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Lough Corrib Angling Federation launch their new website

Lough Corrib is the biggest lake in the Irish Republic and is second in size only to Lough Neagh in the whole of Ireland. It is located largely in County Galway with a corner in Mayo, and it is part of a larger catchment that also encompasses Lough Carra and Lough Mask .

Lough Corrib is world famous as a wild brown trout fishery. There are thirteen angling clubs around the lake and they join together in the Lough Corrib Angling Federation. The Federation has a strong interest in environmental matters and that is reflected in its activities.

Lough Corrib Trout Angling Federation Logo

Cairde Loch Coiribe – working on stream habitat enhancement

One subgroup of the Federation is Cairde Loch Coiribe. Club members contribute €15 of their annual membership towards Cairde, and non-members can also support this development fund through a €15 purchase. This money is spent on stream habitat enhancement and each euro spent is matched by a private benefactor, the Clydagh Foundation. The Federation also runs an annual competition , The Federation Cup, on a catch and release basis with all funds going to Cairde Loch Coiribe.

Working together on protecting water, raising trout, youth development, and more…

Another long-standing group associated with the Federation, and the sister Federations in Mayo, is the Carra Mask Corrib Water Protection Group. This group has engaged in for many years in lobbying at National and at EU level on issues relating to water quality.

The Federation provides funding for the trout hatchery at Oughterard. Every year, under licence from Inland Fisheries Ireland trout ova are fertilised here and brought to viable status over the winter before release in the Corrib catchment in the spring.

The Federation has engaged in youth development events, in safety awareness events and in canal clean-ups in Galway city. It is concerned with predator control and with the control of invasive species. It will shortly run small stream characterisation sampling (“kick-sampling”) courses and supports clubs in an Adopt a River scheme to follow up on this training by keeping track of water quality indicators in the streams flowing into the lake.

And the members do some fishing too!

New website launched

The Federation website was launched on 14 March in the Commercial Boat Club, overlooking a wide sweep of the Corrib river as it flows to the salmon weir. As well as fishing club members there was a welcome for local representatives Noel Grealish TD, Cllr. Terry O’Flaherty and Cllr Frank Fahy, Catherine Seale of the Waters and Communities Office, Philip James of the Galway Waterways Initiative, and several staff from Inland Fisheries Ireland headed by John Connolly.

The website provides information on the Federation and provides contact information for all local clubs. There is all the information you will need to make contact with clubs on the Corrib. And it is worth visiting to see a wonderful gallery of photographs by local angler Conor Ledwith.

If you didn’t want to visit Corrib before now, wait until you see the pictures!

Website: http://loughcorribanglingfederation.ie

Article by Denis Healy (Chairman of the Lough Corrib Angling Federation)

About author

EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.