Annual Accounts for the year ending 31st December 2007

Chapter 3
Managing and Maintaining the Waterways
In 2007, approximately 1200kg of adult fish were stocked during enhancement
operations conducted at nine locations along the waterways. This included the 11th
lock of the Grand Canal at Lucan in advance of the very successful Irish Wheelchair
Association’s Annual Fishing competition, held on 13th September 2007.
Fish rescue operations were necessitated by routine dredging and maintenance
operations particularly on the Grand Canal Barrow Line. These operations have
enabled trials to be initiated investigating the practical implementation of various
habitat mitigation measures.
The spatial ecology of certain fish species, determined using both acoustic and radio
telemetry, continued to provide an important source of management information.
The programme was extended in 2007 to include the 25th lock of the Grand Canal
Barrow Line, where dredging works are ongoing, in an effort to determine fish use
patterns of the newly altered habitats. Results to date indicate that fish range freely
along the 22km long section of canal.
Water quality monitoring was conducted on at least three occasions in 2007 at 219
main channel and feeder stream sites on the Royal and Grand Canals, the Shannon-
Erne Waterway and the Barrow Navigation. Forty canal sites were sampled four
times in compliance with the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Aquatic and
riparian plant communities were also assessed at these sites in 2007. Invertebrate
communities were surveyed at each site on one occasion during 2006 and 2007,
with some of this data submitted to the Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum for
Environmental Research (SNIFFER), as part of an ecological assessment tool designed
to monitor WFD compliance.
The implementation of an Aquatic Weed Management programme was integral to
Waterways Ireland’s maintenance plan in 2007. This programme aims to manage
aquatic plant communities in an ecologically sensitive manner ensuring that canal
channels remain open for amenity use while retaining ecological diversity and value.
3.3.2 Environmental Work
Waterways Ireland has a significant role to play in advocating and implementing high
quality environmental management of the waterways, given the long-term viability
of these unique assets is dependent on their environmental status.
The assessment of the environmental sustainability of Waterways Ireland’s National
Development Plan (NDP) projects has been ongoing throughout 2007. Field ecological
assessments were completed for the proposed canal in Glassan, Co Westmeath
to ensure the works are in keeping with the aims of the Habitats Directive. These
include aquatic and terrestrial plant surveys, habitat mapping, ornithological
mapping, mammal assessment and fish studies. A detailed hydrological study was
also conducted for Glassan to ensure the construction of a canal would not affect
adjacent wetland habitat.
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Waterways Ireland Annual Report and Accounts 2007