Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2012
355. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 390, if it is the case that only six of the eighty five sites surveyed are located downstream of Carlow town and if this is the case the way it can be regarded as catchment wide and if he will ask the IFI to address this anomaly. [53926/12]
View answerI am advised by Inland Fisheries Ireland that catchment wide electro-fishing is undertaken in juvenile salmon habitat close to shallow spawning redds and that this technique can only be undertaken in shallow spawning and nursery areas. No sampling sites are located in the lower reaches of the Barrow main channel as this habitat is not suitable for spawning and salmon fry will not be encountered. The technique is catchment wide throughout the upper Barrow catchment in the spawning and nursery habitat where juvenile salmon may be encountered.
