Fish Stock Survey of Lough Muckno, September 2021
Lough Muckno contains large stocks of bream, roach, roach x bream hybrids, tench, perch and pike. The lake supports an extremely active coarse angling community, and it hosts a number of prestigious coarse angling competitions throughout the year. The lake has also historically contained a stock of brown trout. A fish stock survey carried out in September 1968 revealed that bream, rudd, perch, tench, pike and brown trout were present in the lake, with brown trout up to 1800g being captured.
The lake has been surveyed on four occasions since 2006 (2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015) as part of the NSSHARE Fish in Lakes Project and as part of the Water Framework Directive surveillance monitoring programme. A similar species composition has been recorded in the lake on each of the latter survey occasions, with perch and roach being the dominant species recorded. Other species captured include, bream, roach x bream hybrids, pike, gudgeon and eels. Brown trout were captured during the 2009 and 2015 surveys.
This report summarises the results of the 2021 fish stock survey carried out on the lake using Inland Fisheries Ireland’s fish in lakes monitoring protocol. The methodology is WFD compliant and enables determination of ecological status based upon fish communities. It also provides insight into current fish stock status in assessed lakes, facilitating comparison within and between lakes.
Topics: Lake Surveys 2021 |