The Omaum, this 1400 metre enhancement completes our instream development work for 2024 and it will be the last of our posts for instream development work this year. This enhancement is the biggest of our scheduled developments and when added to the previous project work, the total for instream development accrued to 3000 metres for 2024. A total that some doubters said we would not achieve.
The introduction of woody debris in the last photograph is to form a weir and it is the first time this natural material has been used in an enhancement project designed by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI). It is an excellent natural material for deflecting and increasing flow. Used as an obstruction it increases flow around, over or underneath the structure. A great material for creating fresh scour, sorting introduced gravel and harboring aquatic invertebrates.
The main contractor for this project were the Office of Public Works. They worked to a plan designed by Inland Fisheries Ireland. The Omaum is a tributary of the Grange river and contributes significant numbers of wild salmon and trout to the Clare River and the Corrib catchment.
The use of introduced materials was to improve the habitat conditions for wild fish recruitment and they were designed by IFI, to be used in areas that offered the best potential for success. So areas where there was good gradient or natural structure that could be improved, were chosen.
This concludes our instream development projects for 2024. The completion of these enhancements, defines what has been a milestone year for Cairde an Chláir and our collaboration with IFI. There was a time when we couldn’t envisage attaining this goal which has been achieved in 2024. These developments have swelled the total of stream enhancements completed since signing the MOU agreement in 2020, to 7000 metres.
These developments will contribute thousands of wild trout and salmon to the catchment. Both anglers from the Clare River and the Corrib will benefit from the improved recruitment. The results will not be instant, nature doesn’t work that way but over time fish stocks will improve. Stream enhancements to increase wild fish production are cost effective and sustainable. What Cairde an Chláir is effectively trying to achieve in collaboration with IFI is the best way to increase stocks of wild fish, and if we support this recruitment initiative, with the implementation of effective conservation measures to protect mature fish, we have a proven strategy that will work.
7000 metres of development work is a total that was unthinkable when we were in disagreement with IFI over the National Strategy for Angling Development. This achievement demonstrates what can be attained if we don’t bury ourselves in dogma and the two parties can find a solution to their indifference and then unite to achieve a common goal, a goal which is the long term improvement of the wild fishing resource. The Clare River and the Corrib catchment will be the long term benefactors of this positive collaboration.
To those minority groups who refuse to change, who stated that IFI would not fulfil their commitment and are negative toward the state agency even when they are doing something which is positive, we say take your head out of the sand and look at what has been achieved out of ashes of conflict. 3000 metres of stream development in a single year and 7000 metres of development in total since the MOU agreement was signed. The detractors may wish to argue differently but Cairde an Chláir call this a result.