Thousands of salmon returning to spawn on the River Nore are being hindered by a new weir on the river in Kilkenny city.
Unless urgent action is taken a generation of salmon on the river will be wiped out, local Fianna Fáil TD Mr John McGuinness has warned.
The weir forms part of the €48 million city drainage scheme and since last Friday, anglers have become increasingly concerned about the plight of the wild salmon which travelled thousands of miles from off the coast of Greenland to reproduce in the upper reaches of the River Nore.
A meeting between officials from the Department of the Marine, Kilkenny Co Council, the Office of Public Works and the Southern Fisheries Board was held yesterday afternoon to resolve the problem. A Department of the Marine spokesman said a common-sense solution was being sought.
Mr McGuinness said that if a way was not found to allow the salmon access to their natural spawning grounds an ecological disaster would occur. They were totally exhausted trying to get through the shoot, he said.
Local anglers claim the shoot at the weir, designed to allow the salmon to travel upstream, is too narrow and high, and prevents the salmon from reaching the five tributaries of the Nore. If they cannot get through the shoot, there will be no fish in three to four years, the fishermen say.