About Corrib Beo
Founded in 2019, Corrib Beo has grown into an active organisation dedicated to fostering heritage, education, environmental protection, and recreational opportunities around the Corrib region.
Water & Environment
Corrib Beo has recently joined forces with a coalition of angling, farming, and environmental groups committed to restoring and protecting water quality on the Corrib. This alliance, known as the Corrib Catchment Partnership (CCP), includes the East Corrib Alliance, Carra Mask Corrib Water Protection Group, Lough Corrib Angling Federation, Oughterard Angling & Boatmen’s Association, Kilcoona Caherlistrane Group Water Scheme, Cháirde an Chláir, and Corrib Beo.
Evolving from the “Who’s Who on the Corrib” workshop co-hosted by LAWPRO and the Rivers Trust in October 2023, the Corrib Catchment Partnership aims to foster community collaboration for effective water quality management. A robust joint application from the Corrib Catchment Partnership to Ireland’s new Farming for Water EIP scheme was successful, with Corrib Beo as the lead applicant. This positions the CCP as one of five EIP recipients nationally. This funding will support a new agricultural communicator role over the next three years, dedicated to engaging the farming community in initiatives that enhance water quality in the Corrib Catchment.
Corrib Beo were recently invited to present at the LAWPRO/Rivers Trust “Communities Caring for Water” conference in Athlone on November 9th, highlighting both Corrib Beo’s and the Corrib Catchment Partnership’s progress and plans for future development.
Corrib Beo also exhibited their work at the Galway Science and Technology Festival on Sunday, November 10th.
Education
Eco Advocates
Corrib Beo’s Eco Advocates program offers field trip sessions that educate secondary school students on ecological practices and environmental science. Since September, the program has engaged over 130 Transition Year students, featuring tours of Lough Carra and the Oughterard Trout Hatchery. Students gain hands-on experience in water quality assessment by identifying macroinvertebrates through pond-dipping and kick-sampling and learn about the brown trout lifecycle and the pearl mussel’s role as a water quality indicator.
Currently, Eco Advocates is collaborating with the Limerick School of Art and Design on a polyphonic digital collage project, capturing student perspectives on environmental stewardship. Additional classroom sessions will be introduced for primary schools in the Corrib region early in the New Year.
Corrib Beo’s environmental team, EcoEd4All have been busy successfully delivering online training to Education Support Centres Ireland, recently delivering online session to 40 teachers with environmentalist and Patron, Duncan Stewart wrapping up the session.
For more details or to involve your school, visit www.ecoed4all.com or contact ecoadvocate.ty@gmail.com.
Heritage
Place is Not Just a Location
The Corrib Shores: This is Our Place exhibition, curated by Hazel Morrison of Corrib Beo and supported by local authorities, showcases 20 culturally significant sites around Lough Corrib. Running at Galway City Museum until November 30, 2024, this bilingual exhibition features landmarks across Maigh Cuilinn, Collinamuck, Killannin, Oughterard, Cong, Headford, Caherlistrane, Annaghdown, Menlo, and Galway City. Notable sites include a limestone pavement reminiscent of the Burren, a unique pyramid, one of the world’s oldest trout hatcheries, a 17th-century market cross, and Ireland’s only inland lighthouse.
Leas Cathaoirleach Cllr Ollie Turner celebrated the exhibition as “a testament to the hard work and passion communities have for their heritage” . Hazel Morrison of Corrib Beo emphasised the value of meitheal, the tradition of community collaboration, in preserving these meaningful sites.