Fish Stock Survey of Lough Barra, July 2022
Lough Barra is situated in the upper part of the Gweebarra River catchment close to the south-western perimeter of Glenveagh National Park in Co. Donegal. The lake is situated at an altitude of 88.6m above sea level. It has a surface area of 63ha, a mean depth of 4.4m and a maximum depth of 11.6m (Plate 1.1, Figure 1.1). The lake is categorised as typology class 4 (as designated by the EPA for the Water Framework Directive), i.e., deep (>4m), greater than 50ha and low alkalinity (<20mg/l CaCO3).
The geology of the area is predominantly granite, felsite, and other intrusive rocks rich in silica. Lough Barra Bog SPA is situated immediately to the south-west of the lake (Figure 1.1) and part of the bog is a nature reserve. Lough Barra itself forms part of the Cloghernagore Bog and Glenveagh National Park Special Area of Conservation (NPWS, 2013). This is a particularly large SAC located in north-west Donegal. It contains many different habitats ranging from exposed rock and scree mountains to blanket bogs, lakes, and rivers.
The lake has been surveyed on five occasions since 2005 (2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2019) (Kelly et al., 2007, 2009, 2012a and 2015, Corcoran et al., 2020). Brown trout, salmon, and eels (Anguilla anguilla) were recorded in all surveys.
This report summarises the results of the 2022 fish stock survey carried out on the lake using Inland Fisheries Ireland’s fish in lakes monitoring protocol. The protocol is WFD compliant and provides insight into fish stock status in the lake.
Topics: Lake Surveys 2022 , Lough Barra |