Nature has lent a helping hand in ensuring salmon stuck at a troublesome weir reached their traditional spawning grounds, it emerged today. The high rain fall over the weekend ensured the waters of the River Nore in Co Kilkenny rose up allowing the breeding fish to swim up past a controversial weir.
Mr Brian Sheerin, chief executive of the Southern Regional Fisheries Board, said: "Nature came back to help and raised water level up to the first step so to speak so the fish could pass, it was grand today, yesterday and Saturday."
Over 1,000 fish would return to their traditional spawning grounds above Kilkenny city each year. But the weir, in the centre of the city, part of a €48 million flood relief scheme on the River Nore has been blocking some fish during low waters.
Mr Sheerin said the fish pass that was put in during the scheme stopped between 100 to 200 salmon from using it when the water was at or below average depth. "There will be a certain amount of spawners going up, certainly for a number of weeks. "I've been praying that the amount of rain we've had would continue," Mr Sheerin said.
The chief executive also said that when the waters were high poachers could not catch the fish. Carcasses of around six fish were found in the waters before the weir, near another tributary.
Fish could die from stress and exhaustion in attempting to leap through the weir. The board has built a temporary extension which will be installed when the floodwaters subside.
Mr Sheerin said the board, the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources and the Office of Public Works would be holding discussions to decide whether to install a new fish pass, or correct the current one, for the next spawning season. There have been concerns raised about the low levels of salmon in the Nore.