Consultants are to be appointed to examine ways of resolving a dispute over the lowering of a weir on the river Blackwater which anglers say is necessary to allow salmon stocks to regenerate, but which a local rowing club fears will lead to its demise.
Minister of State for the Marine John Browne met Fermoy Town Council, angling interests and Fermoy Rowing Club last week to discuss the proposed lowering of the Fermoy weir.
The department had commissioned a report which recommended lowering the weir by a metre but this was strongly opposed by the rowing club, which said lowering the weir would effectively put it out of business due to the resultant drop in water levels.
Mr Browne explained to members of the club, which was founded in 1884, that his department was acting on an EU directive prompted by an anonymous complaint that the weir was preventing an adequate number of salmon getting back up the Blackwater to spawn. The weir was built about 1800 to supply a race for nearby mills which have long since ceased to operate.
The ownership of the weir was taken over 20 years ago by Fermoy Town Council.
Council clerk Rose Carroll said that following the meeting with Mr Browne and the various interests, it had been agreed that the town council in conjunction with the Department of the Marine and the OPW would seek consultants to report on the possible options.
The consultants would meet the rowing club and the anglers and would take their concerns on board, said Ms Carroll.
Rowing club chairman Paul Kavanagh said it had been a satisfactory meeting. Club members had been assured that their concerns would be taken into account in whatever proposals were agreed to assist salmon upstream.
Angling interests have been concerned about falling salmon stocks on the Blackwater for years, but Tommy Lawton, national secretary of the Salmon and Sea Trout Recreational Anglers, said a resolution was possible.
