Filmed over two years, Declan O' Mahony’s film, River Runner, uncovers disturbing truths about the River Lee whose eco-system has been seriously damaged since two ESB dams went into operation in the late 1950s.
This new 60-minute documentary features the River Lee in its leafy, sun-lit days, and as it progresses under painterly, winter skies. However, the core subject of the film is the precious Wild Atlantic Salmon and its uncertain fate.
Two passionate Corkmen, who are the principal contributors in the film, are untiring campaigners for the future health of the Lee. Indeed, the river was once known as the 'silver' Lee because of the great profusion of fish therein.
There is a moral obligation on every interested party to do what’s right, says angler Alan Nolan. Like many another boyish passion, his angling got superseded. Some young fellows want to play for Manchester United, others want to play in a chart-topping band. Young Alan was seriously addicted to angling.
When he was a young lad, he could have gone into angling "100 per cent and nothing else would have mattered. But the reality of life kicked in - work , job, getting on with your life. So I’d be a passionate angler but I’d also be functioning in the real world. You couldn’t stay consumed by it.”
Ecologist and environmental campaigner Kevin Corcoran readily concedes that declining fish stocks of wild salmon are due to multiple factors, not just to the presence reservoirs that are too deep too allow spawning. However, he claims that the ESB reservoir he stands in front of never worked properly anyway, and that it is a white elephant.
If reason had prevailed, he says, and the water had been kept down by a metre in the 1957 hydroelectric scheme, the alluvial forest, known as the Gearagh, would have been saved. Through proper development, the area could still be a lucrative tourist attraction. He sees possibilities for eco-fishing and refers to the many walkers who come into the Gearagh.
Comprising thousands of acres, the Gearagh forest is one of the rarest habitats in the EU. The mortar dwellings, which had been built with sand and lime in the Gearagh were demolished with gelignite blasts. The residents did not want to leave, but they were obliged to evacuate. 600-year-old oaks and 1,000 year old yew trees were knocked down over a three-year period to make way for the flood waters of the two hydro reservoirs.
Corcoran believes that the Gearagh forest area can be recovered. The hydro scheme has had its day, and it is time to move on is his belief. Photovoltaics are the new oil wells that have even surpassed inefficient wind farms, he explains. Yet there has been progress by the Lee, he acknowledges. Originally the endeavour was was all about creating electricity – at least electricity and salmon are now on the agenda.
The natural forest can be allowed to regrow, he argues, and he has faith that this will happen. However, planting new trees would only be the equivalent of human skin grafts. “If the water tables are lowered, the whole Gearagh will come back,” he says.
Of the two dams erected in the 1950s, Iniscarra, he believes, will supply water and a small amount of electricty in the future. Carrigadroihid reservoir will not be as important and it will be possible to lower the water table, Corcoran argues. The film features Dr Denis Doherty, fisheries biologist with the ESB, who talks of measures which the company have taken to conserve fish stocks, including a hatchery for salmon smolts.
In Nolan and Corcoran's opinion, much more has to be done. River Runner shows how successful fish passes have been constructed for the salmon in the Snake and Columbia rivers in the USA. Survival rates have significantly improved as a consequence.
The Trent Rivers trust in the UK has also made significant modifications to allow a free run for fish. Corcoran claims the salmon passes on the Lee do not work. The ESB would own the fishing rights, if stocks were restored to a healthy state.
The ESB may benefit and the River Lee may recover its status as an angling river of huge potential, but film-maker Declan O’Mahony believes the prognosis is difficult. ‘’You have 500 ton trawlers, especially in Norway, scouring the North Atlantic,” he says. The Atlantic Salmon Trust website addressed this very matter last July : “it is certain that accidental by-catch does take place, probably in many parts of the Atlantic Ocean, including the Barents, Norwegian and North seas, as well as in the European western approaches and seas surrounding Iceland and Greenland.“
Back on the River Lee, Alan Nolan notes how upstream, towards the river’s source in Gougane Barra, severe damage has been done to the natural lifestyle of the salmon. He notes the absence of salmon resting, as they naturally do prior to spawning in other river systems.
Corcoran recalls the thriving tourist trade, pre hydro-electricty, the hotels in Inchigeela, in Gougane Barra, and in Macroom, restaurants with names like Angler’s Rest along the river. Fishing is worth 750 million Euro to the national economy, it could be so much greater, if nature were respected. It’s not just the salmon run, the future of the Freshwater Pearl mussel is also gravely threatened. Trout, otter and eel have also suffered.
At its conclusion, the film declares that updating the antiquated fish passes on both dams on the River Lee would allow the Wild Atlantic Salmon to run its natural course along the entire river system. It is the law, after all - the Fisheries Consolidation Act of 1959 stipulates that salmon must have a free run in this country.
Paddy Kehoe
River Running is currently screening at Omniplex in Cork city and can be seen at Cinemax, Bantry, beginning Sunday March 22, 23, 24, 25, concluding Thursday, March 26.
