Digging out rivers...

decdon

Hi all,
I was out for a cycle last sunday morning when I saw a river that had just been dug out beside a village. I'm new to flyfishing and i never had a chance to fish this nice stretch of river but it was on my hit list for next spring as recomended by a fellow fishermn friend.
Anyhow, I stoped for a rest and went into the local shop and just asked out of couriousity about the diging out of the river. The shopkeepet told me that a group of local farmers collected a fund and payed for the work to be done privetly.I asked had the county council or fisheries bord any imput into it and from what I gather they had not..... I know that the river is under the Shannon region of the IFI (I'm not going to give the exact location but am willing to PM anyone if they wish to know)

A few Questions came to mind.... Are they allowed to do this... nothing against farmers but they may not be aware of the impact or worse don't care???
Is the stretch of river now destroyed...., I can imagne it is but how big an impact?
Are the fisheries bord aware of this?

Has this been going on anywhere elce????

Has anyone any views

deccdon.

ironbluedun

contact the ifi and report it to them

TimMac

It seems to be a more common occurence this year after the major flooding last year.A lot of town councils are moving/spreading gravel in areas where rivers were prone to bursting its banks last year.

I know there was major hassle in bandon in west cork during the summer when the town council brought in a track machine and moved a lot of the gravel that had built up in areas of the river.

This a major problem at spawning time because the gravel is the salmon and seatrout,s natural spawning ground as they dig out redds in areas with large deposits of gravel to lay their eggs

as IBD says contact the local fisheries officers, what sort of work was being done on it?

were they raising the banks, dredging silt from the bottom or removing gravel?

SeaFields

As ironblue said contact them and let them know. Quick email should do the trick and then you've done your part. Up to the board to do theirs.

The absolutely ridiculous thing about it is that moving a few tonnes of gravel out of a river bed will do nothing to prevent flooding if we have the rain that we had last year again.

premiercad

Its illegal to interfere with the course of a river or river bed without the permission of the IFI only exception is local authorities under theh Local Government Act





Power to dig for road materials and make drains.
32.—(1) The council charged with the maintenance of any road, and also every contractor for any work to be executed in pursuance of a resolution of such council shall, subject to the provisions of this section, have power and authority—

(a) to dig for, raise and carry away in or out of any land to which this section applies any gravel, stone, sand, or other material which may be required for the construction or maintenance of such road;

(b) to dig for, raise and carry away out of any river or brook at a distance of at least a hundred and fifty feet above or below any bridge, dam, or weir, any gravel, stone, sand, or other material which may be required for the construction or maintenance of such road, where the same can be taken away without diverting or interrupting the course of the river or brook, or prejudicing or damaging any building, highway, ford, or spawning bed;