Works on River Deel to improve spawning beds
Local anglers have welcomed enhancement works on the River Deel in Westmeath to improve spawning beds for salmon, trout and lamprey and the habitat of all creatures that live there.
Pool and gravel areas have been installed to restore habitats and provide important ecological niches for trout and salmon in different stages of their lifecycles. Stock-proof fencing will promote the growth of riverine plants that help with water quality as they serve as a buffer zone to suck up excessive run-off nutrients. This will make the river more robust in its fight against the effects of climate change.
The enhancement project will also benefit the wider ecological community such as otters, kingfishers, lamprey, crayfish, insect life and a host of species that depend on insects.
The secretary/ treasurer of the Deel and Boyne Anglers Association, Paddy Connaughton from Joristown, Raharney, said that great work has been done that will be “very beneficial over the years”. He was particularly loud in his praise of the Office of Public Works saying that anglers could not have done it without their help.
Mr Connaughton said the Deel and Boyne Anglers Association is 90 years old and had up to 200 members in the past, but numbers have dropped to about 40. He explained that this is because of growth on the rivers due to pollution, a problem in all rivers, that is making it difficult to fish.
The Deel is about 28 miles long, rising at Lough Adeel in Fore and flowing on through two little lakes in Dysart, under the Delvin/ Collinstown road, on to Raharney and Killyon and into the Boyne, Mr Connaughton explained.
Angler, Pat O’Toole from Trim said that “by doing these works we are improving the habitat for our Atlantic salmon, brown trout and lamprey that use these areas to spawn”.
“We have carried out these works on other spawning streams and it was very success. On one area alone the fry count went up from 22 before the works to 92 after.”
This project is part of a programme that began on the Boyne/ Kells Blackwater system during the summer, in a collaboration between Inland Fisheries Ireland, the Office of Public Works, local angling clubs, the Boyne Catchment Angling Association and landowners.
The OPW provided manpower and machinery. The Inland Fisheries National Strategy for Angling Development helped co-ordinate the project and the local Inland Fisheries staff provided the plan and crucial on-site technical support.
Angling clubs received great cross party support to kick-start this working arrangement from elected representatives, Helen McEntee, Imelda Munster, Thomas Byrne, Shane Cassells and Peadar Tóibín.
The then fisheries minister, Sean Canney, initiated the scheme, which will ensure habitat enhancement will continue on an ongoing basis in the Boyne Special Area of Conservation. The anglers have now invited the present fisheries minister, Eamon Ryan, to visit the River Deel to view at first-hand the enhancement project.