Christopher Moriarty (1936 – 13 January 2024) was an Irish naturalist and author. An icthyologist working in the areas of inland fisheries and river management, he became an authority on the European eel. He was the author of papers and books on eels, and books on Irish nature in general, and rivers, as well as travel within Ireland.
Christopher Moriarty was born in Dublin in 1936; his father, from Omagh, was the son of a Church of Ireland rector. He grew up in Rathfarnham, attending a private primary school, Castle Park, and then boarding at St Columba's College. His family moved to Ballyboden when he was 19. He pursued undergraduate studies in Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin, with lecturers including David Webb and Frank Mitchell.[1]
Moriarty began a career in freelance writing while still at college. He was preparing to take a regular job at a school in England when he found an opportunity in Ireland's Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, in a studentship to observe the fish in the newly-formed Poulaphuca Reservoir near Blessington. He subsequently secured a permanent post, and worked in the public sector for over 40 years. While attached to the Fisheries Service, he was awarded an MSc at Trinity College Dublin, with a dissertation entitled "The ecology of Irish fresh waters, being a study of biology of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) and perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) in the Poulaphouca reservoir, Ireland."[2] In 1972, he received a Ph.D from Trinity College, with a thesis entitled "The growth and nutrition of fish in Ireland with particular reference to the eel Anguilla Anguilla (L.)".[3] He gave the Went Memorial Lecture at the Royal Dublin Society in 1987, on The Eel in Ireland.
Moriarty published a range of articles in newspapers including the Evening Press and later the Irish Times.[1] His first book, A Guide to Irish Birds, was released in 1967, followed by A Natural History of Ireland in 1971. Eels: A Natural and Unnatural History was published in 1978. Two books of cycling routes followed in 1980, with a collection of driving route articles from Ireland of the Welcomes in 1994. He was the main author of text of The Book of the Liffey in 1988, and author of Down the Dodder, described as the most detailed guide to the main River Dodder line, in 1998,[4][1] and also published a book on Dublin's parks and waterways.[1] In 2018, he published an illustrated volume, The River Liffey: History and Heritage.[5]
Moriarty served as chairperson of the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission[6] for three years.[1] He was a member of the scientific committee of the Royal Dublin Society for many years.[1]
Moriarty married Sue Goldie, a medical historian specialising in studies of Florence Nightingale; they had two boys.[1] Sue Goldie-Moriarty died in 2012.[1] He died at Blackrock Clinic on 13 January 2024, and was buried in the Quaker cemetery in Blackrock.[7]
Moriarty moved from the Church of Ireland to the Society of Friends in the 1970s. He served a three-year term as Clerk of the Dublin Meeting, including representing the Quakers at the funeral of Jack Lynch,[8] and was for many years the clerk of the historical committee of the Quakers in Ireland[9] and curator of the Quaker Historical Library in Ireland.[10]
Some of Moriarty's publications include the below, along with several volumes in the Folens "Irish Environment" series for schools and young people:[1]
Aside from his dissertation and thesis, papers authored and / or edited include: Ichthyology - peer-reviewed academic papers:
Ichthyology - other professional papers:
Quaker history - peer-reviewed:
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