Anglers haul in some big EU fish

BRUSSELS, it seems sometimes, is a city of lobbyists and consultants. Even the mother and father of all lobby groups, the US National Rifle Association, has opened an office here, no doubt to extol the right of each of us to own our own personal Armalite.

They and their kind monitor legislation, liaise with Commission officials, "brief" MEPs and scrutinise the OJ (Official Journal) for new tenders. These can involve anything from selling light bulbs to the Commission to writing reports on the effectiveness of EU policies.

The truth is, Brussels is an incredibly open town. As Tony Waldron and Roderick O'Sullivan have been finding out, you don't need to be a professional lobbyist to get to see someone who matters. The two representatives of some 4,000 anglers in the CarraMask and Lough Corrib Angling Federations, passionate unpaid campaigners, have met Commission officials and MEPs and urged them to keep up pressure on the Irish Government to save their lakes from phosphorous pollution.

Dr O'Sullivan, a London based dentist and environmental scientist, made a presentation to the Commission of his study "Lough Corrib: a Cause for Concern" and the two men lodged a formal complaint about the state of the lake, to join several others about other western lakes.

As Mr Waldron put it, they were also there to "say good on you" to the Commission for starting legal proceedings against the Government under water quality legislation.

There are in the EU only 13 listed wild brown trout fisheries, 12 of them in Ireland, and seven of these are in danger, Mr Waldron warns. The loughs at risk are Corrib, Carra, Mask, Conn, Cullin, Arrow and Gill. The evidence is there, he says, in the new banks of reeds and weed that stretch out from many a shoreline and the algal growth that clouds once clear lakes or even turns them as green as the fields around them.

Phosphorous, from untreated or poorly treated human sewage but mainly from agricultural runoffs is changing the chemistry and character of these lakes by providing a rich nutrient to plants and bacteria that have traditionally had nothing to feed on. The result a process known as eutrophication drives off fish, or kills them.

Corrib's problems, Dr O'Sullivan argues, epitomise those of the other lakes. Tributaries like the Clare river, which before draining fed harmlessly into marshlands, now carry directly into the lake the pollution from towns as far away as Ballyhaunis. There's~ also the leakage from the Galway dump and from the slurry spread on the land from the animals that the EU has encouraged farmers to rear.

The two men argue that the Government must set target ceilings for phosphorous pollution of the lakes, and at levels which do not allow degradation to continue.

"Nothing is being done about it," Dr O'Sullivan says.

"And one reason the Government will not deal with the issue is clearly that it will not face up to the farmers," Mr Waldron adds.

The Commission welcomes environmental groups. "As we have no inspectorate they can be our eyes and ears," one environment official said. He admits the anglers have helped to draw the Commission's attention to the western lakes; it had been aware of the pollution of Derg and Sheelin.

He accepts that the Government has acted to remedy sewage problems but dealing with agricultural effluent, which is responsible for 80 per cent of the problem on these lakes, is another matter. The Commission expects Ireland to take up more of the funds available under the EU's rural environment scheme in the years ahead.

He warns that the Government will have to set a sufficiently low phosphorous threshold to recognise the uniqueness of these lakes.

The procedure for legal action by the Commission is under way - a reasoned opinion is due to be sent to the Government shortly and failure to respond adequately will result in the Commission approving proceedings in the Court of Justice later in the year.

The Government has, however, taken a first step to meet the concerns of the anglers. In its Sustainable Development Strategy, published by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, on Monday, there is a pledge to reduce excess phosphorous use by farmers by 10 per cent a year for five years.