Cork councillors criticise fisheries minister for failure to compensate anglers after Blackwater fish kill

Councillors had also asked Timmy Dooley to commit to installing pollution monitors and to reopen a game fish hatchery

Up to 50,000 salmon, trout and coarse fish were killed in the River Blackwater in August. Picture: Facebook

A Government minister has come in for stinging criticism after failing to commit to compensate angling interests or install pollution monitors along the River Blackwater in Co Cork following the biggest fish kill in the State’s history.

Councillors representing the North Cork region had written to the Timmy Dooley, who is charge of fisheries, seeking these measures after up to 50,000 salmon, trout and coarse fish were killed in the river in August. The monitors would provide real-time information to ensure a speedier response to any future incidents.

They also asked the minister to agree to reopen a game fish (trout and salmon) hatchery in Mallow as a matter of urgency. A hatchery had operated there for more than 60 years until it closed in the early 2000s.

During its peak, it released 1.25 million young salmon and 250,000 young trout into the river every year.

Mr Dooley said he "fully recognised the enormous impact this incident has had on local communities, anglers and users of this important river catchment", but refused to commit to the councillors' requests.

His two-page reply was castigated. Labour's Ronan Sheehan said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), and other agencies, had waited seven days before reacting to the kill, which resulted in agonising deaths for many fish.

Despite a multi-agency investigation, which included county council officials and the gardaí, no culprit to date has been identified.

“We have no intention of catching people. If we are really serious about this we would put in real-time monitors. I don’t believe the State is really serious about stopping this happening again. It’s so disappointing,” Mr Sheehan said.

Local angling clubs are currently fundraising to put their own pollution monitoring equipment into the river.

Independent councillor Peter O’Donoghue described Mr Dooley’s reply as “a whole two pages of nothing.” 

“The reputation of the Blackwater has been tarnished and bookings cancelled at accommodation specialising in hosting them by a lot of foreign anglers. The river’s reputation will be tarnished for a long time to come,” he said.

Biggest shambles ever

Mr O’Donoghue described the investigation into the fish kills as “the biggest shambles ever”, adding it was going to cost local tourism providers a lot of money.

Fianna Fáil's Pat Hayes, who runs a country pursuits store in Mallow, said the reason the multi-agency taskforce failed to identify who was responsible for the kill was because they reacted too slowly.

He won support from colleagues to write again to Mr Dooley and to the EPA and IFI and seek another meeting with them to discuss the issues.

“The river is not going to recover on its own. It was one of the best salmon and tout fishing rivers in Ireland and indeed in Europe. We urgently need this hatchery reopened,” Mr Hayes said.

He said there were previous kills along the river in the mid to late 1990s which were the responsibility of the former sugar factory.

As a then member of the Upper Blackwater Federation of Trout Anglers, he helped get compensation from the company to restock the river.