Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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1284. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his attention has been drawn to the lack of crayfish in the Stradbally river, a tributary of the Barrow river, and minnows in the Barrow; if these losses are due to the massive proliferation of dace; and his plans to help both minnows and crayfish in the river. [35407/17]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) that crayfish is a species managed and protected under the remit of the National Parks and Wildlife Service and that my Department and IFI have no function in this regard.

I am also advised that the common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) is found in Ireland but is not abundant.

IFI carried out a catchment wide fish stock survey in 2015 and recently published a report summarising the results of the survey, which showed that minnow were broadly distributed throughout the River Barrow.  However, in the absence of baseline data for this species in the catchment, IFI are not in a position to consider changes in the population of minnows including that perceived to be caused by a proliferation of dace or other species.