Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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1462. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress which has been made with plans for the fish counter on the River Barrow. [41058/16]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I have been informed by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) that significant time and resources have been spent to date on the planning and development of a robust, sustainable and effective solution to the challenge of quantifying migratory fish population numbers in the River Barrow system.

There are a number of technical factors involved in such projects and key among those factors is site selection. A number of sites have now been investigated for suitability and a shortlist of locations has been developed in conjunction with experts in the field.

I am advised that IFI is planning to go to tender for procurement of specialist third-party services during Quarter 1 of 2017 for the production of a River Barrow Fish Counter Feasibility Study. This study will aim, inter alia, to examine current best international practice developments in scientific freshwater migratory fish counting technology and how the unique set of circumstances and challenges in relation to installation and operation of a fish counter on the River Barrow Catchment can best be met.

It is envisaged that this study and report will provide critical enabling recommendations to take the project to the next stage in planning, subsequent procurement and ultimately implementation on the ground.