Owenroe tributary of the Caragh
Minister of State for heritage Malcolm Noonan has formally launched the socioeconomic evaluation of KerryLIFE, an agri-environmental initiative that operated between 2014 and 2020.
KerryLIFE was co-funded by the EU’s LIFE Programme; Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht; Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine; Coillte; Teagasc; and the South Kerry Development Partnership.
The project covered two river systems which are home to almost half of Ireland’s population of freshwater pearl mussels – the Blackwater and Caragh River Catchments, in the Iveragh Peninsula, Co. Kerry.
The pearl mussel is a very rare aquatic species, and “is an excellent indicator of pristine water quality”.