No causal link between discharges from businesses and major fish kill in Cork, EPA says

Olivia Kelleher

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said that it has not identified a causal link between discharges from businesses and a major fish kill in Co Cork earlier this month.

On August 11th last, up to 40,000 fish died in the River Blackwater and the River Clyda in the Mallow area.

The fish, which included trout and salmon parr, dace, salmon, and freshwater eels, were found along an 18km stretch of the river between Lombardstown and Killavullen.

The EPA said that they immediately deployed three teams of inspectors to investigate whether industrial sites as well as wastewater treatment plants and drinking water plants around Mallow and Kanturk, may have contributed to the serious incident.

Inspectors checked conditions on the ground and took effluent and water samples. No spills were detected on any site inspected.

The preliminary findings of fish pathology studies carried out by the Marine Institute revealed that a waterborne irritant was likely to have caused or contributed to the fish mortalities, and that exposure may have occurred in the days before the incident.

The EPA then expanded their investigation to include discharges from EPA-regulated sites that may have occurred over a wider date range in the Blackwater Catchment.

They focused their attention on ten industrial sites, 17 wastewater discharges, and two drinking plants.

The EPA said that a number of licensed sites were not in compliance with certain licence conditions during the period, which are the subject of separate enforcement actions.

“However, to date, the EPA has not identified a causal link between discharges from the EPA-regulated facilities and the fish kill.

"This information is being made available to the inter-agency group coordinating the investigation into the incident, and to Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to inform their assessment in relation to the fish kill. It will also be made available on the EPA website.

"The inter-agency group met this morning, chaired by Minister (Timmy) Dooley. It is expected a statement will issue from that group.”

The statement added that the EPA continues to work closely with, and share expertise with, IFI, Cork County Council and all other stakeholders involved in the inter-agency group.

North Cork Creameries previously said it was “not connected” with the fish kill and expressed concern about “unfounded claims” linking them to the incident.

EPA tests recently found the dairy plant non compliant with its discharge licences. However, they plant said that there “was nothing at any level of concentration or content” in the wastewater effluent outflow from North Cork Creameries that could have caused the major fish kill.

Meanwhile, Cork Labour TD Eoghan Kenny has called on the IFI to appear before the Oireachtas committee in relation to the incident.

The Mallow based public representative said that communication in relation to the cause of the kill has been very poor.

“It has been so frustrating. I have no faith at all in Inland Fisheries Ireland. The information from the IFI to the general public has been very bad from the start.

"They have to explain it in ordinary English to the ordinary member of the public as to what has happened to their river. I think they are withholding information even from public representatives.”