Local authorities and fisheries boards had a "softly, softly" approach to hydro-electric schemes even on important angling rivers. This was because it was Government policy to promote green energy, an anglers' representative told an oral hearing conducted by An Bord Pleanála in Tralee, Co Kerry yesterday.
The proposal by Hal Hydro Ltd, to build a 1.5 megawatt hydro-electric scheme (enough to supply 5,000 homes) on the Roughty River which flows into Kenmare Bay amounted to "an assault on a natural resource".
Wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout were already under threat from fish farms and lice on the river, said Mr Paudie Casey, waterkeeper and representative of the Kilgarvan Roughty Anglers Club.
The Roughty attracted tourist anglers from the UK because their own rivers had been destroyed by hydro-electric schemes and pollution.
According to Mr John O'Hare, chairman of the Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland (TAFI), the Roughty River was too important for angling and as a spawning ground for wild salmon and sea trout to be interfered with. Hydro-electric schemes prevented spawning upriver and killed the smolts coming down river to get to the sea, he said.
TAFI's 25,000 members were "very worried about the proliferation of hydro-electric schemes and the manner in which they were being operated," he said.
Mr O'Hare called for a proper survey to be carried out by the Central Fisheries Board to identify fisheries and protect them from hydro-electric schemes.
|The water to be removed from the river was "minimal", Mr Joe Buckley, solicitor for Hal Hydro Ltd, told the hearing. If anything, the scheme would prevent flooding.
Mr Tom Sheehy, of the planning department of Kerry County Council, said permission was granted on the basis of the recommendations of the fisheries boards, zoning and the belief there would be no adverse effect on the fisheries. Where a green energy proposal would have a detrimental effect, the council would refuse permission, despite Government policy, he said.
The South Western Regional Fisheries Board was not represented at the hearing.