Dozens of important aquatic habitats are being lost each year, often because of ignorance about the effect of drainage and gravel removal in and around streams, a fisheries board has said.
Gravel removal and the silting of streams and river banks is on a par with pollution, and the constant destruction of habitats by development works should be considered in the same light, according to environmental officers in the South Western Regional Fisheries Board.
They are appealing to engineers, architects, plant-hire operators, landowners and farmers to consult them before undertaking works near rivers and streams, however minor the stream.
Instream work and silt pollution because of roads, land drainage, forestry and new housing works were the greatest subject of complaints in 2003, according to the board's annual report.
Drainage and gravel removal accounted for one-quarter of the 200 complaints received from the public, and scores of important habitats were now being lost each year as the pressure on the landscape continued, it said.
"In most of these instances machines were working in or close to rivers or smaller watercourses," said Ms Patricia O'Connor, environmental officer with the SWRFB.
There were complaints also about local authority sewage outfalls, as well as civil local authority works. A high number of reports had to do with agricultural slurry and silage spillage.
The board examined almost 11,000 planning applications in an attempt to identify potential impact on fisheries and made 400 submissions to the planning authorities in the region.
There was a lack of awareness about the destruction caused by works on even so-called minor streams, Ms O'Connor said.
During the October to May spawning season the removal of gravel upstream caused breeding grounds to be destroyed.
Silt removed upstream had the effect of smothering eggs and fry as well as aquatic insects. The removal of bankside vegetation did untold damage to food sources and protection, she said.
The board had campaigned to have all works to rivers and streams covered by the planning Acts. However, farm works were still exempted.
"Commercial abstraction of gravels from rivers and streams is not permitted unless planning permission has been obtained," Ms O'Connor explained.