The Marquis of Waterford has criticised the lodging of appeals with An Bord Pleanála against the granting of planning permission by Waterford County Council to the Southern Regional Fisheries Board (SRFB) for a river bypass at Portlaw, Co Waterford.
The planning permission granted by the local authority would allow the SRFB to construct a bypass to the weir on the Clodiagh river.
The bypass, Lord Waterford says, would enable the salmon to travel up-river to spawn - something he claims was the case before the weir was built.
However, two appeals have been lodged with An Bord Pleanála, one by Portlaw-based county councillor Mr Paudie Coffey and the other by the Heritage Council.
Mr Coffey has spoken out against the plans to construct the river bypass as he believes it threatens a nearby historic mill.
While acknowledging the salmon need to swim up-river, the Fine Gael councillor believes that more should be done to protect the mill and the mill race.
However, the Marquis of Waterford who lives on the Curraghmore Estate near the village, disagrees.
"From a national point of view, it is vital that salmon may be enabled to travel up the River Clodiagh to spawn as was the case before the erection of the weir. The heritage of salmon for the country is infinitely more important than the maintenance of the mill race which would not be more than 200 years old."
Lord Waterford added that the river bypass would allow the water to flow in its original course and claims that conditions attached to the planning permission mean that water will still be supplied to the mill race.
In a letter to a local newspaper, he said the Clodiagh is one of the few rivers in the country still suitable for spawning salmon. "To deny the salmon spawning in the Clodiagh can only be termed a national disaster", he wrote.