James J King

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Inland Fisheries Ireland

Between the 1910s and 1960s, the segment of the Manzanares River in the city of Madrid was channelized to allow for intensive urban development and a series of barrages were built to maintain constant water levels and create the aesthetic of a large deep river. As part of a renaturalisation strategy for the river by the Madrid City Council, the com...

Rivers support some of Earth’s richest biodiversity1 and provide essential ecosystem services to society2, but they are often fragmented by barriers to free flow3. In Europe, attempts to quantify river connectivity have been hampered by the absence of a harmonized barrier database. Here we show that there are at least 1.2 million instream barriers...

This chapter describes the natural history, origin and distribution of fish in Ireland's rivers. It also gives and overview of some of their lifecyles, genetics and their movements. The chapter also describes the main pressures affecting fish in Irish rivers today.

Understanding the relationship between a species and its habitats is important for both conservation of imperiled species and control of invasive species. For migratory species, we hypothesize that maintaining connectivity between segregated habitats is more important than improving the quality of each habitat. In the case of anadromous lampreys of...

Determining where fish are distributed across days and seasons is valuable for understanding their ecology, evolution and conservation. The results presented here provide insight into the spatial and temporal distribution of brown trout (native salmonid species) and dace (invasive cyprinid species) in an artificially impounded section of lowland ri...

The European river lamprey Lampetra fluviatilis and the European brook lamprey Lampetra planeri (Block 1784) are classified as a paired species, characterized by notably different life histories but morphological similarities. Previous work has further shown limited genetic differentiation between these two species at the mitochondrial DNA level. H...

Alosa alosa Allis shad (Alosa alosa) mature at 3–6 years of age and migrate many hundreds of kilometres upstream into their natal river to spawn. Spawning occurs during spring in the main river and major tributaries, in shallow waters, and over gravel substrate (Baglinière et al., 2003). The adults usually die after spawning. Allis shad larvae hatc...

• Perspectives on lamprey management contrast between pest control in the US Great Lakes and species conservation in the Pacific Northwest, New Zealand, and Europe. Five lamprey species are listed in the European Union (EU) Habitats Directive (HD) as requiring conservation measures. Assessments of HD ‘conservation status’ for these lampreys mainly...

Many aquatic species of conservation concern exist at low densities and are inherently difficult to detect or monitor using conventional methods. However, the introduction of environmental (e)DNA has recently transformed our ability to detect these species and enables effective deployment of limited conservation resources. Identifying areas for bre...

Man‐made barriers have led to river fragmentation, restricting fish migrations to critical habitat. Fragmentation is relevant to the Water Framework and Habitats (Annex II fish) Directives of the European Union. SNIFFER (Water Framework Directive 111) is a United Kingdom‐developed fish passability assessment method with passability scores based on...

This study evaluates two desk‐based approaches for building an inventory of man‐made river obstacles. The creation of a river obstacle inventory is a vital first step in developing a prioritization process for obstacle removal and/or modification. In this study, a desktop geographical information system analysis of two rivers and their tributary ne...

The EREP is an Office of Public Works (OPW) funded project that is being co-ordinated and managed by IFI. The programme focuses on the enhancement of drained salmonid rivers in Ireland.

Reports of feeding on host fish by juvenile sea lamprey have been known from a number of Irish freshwater lakes since the 1950s. This review confirms the continued presence of juvenile feeding sea lamprey in some these lakes, with additional recent records from other waters. Juvenile sea lamprey out-migrating in winter (January) had a modal peak of...

In summary, plants are ‘ecosystem engineers’, vegetation encourages embryonic bed form formation by trapping and stabilising sediment within its roots and canopy. Causing adjustment dampening/accelerating flow velocity which, creates both sediment erosion or deposition. In conclusion, pioneer macrophyte species are a key component of hydro-geomorph...

This pilot study presents an environmental DNA (eDNA) assay for sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus and brown trout Salmo trutta, two species of economic and conservation importance in the Republic of Ireland. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of eDNA for assessing presence of low-abundance taxa (here, P. marinus) for environmental managers, and...

Channel form and biotic features create a network of niches that facilitate sediment deposition, creating habitat for lamprey larvae or ammocoetes. Flood conveyance management and channel maintenance can lead to a general loss of instream features that permit biotic diversity and sediment deposition. Studies presented here identified the potential...

Arterially drained rivers are subject to cyclical maintenance works to maintain flood conveyance. This can involve the management of river macrophytes that constitute an important part of crayfish habitat in many Irish channels. Studies on channel maintenance and crayfish populations were conducted over the period 2006 – 2014 and used fyke nets as...

