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{!L-.4() c_ .;-1. k tP'R l i\J rs LI Bt<~\kY PACIFIC BJULUGlCAL Sl AllUN REPORT ON A TOUR OF FISH FACILITIES IN THE REPU BLIC OF IRELAND SEPTEMBER 27-29, 1962 by -C. H. Clay, Chief Fish Culture Development Branch Pacific Area Department of - Fisheries~ Canada Vancouver, B. c. CATNo 29202 Under sponsorship of the Department of Fisheries, Canada, the author is attending the 11-month International Course in Hydraulic Engineering at the Technological University, Delft, The Netherlands, commencing in October, 19620 While in Europe the author also plans to inspect fisheries installations in Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries o Assisted by a financial grant from the Institute of Fisheries at the University of British Columbia he recently inspected a number of fish facilities in the Republic of Ireland. This report describes the installations visited and sets forth his observations. Photog raphs of many of the installations referred to in the text appear at the back of the report o On arrival in Dublin I was met by Mr. C. J. McGrath, who is in cparge of a staff of foµr engineers and several technicians engaged in work related to inland fisheries . This work involves mainly salmon stream improvement, fishways in dams, pollution control, and artificial propaga­ tion of salmon and trout. We proceeded to the offices of the Fisheries Division, Department of Lands, 3 Cathal Brugha St., in Dublin where I was introduced to Mr. B . Lenihan, T.D ., Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands, and Mr. L. Tobin, Assistant Secretary, Department of Lands, Fisheries Division. These officers correspond roughly to the Minister of Fisheries in Canada, and the Assistant Deputy Minister respectively. We then had lunch with Mr. T. 0 1 Brien, Secretary of the Depart­ ment of Lands, who corresponds to our Deputy Minister, and Mr. S. 0. Meallain, Inspector and Engineer on the marine phase of the Departmentis work. Dr. A. E. J . Went, Scientific Adviser to the Department was absent at the time. Discussion during lunch ranged over a number of general topics. Ireland has experienced an extremely large run of salmon of the grilse size this year and although many were of grilse age they were large enough to be classified for the market as salmon. Since the large run was unex pected and there was a surplus of fresh salmon on the market the price was substantially lower. Because most of the salmon are marketed fresh (or fresh-smoked) there is an annual problem in trying to spread the catch over as long a period as possible in order to avoid price reductions resulting from a surplus at one time. This problem was particularly acute this year. This factor has been largely responsible for the growth of fish farms , which provide rainbow trout to fill the market demand for salmonids in those periods between salmon runs. (See later discussion of the Vik process). After lunch we had a short meeting at the offices of the Electricity Supply Board, 27 Lower Fitzwilliam St., Dublin 2, with some staff members concerned with fisheries. Mr. V. D. Harty, Chief Engineer, Civil Works, Mr . A. M. Murphy, Senior Design Engineer, and Mr. J. Williams, Fishery Manager, were present as well as Mr. McGrath. The Board is the government agency responsible for all power generation and sup ply in Ireland. In the course of hydro-construction, this agency has been forced to expropriate various privately-owned salmon and eel fisheries in order to avoid an unending number of claims for damages. In giving the Electri­ city Supply Board this power, the government charged the Board with the responsibility for maintaining and expanding the fisheries under. its juris­ diction. As a result the Board employs fishery managers and a staff which operate the fisheries and market the catch of salmon and eels. The engineers make every effort to cooperate with the fisheries agency to ensure satisfactory fish facilities in order to maintain the profitable fisheries. Mr. Murphy, Senior Design Engineer, who has been involved with the design of the Ardnacrusha fish lock and the River Erne fishways and elver passes, answered several questions raised by the writer in connection with these facilities. Late in the afternoon we left Dublin with Dr. M. Kennedy, Manager, Inland Fisheries Trust Incorporated. We arrived at the Trust is Fanure Fish .Farm at Roscrea about 6:30 p.m. and had a brief look at it in the rain before darknesso A brief description of the organization and functions of the Inland Fisheries Trust is included at the end of this report. A description of the Fanure Fish Farm