“As I drOve to ports and coastal locations I have in my car a badge. It says in capital letters: ‘JOBS FROM THE SEA – IRELAND’S FORGOTTEN RESOURCE.”
I wrote those words in ‘Sherkin Comment’ in 2009. That badge and that quarterly publication were the products of Matt Murphy, a constant reminder to me of what the marine sphere should mean to this island nation.
With the strong support of his late wife, Eileen and family, he devoted a lifetime to marine research, promoting the importance of the sea. Over many years I met Matt, at his international conferences, held in the Imperial Hotel on Cork’s South Mall where he would assemble an impressive range of speakers. To his exhibitions at the ITGWU’s Connolly Hall, he would convey, with family and community support through amazing ability and determination, water tanks containing marine species from Sherkin Island waters to show the public inhabitants of the sea.
“A Cork City boy who became an islander and proud of it,” was his own description.
His research station on Sherkin expanded over the years to encompass a huge volume of maritime publications, a library and centre where marine students learnt and experts discussed.
Widely respected, his lack of professional qualifications was sometimes challenged, but Matt never faltered, as I remember from a report I broadcast on September 11, 2000 headlined – “Sherkin Marine Research Station celebrates a quarter of a century’s work which has defied the Establishment. Opposed by intellectuals, universities and the Irish government, the independently-run Sherkin Island Marine Station, is celebrating 25 years.”
Seeking his response to criticism about professional qualifications,” Matt told me: “The academics have so much to offer and yet they have failed to deliver on the marine environment. I know that I was not particularly popular, but they came around to respect us through the quality of the research work done on the island and how it proved itself. I think it has made an impact in Ireland.”
Indeed it has, dealing with the threat of ‘Red tide’; ‘harmful algae,’ supporting the future of aquaculture, expressing his concern about the destruction of the fishing industry, damage to coastal communities and many other topics. Sherkin Marine Station raised State and public appreciation and understanding of the marine sphere and the potential of the sea to create jobs. A baseline data on the marine life of the coast from Cork Harbour, West Cork and Bantry Bay is a seminal achievement.
I was unaware of his death until after his funeral. So this week I stood at the edge of Cork Harbour in Monkstown where I live, remembering his fundamental belief in the sea; “I believe in people who earn their living from the sea, those who live by the sea. We should all believe in the importance of the sea.”
