EPA says it has yet to identify what killed thousands of fish on Cork river

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said it has not, to date, identified a causal link between discharges from nearby firms and a major fish kill on the River Blackwater.

On August 11, thousands of fish were killed in the River Blackwater and its tributaries along an 18km stretch between Lombardstown and Killavullen.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) initially estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 fish — mainly brown trout — had died in the Blackwater, Clyda, and Awbeg rivers.

However, local angling clubs in Mallow, Lombardstown, and Killavullen have claimed that as many as 50,000 fish may have been killed.

Following an interagency meeting convened yesterday by Timmy Dooley, minister of state at the Department of Agriculture, the EPA said it has yet to identify the source of the fish kill.

The EPA said its inspectors have focused their attention on 10 industrial sites, 17 wastewater discharges, and two drinking water plants.

It said 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,” 

the agency said.

On Sunday, North Cork Creameries said, in a strongly worded statement, that it was “not connected” with the fish kill.

Recent EPA tests had found that the co-op was not in compliance with its discharge licences.

Despite that, North Cork Creameries said that there was “nothing in our licensed effluent discharges that could have caused the mass fish kill or the dreadful injury to fish”.

Meanwhile, Eoghan Kenny, Labour Party TD for Cork North Central, said he has been extremely unhappy at the level of communication coming from both IFI and the EPA over the past weeks.

“Communication from both State agencies has been abysmal, and, if I may say, the vague way they have treated requests for information smacks of complete arrogance,” 

he said.

“They need to be contacting public representatives like me and telling us what is happening,” Mr Kenny added.