Matt Murphy
Matt Murphy died in March 2025, having dedicated nearly five decades to environmental conservation and education through Sherkin Island Marine Station, which he founded with his wife Eileen in 1975 on Sherkin Island. What began with a handful of donated books grew into an internationally recognised station conducting long-term environmental surveys in plankton, marine life, terrestrial plants, birds, and more, all with the help of over 500 volunteers. The plankton survey work carried out by the station was globally unique. The data from this, collected for over four decades, was recently made available to researchers worldwide. Though he did not have a formal third-level education, he accomplished remarkable things as a conservationist and educator and strongly believed that commonsense was a vital part of his success. Matt was adamant that early education was the key to igniting an interest in the environment. Over fifty publications were produced by the station to educate young people about protecting the natural world. Though he achieved a lot in his long and varied life, his greatest legacy was simpler: raising seven children who worked alongside him and keeping his family together through it all.
How it began
In June 1975 Matt and Eileen organised a course for adults about oil pollution on the rocky shore, under the guidance of one of the world’s experts on oil pollution on the rocky shore, Dr Jenny Baker, from the British-based Field Study Council in Wales. It struck Matt and Eileen at the time that no monitoring programme of the rocky shore was being undertaken in Ireland by any institute or university so they decided to set up a field study centre (later to be known as Sherkin Island Marine Station) to undertake such a project. As the years progressed, they expanded the number of projects and when Eileen died in 1979, Matt continued their work.
Volunteers
Matt and Eileen realised that the only way for the Marine Station to function was to have the help of volunteers. Since 1975, well over 500 volunteers came to work at the Marine Station, mostly staying from April to October each year. Volunteers were mainly post-graduates who trained in a relevant field and included marine biologists, botanists, ornithologists, entomologists, photographers, zoologists, oceanographers, geologists and librarians. Most volunteers would say that the station was a tough and spartan place to work, which it was. So often, particularly in those early years, it survived from day to day.
Over the years, Matt and Eileen’s seven children played a vital role in the running of the Station. Without them the Station would not have been possible.
Matt took great pride in the fact that so many of Sherkin’s “bods” (as they were affectionately called) are spread throughout dozens of countries and that the Station gave them practical fieldwork experience. The “bods” who came to the Marine Station over the years helped make it what it was. Some former volunteers continued to be a wonderful help to the Station, long after they left Sherkin and pursued their careers.
The Station over the years
The Station carried out many surveys on Sherkin Island and throughout Roaringwater Bay and beyond, since its foundation in 1975. It had two major monitoring programmes: the first on the Rocky Shore ran from 1975 to 2015 and the second programme, the monitoring of phytoplankton ran from 1978 to 2014.
Other surveys carried out at the Station included terrestrial plants, zooplankton, otters, birds, sponges, rockpools, seaweeds, sublittoral, sandy beaches, mudflats, and insects such as beetles, bees, flies, butterflies and moths.
Over the years, the Station broadened its aim. Not only did it record data from a wide range of plant and animal communities, but it also tried to raise the level of awareness of the marine environment in Ireland through conferences, exhibitions, publications, and school visits.
Its Survival
It was not easy running a Marine Station, especially on an island. As it survived without State funding for its surveys, Matt had to hustle the highways and byways for funding. Countless people helped the Station over the years, too numerous to mention. In the early days, they lent microscopes and other essential equipment; in later years, donations ranged from stationery to test tubes. Assistance came in many forms—construction, painting, cooking—as well as sponsorship of publications and competitions. The list is endless.
Financial survival from 1975 onward was difficult, but this brought a significant advantage: the Station’s independence and freedom to choose its own projects. Matt believed that collecting data over many years was vital to understanding nature’s complexities—work he felt government or state bodies would be unwilling to fund long-term. This independence also allowed the Station to raise and comment on sensitive environmental issues without constraint.
Matt took immense pride in the Station’s achievements and the monitoring programmes it ran. It is hoped his dream of making much of the Station’s archived work accessible online will soon be realised.
