INTERREG IVC visit of European partners to discuss the management of inland waterways

Dr Joe Caffrey, Inland Fisheries Ireland, participated in a European INTERREG IVC Knowledge Exchange meeting on Wednesday 16th June, hosted by Waterways Ireland in the Waterways Centre, Grand Canal Basin.  The title of the meeting was ‘Waterways Forward’ and the objective was to share knowledge and good practice protocols for the management of regional inland waterways.  The INTERREG IVC programme involves 17 organizations from 11 EU countries.  Topics such as implementation of the Water Framework Directive, control of invasive species and stakeholder participation were discussed.

Dr Caffrey gave a presentation on the CAISIE project (acronym for ‘the control of aquatic invasive species and restoration of natural communities in Ireland), an EU Life+ part funded programme.  Invasive species highlighted during the talk included Lagarosiphon major in Lough Corrib, the Asian clam in the lower River Barrow (and recently found in the River Shannon) and New Zealand Pigmyweed and Nuttall’s Pondweed which can be found along the Grand Canal and Barrow Navigation. Innovative methods that have been developed by IFI to control some of these species were presented to the meeting.

As part of the visit, delegates visited sites on the Grand Canal, the Royal Canal and the Upper River Shannon Natura 2000 sites near Carrick-on-Shannon.  Dr Caffrey described the event as a “most interesting and informative meeting that will go a long way towards developing ecologically sound and environmentally safe methods for managing our unique waterways resources. The sharing of this information between scientists and managers throughout Europe is vitally important and this Knowledge Exchange initiative is both timely and worthwhile in this respect”.