ANGLERS IN CORK have criticised the State watchdog for the country’s rivers after it emerged that it took until the next day to respond to a “catastrophic” fish kill earlier this month.

Mystery continues to surround the widespread death of thousands of fish, which happened on a 30km section of the River Blackwater between Lombardstown and Killavullen in North Cork.

The fish kill was first discovered by anglers on the morning of Monday, 11 August. The Journal has confirmed that no sampling took place by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) until a full 24 hours later.

Early testing is seen as important in establishing the likely causes of the fish kill, before some chemicals are flushed further down the river.

According to the IFI, the first testing took place at 1.30pm August 12 in the area of Blackwater Bridge, with further samples taken at 2pm and again after 4pm that evening at other locations.

While the IFI has estimated the total number of fish killed as between 8,000 to 10,000, local anglers maintain the number is far higher.

Preliminary surveys carried out by the IFI showed that no evidence of bacterial infection or systemic disease was found in test samples, and it believes an “environmental irritant” is to blame.

Further answers as to the cause are expected tomorrow when virology results will be released by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).

Dan Dennehy, who is the club secretary of Kanturk and District Trout Anglers, told The Journal that it was frustrating and disappointing that the sampling didn’t happen sooner.

“It should have been done immediately. It was a major emergency, it’s the biggest fish kill in the State from what we know,” Dennehy said.

Dennehy also emphasised that the IFI is stating a death toll that is far lower than angler groups in the area have estimated. 

“I don’t think they have treated it as seriously as they should. It’s baffling to me,” he said.

One lad took out 3,000 alone in one bit of the river and the IFI was saying that a maximum of 4,000 was killed at that point. Even now we’re still finding dead fish, if you walk down there today you’ll see trout belly up in the river.

Chairman of the Mallow Trout Anglers, John Ruby, echoed the Kanturk group’s frustrations at the response from state agencies.

“This was a major ecologist disaster and nobody knew what to do when it first started,” the long-time angler told The Journal.

But Ruby added that IFI also suffers from staffing problems for how it polices 17 designated fishery districts.

“They do not have enough staff. They have so much to cover in this region alone with only a handful of people. I know they were late coming out getting the samples but they’re being led by higher powers above them.”

Ruby claimed there was a lack of coordination among agencies investigating the kill. He described “confusion among agencies”, outlining that while water samples and fish samples were taken, sediment samples from the riverbed were not.

“The sediment sample can hold a lot more than a water sample and that was never done,” Ruby said.

Following meetings with anglers this week, the IFI said it would consider broadening the investigation to include riverbed sediment testing. It is also considering analysis of fish mortalities to identify potential harmful substances.

Guarding rivers against pollution

Responsibility for testing where there has been a suspected pollution incident falls to the IFI, the the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and often times the local council’s environmental unit.

The IFI is coordinating the interagency group made up of Cork County Council, the EPA, the Marine Institute and Uisce Éireann.

In the case of the River Blackwater incident, staff from Cork County Council attended the scene to take water samples and supplied them to the IFI.

The IFI did not respond when contacted further about the reasons behind the wait to sample the scene. In a general statement about the fish kill, released yesterday, it said it was continuing to inspect the affected channel and tributaries for dead or affected fish, and will be liaising closely with all State bodies on the matter.

Agencies are also reviewing historical data to see if any reports received in recent months may be relevant to the incident, the IFI statement said.

Three EPA teams responded on the Tuesday, which a spokesperson for the regulator said happened “within an hour” of the agency being notified about the fish kill.

The EPA investigators sampled sites licensed with the watchdog, as is the normal process. This differs to the fisheries body as it is empowered to take water samples at far more points along a river.

This division of resources and responsibility has been criticised by other groups, with Salmon Watch Ireland board member Rónán Collins writing for The Journal this week that we “urgently need one river authority” to monitor water and the life within.