'Positive' meeting held over fish kill incident affecting river that runs through County Waterford

Senior management from Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) held what the organisation described as 'a positive meeting' with angler representatives on Friday with regard to a major fish kill incident in the River Blackwater, which runs through counties Waterford, Cork and Kerry.

The meeting took place in Cork and was attended by Minister of State for Fisheries and the Marine, Timmy Dooley TD, senior advisors, IFI Acting CEO Suzanne Campion, the EPA, and local IFI staff. The event was organised with angling and local stakeholders to provide an update on investigations relating to the recent fish mortalities. Preliminary results from the Marine Institute on fish sample analysis, and EPA on water quality analysis, were shared.

A key finding from the Marine Institute was that no evidence of bacterial infection or systemic disease was noted in test samples. It's expected that virology results will be available towards the end of August.

According to the IFI, testing to date also indicated the lesions observed are likely to be associated with an environmental irritant. Results to date from the EPA do not raise concern, and more water quality results will be available in due course. 

In an online statement a spokesperson for IFI said the organisation will continue to coordinate with relevant authorities including the Marine Institute, EPA, Cork County Council, and Uisce Éireann to investigate these significant fish mortalities.

Meanwhile, Suzanne Campion thanked local anglers and the public for the information they provided to assist local IFI staff in the agency’s investigations to date.

IFI has, and will continue to, share any information relating to this incident with the public into the future.

“IFI was pleased to meet with anglers in the area to discuss this issue, and I am delighted that Minister Dooley was able to attend," said Ms Campion.

She said her organisation welcomed the "constructive engagement and collaboration with angler groups".

“We share their deep concerns over the very large number of fish mortalities on the Blackwater," she said.

With regard to the meeting she said assurances were given to those in attendance of IFI’s commitment to progressing its investigations, and of its work with other statutory agencies on the matter. 

Prior to the meeting Ms Campion said IFI’s primary function was to protect and manage freshwater fish and their habitats. 

"The large fish kill on the River Blackwater is very distressing for anglers and others who enjoy the river," she said. "It is also distressing for IFI staff who have devoted many years caring for fish in the catchment."

Ms Campion said the IFI's staff will continue to actively monitor the river to assess the scale of the incident.

While some local angling clubs who use the river estimated the scale of the kill could be in excess of 40,000 fish the IFI's official estimate is that between 8,000 and 10,000 fish have died in the River Blackwater in the last two weeks.

Ms Campion said that estimating the number of mortalities in a fish kill is always difficult as many dead fish will be taken by predators, caught under banks out of sight, sink to the bottom of pools or be washed downstream.

It's also possible that the same fish may be reported by different observers.

Ms Campion said the Marine Institute advice provided to IFI is that there is no precedent for dead fish to be removed from the river and deceased fish should be left where they are found.

The EPA, which has been liaising with IFI’s lead Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer throughout the investigation, inspected water treatment plants and licenced commercial discharges in the affected area and the EPA’s preliminary results did not report anything of concern.