Discovering The Fishery Exchange – Where Art, Ecology and Community Converge

On 31 August 2025, at The Station House, Carlingford, local community members, artists, scientists and seafood producers gathered for the opening of The Fishery Exchange — an exhibition born from a creative–scientific collaboration under the Shifting Tides project.

In The Fishery Exchange, art became far more than framed pictures. The work emerged through meaningful collaboration between oyster farmers, visual artists, oral history collectors, scientists and researchers — all reflecting on the potential for ecological restoration within the lough. Together, they explored the interdependence of community, heritage, economy and habitat, and the cultural context of this coastal zone.

After over a year of exchanges and arts development, the resulting exhibition featured multi-media works inspired by a simple but powerful idea: that healthy marine ecosystems and thriving coastal communities go hand in hand.

The Fishery Exchange Project was initiated by visual artist Suzanne Carroll, whose research-led, environmentally focused practice brought together a cross-border network of collaborators. Contributing artists include stained-glass artist Helen Marry, sculptural and mixed-media artist Fiona Kerbey, filmmaker Declan Mallon, and composer and sound artist Karen Power. Scientific and marine-based partners include Heidi McIlvenny of Queen’s University Belfast, Sarah McLean of the Loughs Agency, and oyster farmer Kian Louët-Feisser of Carlingford Oyster Company, along with unnamed oyster-farming brothers on the northern shore near Greencastle. Additional community voices featured in the project’s oral histories include Kathleen Elmore, Dan McKevitt, and Peter McGuigan, recorded as part of Declan Mallon’s documentary work. The project also involved heritage collaborators such as Harry McCarthy and the Carlingford Heritage Trust.

Together, these artists, scientists, producers, and community partners shaped a collaborative exploration of Carlingford Lough’s cultural and ecological history—contributing artworks, oral histories, scientific expertise, and local knowledge. Their roles span artistic creation (Carroll, Marry, Kerbey, Power), documentary and audio archiving (Mallon), marine science and ecological research (McIlvenny, McLean), aquaculture practice and traditional knowledge (Louët-Feisser and fellow oyster farmers), and cultural heritage stewardship (McCarthy and Carlingford Heritage Trust). Through their combined efforts, the project examines oyster restoration, coastal biodiversity, underwater soundscapes, and intergenerational relationships with the lough’s waters, forming a collective narrative of environmental connection and stewardship.

What the Videos Capture

The two accompanying videos take viewers deeper into the themes and processes behind the exhibition:

Video 1 documents how artists and scientists worked together with oyster farmers from both shores of Carlingford Lough — capturing field excursions, oyster beds, community dialogue and site visits around the lough.

Video 2 features reflections from lead artist Suzanne Carroll, who shares insights on what the artists created and learned, and the stories that emerged — from both the past and from those whose livelihoods remain tied to the lough today.

The exhibition was more than a static display, rather it was a living narrative that continues in Carlingford Lough into the future.

Why It Matters

The Fishery Exchange reminds us that a “fishery” is not just about catching fish — it’s about ecosystem health, sea space and community resilience, linked to the cultural life of a place.

Raising awareness of sustainable practice in the arts, science and oyster farming highlights the possibilities for change. It asks, ‘how can local people actively participate in ecological restoration’ rather than remaining passive observers of negative impacts on their environment.

It invites everyone to rethink their relationship with the shore, the tidal waters and the life beneath the surface.

The Shifting Tides Project

The Shifting Tides project is a multi-disciplinary initiative combining ecology, citizen science, community engagement, and the creative arts. It emphasises local voices and participation: communities on both shores of Carlingford Lough are central to shaping the work, rather than being mere recipients of it.

The Fishery Exchange was supported in the project’s second year because it moved beyond arts-based practice that raises awareness of issues, to new ways to engage people in truly meaningful change. Carlingford Lough is not simply a backdrop — it is the living subject. The project has resulted in the scientist’s seeking feasibility research funding to support the oyster farms to grow native oysters alongside their commercial production. The artists and audiences became people who looked beneath the surface of a place they might pass every day. The oral history, underwater sounds and exploration of the very materials art is made from Shifted perspectives that support connection with the Lough and each other in new ways

What Does “Shifting Tides” Mean?

The name Shifting Tides refers not only to the literal tides of a coastal estuary — so vital to those who live, work and study in and around the lough — but also to the metaphorical shifts it represents:

• shifts in mindset,

• shifts in relationships with the sea,

• shifts in how we value marine heritage, and

• shifts in how we integrate disciplines that have long operated in isolation.

By blending science and art, the project helped catalyse its own “shifting baseline” — enabling people from diverse backgrounds to see what the lough once was, what it is now, and what it could become.

An Invitation to Look Beneath the Surface

The two videos accompanying The Fishery Exchange, along with the broader narrative of the Shifting Tides project, extend an open invitation: to look, to listen and to learn. Whether you have grown up by the lough or are just passing through, they ask you to consider: 

What is the sea to you? What does it hold? And — crucially — how might you become part of its story?

Watch the videos and reflect on how your own shoreline might hold hidden potential, unseen stories and possibilities where community, ecology and creativity can meet.