is on file in Vancouver. This hatchery is devoted mainly to the production of rainbow trout for -3- stocki ng lakes and private fish farms, but some are rai sed for marke t. The hatchery is in an excellent location, physically, being on a wide flat, with a good water supply , the temperature of which does not fluctuate greatly. Some dry food is used, but apparently it is believed that viable fry cannot be produced by this me ans alone, some feeding of meat , etc . being needed. The writer told them about the California hatcheries which have switched to dry food entirely, with completely mechanized feeding, but had to admit that these fish were being raised almost exclusively for a "put and take" fishery. Feeding at Fanure was by hand, and there was little evidence of mechanization to cut down on l abor costs . After spending the night at Killaloe on the River Shannon, we went first to the weir at Killaloe the following morning. Here the Electricity Supply Board was compl~ting its eel-fishing operation for the year. The peak of the run was well past and catches had dwindled to only a few in each bag net per night. A series of these nets which resemble fyke nets, are hung in frames across the river, so that the whole channel cross-section is covered. The nylon nets taper to a small end with finer mesh 11 which is attached by means of a pin. During the ni ght a man i s constantly employed emptying the nets into containers which are conveyed on a small boat to live boxes located in a shed at the river's edge . The eels are crowded into these live boxes where they are held in the river water until the temperature gets too low (in late fall or winter) . As many eels as possible are held in this way in order to take advantag e of better markets later in the year. The eels are shipped to market in wooden crates which have previously been soaked in water . They stay alive for approximately 24 hours in these crates. From Ireland they are mostly =4= shipped to Billingsgate Fish Market in London where they are again trans­ ferred to live boxes and kept alive until they are sold locally, or on the Continent. To prepare them for smoking it is necessary to remove the slime from their bodies and this is done by pouring salt on them which causes them to writhe and twist until their bodies are completely free of slime . Apparently the best eels are those which are smoked fresho The only conservation measure employed is that of ensuring that as many elvers as possible get upstream. Conversely, every effort is made to try to catch all mature eels migrating downstream. The marine phase of the life history of the eels is not very well known as yet and there is no evidence that they "home" to the same rivers as their parents occupied; hence, there is no reason to conserve any of the adults in a specific stream in order to ensure a run to that stream in years to come. There apparently is some controversy as to whether European eels actually return to spawn in the Sargasso Sea or whether European stocks are maintained entirely by North American adults reared in Atlantic Coast streams. In any case, there are still large (in fact tremendous) runs of elvers to Irish rivers, and a very valuable eel fishery is the result. We next proceeded to the Parteen Weir 9 which diverts water from the Shannon River into a canal by means of which it is conducted to the hydro-plant at Ardnacrusha 9 some miles downstreamo There is a small spill over the weir at Parteen 9 and a fishway has been incorporated to take care of the small numbers of salmon which by- pass the hydro-station below. ' Those attracted to the hy¢lro-station are taken up.stream by means of the Ardnacrusha fish lock . At ParteenJ Mr. D. O'Leary, Engineer for the Electricity Supply Board, and Mr. P . Conway 9 Assistant Fishery Manager explained the facilities and answered questions. There is a small hatchery at this site where quite a few salmon smolts are reared to augment the natural smolt production of the river 9 which has declined as a result of the :hydro development. Two features of the hatchery are of particular interest. Rearing tanks , rather than ponds 9 are used and these are prefabricated in an upside down position by trowelling a one-inch layer of asbestos concrete over a mould. The corners are rounded, and the tanks are painted inside and out with a non-poisonous bituminous paint. They are said to be easy to keep clean and to maintain. Water is supplied by means of a plastic pipe which hooks over the edge of the tank in such a position as to impart a circulating motion to the water in the tank.

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