MORE than 3,000 brown trout and salmon parr have been killed in one of the worst pollution incidents in Munster in recent years.
The kill occurred initially on the river Martin, near Blarney, Co Cork, but then spread to the adjoining river Shournagh and later into the Lee below Cork city. According to Mr Aidan Barry of the South Western Regional Fisheries Board, the kill was caused by leaking slurry on a farm near Blarney. It leached into a boggy area near the river and was first noticed late on Wednesday night by a passer by.
The fish died from oxygen deprivation during Wednesday night and throughout yesterday.
In a second incident involving a slurry discharge, Midleton Urban District Council was forced to discontinue extracting water from the Owenacurra river yesterday because of fears over the town's water supply. A farmer in the Leamlara area, about five miles outside Midleton, was using new slurry treatment equipment when it failed, leading to a seepage into the river. According to the environment section of Cork County Council, "a few hundred" trout, eel and stickleback fish were killed in the incident.
A spokesman for Midleton UDC said later last evening that the incident was not regarded as a particularly serious one and added that water extraction from the Owenacurra had resumed.
The heavy loss of fish in the incident near Blarney is a particular blow to conservation, according to Mr Barry, given that five years ago a similar incident left the river Martin in as bad a condition.
After that kill, the Fisheries Board decided to allow the river to regenerate naturally so as not to interfere with the genetics of the fish stocks. It had taken the intervening five years for the stocks to build up again, but the process had been set at naught, Mr Barry said yesterday.
The board must decide whether to introduce new stocks to restore the river or wait for a further five years while stocks build up of their own accord. Discussions are to be held with local angling clubs on this issue.
"It's a very serious and deplorable incident. Our hope now is that dilution will prevent further damage. We will have to watch the situation closely," Mr Barry said.
Last summer the nearby Shournagh suffered a huge fish kill when one of the retaining walls of a slurry trough collapsed. This incident was treated as an accident by the authorities.