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The Black River is the name of the main water course of the catchment area around Bridgetown. The main source of the water in the river is from Lackereagh Mountain to the north of Bridgetown, where several streams come together eventually flowing into the Shannon at Parteen.
The big lesson of recent times is that nature and humanity are intricately connected, and catchments are interconnected, so what is good for the local catchment is good for us, and what is good for the larger catchment is good for us. And vice versa.
Every few years, the EPA assesses the quality of water and a quality level is assigned to each catchment. The current quality of the Black River (as defined by invertebrate sampling by the EPA) is said to be “Good but under threat”, which is green on the map. It should be blue (high quality), like the Ardcloony catchment to the north.
This is the reason that the 2020 Black River Rehabilitation project was initiated, as a first attempt to appraise the stream environment, and carry out some trial remedial work on river banks, cleaning sediment, and cutting back bankside vegetation where excessive. This website shows some of the work involved, and the thinking behind it, and will hopefully be a forum to monitor progress in the future. This two-month project was funded by LAWPRO and was carried out by Castleconnell Fishery Association in conjunction with Bridgetown Tidy Towns.
Why is the Black River important?
The Shannon, a major river catchment, is the sum of all the catchments, including the Black River, that contribute to it. Over just the past generation, the Shannon has seen a major decrease in quality of water, and a decrease in the number of native birds, fish, mammals and insects, in many cases greater than 80% or 90%.
Everything in the natural world is inter-linked, and the decline of trout in the Shannon was traced to tributary catchments such as the Black River, which was formerly known as an excellent spawning and nursery river for trout and salmon, but in recent years this has rapidly declined.
Because the Black River catchment is a primary catchment, i.e. not affected by any other catchment upstream, it was thought that if this catchment can be improved, it may begin a mutual improvement downstream. This is a relatively small catchment, and if improvements can be successfully made here, other similar catchments may follow suit, and this would lead to improvements in the water quality and biodiversity of the entire Shannon catchment.
A grant was provided by LAWPRO to identify possible environmental problems in the Black River catchment, to carry out initial remediation where possible, and make the findings known in cooperation with local community groups such as Bridgetown Tidy Towns.
Surveying for fish
Every number of years a fish survey is conducted on the Black River. The most commomly used method is electrofishing.
Electrofishing (or electrical fishing) is a method for sampling fish, and is one of the most important fisheries surveys tools that is used to assess the value and importance of watercourses, and also to provide baseline fisheries data.
Electrofishing using a Smith-Root LR24 backpack
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