In recent weeks, thousands of fish have been killed in various parts of the river across Northern Ireland.
There have been four major fish kills within the last four weeks.
More than a thousand brown trout were killed in the Four Mile Burn, a tributary of the Six Mile Water river in County Antrim on 19 May.
Then on June 5, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) said more than 300 fish had been killed in a pollution incident in the Skeoge River near Donegal.
Fishermen described a fish kill in Antrim’s Glenavy River on 13 June as “appalling”, while an unrelated pollution incident three days later in the River Roe in Burnfoot resulted in more than 700 dead fish floating on top.
While a specific cause could not be directly attributed, Joanna Braniff from The Rivers Trust said fish kills were being driven by a number of factors including “chemical pollution, sewage and discharge overflows, rising temperatures of water, and low oxygen levels caused by climate change and heavy rains that fertilize the fields.”
‘Like a forest fire’
Ms Braniff said events like this would “undo decades of dedicated conservation work”.
“The death of thousands of fish in these incidents is a tragedy, not only for wildlife and biodiversity, but also for the local communities that depend on them for recreation and their livelihoods.”
Ms Braniff emphasized the long-term “devastating” effects of such fish kills on the wider ecosystem.
“Effects on fish reproduction can wipe out entire species in a river, affecting the birds, insects, and other river fauna and flora that depend on them, destroying an interconnected biodiversity web.”
“A fish kill is similar to a forest fire in terms of the damage it causes,” he added.
‘Some rivers are irreversible’
Ms Braniff said she was concerned that people were becoming immune to the sight of polluted waterways in Northern Ireland.
Similarly, Gary Houston, chairman of the Ulster Angling Federation, pointed out that although it doesn’t take much to cause a fish kill, “there are too many of these incidents in Northern Ireland today.”
“Our waters are very fragile, and because agricultural waste management is not adequately controlled, some of our rivers never get a chance to recover.
“Our rivers are polluted all the time,” he added.
Asked how Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK and Ireland, Mr Houston told BBC News NI that “we are at the bottom”.
“It comes down to regulation.
“There are really bad enforcement policies and low rates of punishment for these types of offences, it’s just a free for all,” he said.
‘Get out of jail free card’
Mr Houston emphasized that as part of a “‘statement of regulatory principle’, NI Water cannot be penalized generally because its infrastructure is not fit for purpose.
“So it’s like a get out of jail free card,” he added.
According to NI Water, more than 20 million tonnes of untreated sewage and wastewater are discharged into Northern Ireland’s waterways every year.
Mr Houston said a combination of agricutural run-off, and the dumping of raw sewage into waterways in Northern Ireland was killing the sport of angling.
“Angling is a major sport in Northern Ireland, we have over 7,000 members and there are about 37,000 registered anglers in Northern Ireland.
“We are fighting an uphill battle,” he said.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (daera) has been contacted for comment.
