Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over the waters has been in dispute since the Partition of Ireland. Flora and fauna Flora A survey of Lough Foyle was made between March 1937 and June 1939 by Helen Blackler. In this, a map shows the distribution of certain species of algae in the lough and a full annotated list of the algae recorded along with photographs of the different sites. The list included: Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Phaeophyceae, Rhodophyceae, lichens and two species of Zostera. The marine algae of Lough Foyle are also included in Morton (2003). Fauna The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has a reserve at the lough. Transport In 1792 the four-mile Strabane Canal was constructed from the tidal waters of Lough Foyle at Leck, to Strabane. The canal fell into disuse in 1962. In June 2006 the Strabane Lifford Development Commission awarded a £1.3m cross-border waterways restoration contract. The project involves the restoration of one and a half miles of canal and two locks to working order. Work began on the Lough Foyle side of the canal in the summer of 2006, but by 2010 the partial restoration was deemed unsatisfactory and the local council refused to continue to maintain the canal. The Broharris Canal was constructed in the 1820s when a cut – some two miles long on the south shore of Lough Foyle near Ballykelly – was made in the direction of Limavady. It served both as a drainage channel and a navigation, with goods being brought from the Londonderry Port, and shellfish and kelp from the sandbanks along the shore. In the summertime, a ferry service operates between Greencastle and Magilligan across Lough Foyle. Railway travel Northern Ireland Railways runs from Londonderry railway station along the scenic shore of Lough Foyle – with views of Inishowen in County Donegal as well as the Atlantic Ocean – via Coleraine to Belfast Central and Great Victoria Street. The strategically important Belfast–Derry railway line is to be upgraded to facilitate more frequent trains and improvements to the permanent way, such as track and signalling to enable faster services. From Londonderry railway station the next stop is Bellarena followed by Castlerock then Coleraine