'Comedy of errors' over weir fish deaths

Members of an Oireachtas committee yesterday strongly criticised the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Department of the Marine for "a comedy of errors" surrounding problems at Lacken weir in Co Kilkenny.

Salmon swimming up the River Nore to spawn have been experiencing difficulties passing the weir after its bed was lowered in the area as part of a controversial flood relief scheme in Kilkenny.

The OPW yesterday accepted, at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, that 25 salmon had died last year trying to jump the weir.

However local politicians and anglers believe the figure to be higher.

The OPW said the deaths, though regrettable, had to be viewed in the context of a salmon run of 5,000 fish.

The committee heard that an original fish pass constructed at the weir had been too short as a result of inaccurate data about water levels given to the OPW by external consultants.

A Department of the Marine engineer, John O'Keeffe, said an extended fish pass at the weir was now hydraulically working perfectly. However, he accepted that salmon were having difficulty locating it.

Fine Gael Senator Fergal Browne said that OPW Minister Tom Parlon had gone on local radio and criticised "silly fish".

Fianna Fáil deputy John McGuinness criticised a report presented yesterday by the OPW as a "whitewash". He said there was not a shred of credibility to the figures in it.

He said salmon were being forced to spawn in parts of the river where no-one could remember such activity previously.

Mr McGuinness said that the OPW was "a laughing stock" for what was going on at the weir and that all the agency was short of doing was installing sign posts for the fish.

Fianna Fáil Senator Brendan Kenneally said the whole issue was ludicrous and was highly embarrassing for all the agencies involved.

Fine Gael deputy Bernard Durkan said that if Laurel and Hardy were still alive that they would be inspired by what they heard of the handling of the issue.

The chairman of the OPW, Seán Benton, said he accepted there were problems at the weir but believed that it was a far cry from constituting a crisis or ecological disaster.

"I fully accept however that the passage of salmon is being impeded. The problem is that salmon are having difficulty finding the fish passes, are having to spend too long at the weir and many of them are jumping at the weir itself rather than moving directly through the fish pass," he said.

Mr Benton said temporary measures to facilitate the passage of salmon had been put in place and that video evidence showed that this was working.