Artificial weirs on the Mulkear River present an obstacle to sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus L.) during upstream spawning migration. Telemetry to monitor passage success was undertaken in 2010 and repeated in 2011 following modifications to two of the weirs in the lower section of the river. Upstream migrants, captured downstream of the first weir,...

There is a small international scientific literature, principally from North America, on recovery of fish communities following substantial fish kill events and a smaller literature on monetary assessment of losses in such events. A chemical discharge led to over 90% loss of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) age cla...

Surveying of brook lamprey (Lampetra planed Bloch) spawning activity was undertaken within a number of Irish river catchments during 2004-2011. Presence of adult fish, redd construction and spawning activity is reported. Additional data pertaining to spawning redd physical attributes and riverine conditions were collected at selected sites. Lampetr...

Since the early 1990’s the Office of Public Works (OPW) has been in engaged in scientific studies with Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI (formerly the Central Fisheries Board). The aims of such studies were to identify the environmental impacts of drainage maintenance in OPW channels and to develop alternative strategies that would facilitate environme...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background a) Throughout the European Union’s (EU), water quality monitoring programmes exist in many of the member states (MS). With the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Council Directive 2000/60/EC) all MS must harmonise their national monitoring methods for each common metric (parameter indicative of a bi...

In Ireland, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) Freshwater Morphology Programme of Measures and Standards (POMS) identified barriers to fish migration as one of the principal issues placing channels ‘at risk’ in terms of failing to achieve hydromorphology status. To quantify the degree of risk posed, and to develop methods to appraise and quantify...

Meristic identification, mitochondrial DNA and a suite of microsatellite markers were employed to estimate the incidence of hybridization in wild populations of anadromous Allis shad Alosa alosa and twaite shad Alosa fallax in southern Irish riverine and estuarine waters. It was shown that 16% of the fishes examined were misclassified using meristi...

Scientific studies (1990–2000) on the impacts of channel maintenance on the river corridor biota and habitat of Irish arterially drained channels identified strategies that would reduce adverse impact or provide benefit. A 10-point training programme was developed from these strategies and was rolled out to all Office of Public Work (OPW) field sta...

Many countries, including Ireland, were ill-prepared for the requirements of the Water Frame- work Directive (WFD) regarding the use of fi sh as a biological element. Examination of archival data proved uninformative. Details of species composition, distribution and density were frag- mented and non-standard. No monitoring programme or strategic st...

Four Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) have been designated in the Republic of Ireland for Twaite shad, Alosa fallax (Lacépède), based on recent historical information on spawning activity—the estuarine reaches of the Rivers Munster Blackwater, Suir, Barrow-Nore and Slaney. The spawning status of some of these populations is considered to have d...

Lampreys are distinguished from other fish by their eel-like bodies, round sucker-like mouths, poorly developed fins and by a row of seven breathing holes instead of gills. Most species have a life cycle of several years' duration, involving an adult parasitic feeding phase, an upstream spawning migration of adults and a gradual downstream movement...

Lough Carra is a shallow limestone lake in County Mayo in the west of Ireland. It is situated in the Corrib catchment. The lake has been managed as a brown trout fishery since the 1950s, initially by the Inland Fisheries Trust and more recently by the Western Regional Fisheries Board. The results from a number of studies carried out by the Inland F...

In 1990, the Central Fisheries Board initiated research on how drainage maintenance practices and strategies might be modified to enhance the salmonid carrying capacity of the affected water while maintaining an acceptable degree of conveyance. Much of the maintenance requirement was caused by dense in-channel weed beds impeding discharge and facil...

The submerged flora of selected areas of Lough Corrib was examined in July, 1986. Plant assemblages are described in relation to local geology, topography and water chemistry. The impact of cultural eutrophication on the aquatic flora is discussed. Reference is made to some notable features of the Irish aquatic flora, as exemplified by Lough Corrib...

The Irish Central Fisheries Board which is responsible for monitoring and maintaining fish stocks in Irish lakes, has noted that at times vegetation growing on lake bottoms is washed away by the action of the wind on the lake surface. Since the vegetation is necessary for the health and survival of fish stocks it is desirable to prevent vegetation...

Six polymorphic enzyme loci were examined electrophoretically in a sample of wild Atalntic salmon smolts from the Burrishoole river in western Ireland and in samples of artificially-reared fry hatched in 1981 and parr hatched in 1979. These hatchery reared fish were the progeny of five generations of artificially reared sea ranched salmon which had...