Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 April 2016
534. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her views on the various proposals that have been made for remedial work to be carried out and a management plan to be put in place for the future removal of Asian clams from the site at Lanesborough, County Longford. [7598/16]
View answerMy Department is concerned about the possible impact of Asian Clam in the River Shannon and Lough Ree, but is also aware of the great practical difficulty in eradication and prevention of its spread once it has arrived in any river system.
By the time this species was recorded in the Shannon at Lanesborough, it was already present in huge numbers in the warm water stretch above the bridge. The clams are quite small, are capable of self-fertilisation and each can produce up to 70,000 larvae in a year. It is clear therefore that a programme of eradication by any of the methods considered could be very costly and, as it is impossible to ensure that all clams are removed, re-infestation is a high risk.
However, my Department has been in contact an EPA-funded project based in the Institute of Technology, Sligo, which is working on Invasive Species prevention, control and eradication and, subject to the necessary environmental permissions, it is now proposed to develop and carry out control trials, building on the work already done at Lanesborough and also using the results of trials in infested lakes in the United States.
