This is a short video I made following a visit in June 2020 to Ennistymon Falls on the Inagh River, Co Clare. The falls here are natural but have been modified for hydroelectricity production. These […]
Expert advice on glass eel, elver, yellow eel and silver eel management issues
Author: Dr. Will O'Connor
Dr. Will O’Connor is a Senior Ecologist who has over 25 year’s professional experience. He is a graduate of the University of Wales, Cardiff, and the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, and a full member of both the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management and the Institute of Fisheries Management. He is a Chartered Environmentalist and a Chartered Biologist.
Mord am Aal; Murder of the Eel
The Rhine is the longest river in Europe used by eels and historically was one of the most important eel habitats on this continent. It now provides a case-study of what went wrong for the […]
Turbine-killed eel floats past angler playing salmon
The link below is to a video by Paul Hanley which shows a turbine-killed silver #eel floating past when he was playing a (hatchery origin) salmon. He was fishing on the River Lee below Inniscarra […]
Reports of a major silver eel kill on the River Erne
There have been reports this week of a major silver eel kill on the River Erne in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal. It is understood that these eels were killed trying to pass the hydroelectric stations on […]
Ardnacrusha: New boom but no progress with elver trap
I visited the elver trap at Ardnacrusha hydroelectric station on the Lower River Shannon in September 2017. The promised upgrades to the trap were never completed this year by the ESB. All they did here […]
Ennistymon elver run, May 2017
The elver runs in the spring of 2017 were considered to lower than some of the more recent runs (e.g. 2014). However, in May 2017 there was a significant elver run at Ennistymon Falls on […]
Ardnacrusha elver trap upgrades commence
We had a very productive meeting at Ardnacrusha hydroelectric station today discussing issues in relation to the upgraded elver trap. The trap is now operational but significant work is also being progressed. The completed trap […]
IFI upgrade elver traps
It took years of campaigning – but progress is finally being made with both Inland Fisheries Ireland and ESB upgrading their elver traps traps for the 2017 season. This is a very welcome development and […]
Ireland’s “eel science” exposed
Think that Ireland’s Marine Institute does international quality research? Perhaps it’s time to think again. This is what we exposed them using to monitor the critically endangered #eel on the River Liffey at Islandbridge during […]
Glass eels arrive into Limerick City, January 2017
All the way from the Sargasso Sea – this year’s glass eels have arrived into the Lower River Shannon in Limerick City! We recorded glass eels in kick samples taken during early January 2017 in […]
Dead and dying silver eels downstream of Ardnacrusha
The European eel is a critically endangered species. However, thousands are killed passing Ardnacrusha hydroelectric station on the Lower River Shannon each year, despite a ‘trap and transport’ scheme operated by the ESB. This is a […]
