Fears for tourism as invasive pondweed spreads in rivers

Local councillors were informed that a new multi-agency working group had been established to deal with the spread of non-native invasive Nuttall’s Pondweed in Ireland’s rivers, lakes and water courses.

Concerns were raised over the potential threat that pondweed poses to tourism in Cavan, as well as future of bio-diversity, when Cathaoirleach John Paul Feeley tabled a motion on the subject at the council’s recent monthly meeting. The motion urged the local authority to ask Inland Fisheries Ireland to “implement a programme” aimed at removing invasive weeds growing in Lough Oughter and its catchment areas.

Native to North America, the appearance of this totally submerged aquatic plant have been recorded in the wild in Ireland since the mid-1980s, starting in Lough Neagh, but can now be found in abundance in many sites along the River Erne system.

But Director of Services, Paddy Connaughton, informed the meeting that the authority in charge of dealing with the concern was instead the National Parks & Wildlife Service.

He added that a “working group” had since been established, involving representatives from the council’s own department of the Environment, Heritage, scientific officers, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Waterways Ireland.

Cllr Feeley had warned that the growth of pondweed was making some courses “impassable” to river craft, particular hydrobikes and boats with off board motors.

The Fianna Fáil representative said that reports of Nuttall's Pondweed, or Canadian Pondweed as it's also known, began surfacing in the local region in 2021.

Cllr Feeley asked that the heritage office within the council be notified of the spread, and how pondweed was “seriously affecting the ecology“ as well as proving detrimental to the county’s tourism product, of which rivers and lakes is central.

Independent Councillor Brendan Fay seconded the motion, telling the meeting how fishermen arriving in Belturbet had told tales of landing “full boats“ of the weed pulled from the river.

He said action was needed now to prevent the weed, which can produce dense monocultures in some sites thus impacting species diversity.

“It’s something we have to look at now rather than later,” Cllr Fay pleaded.

Fine Gael’s Winston Bennett supported the motion, noting the matter had previously been raised at a meeting of members appointed to the Irish Central Border Area Network (ICBAN), a local authority-led cross-border development partnership. He further raised, as did Clifford Kelly (FF), the threat of Japanese Knotweed, another invasive plant species considered a threat to Ireland’s biodiversity.

Cllr Feeley said the matter would need to be raised separately at a future meeting of the council.