Seashore by Lucy Taylor
3. A Beginner’s Guide to Ireland’s Seashore, by Helena Challinor
Galway Atlantaquaria wishes and welcomes our new Explore Your Shore Champions the very best of luck, and we hope you fall in love with the Rockpools of Galway City & County.