Almost €80k to restore fish stocks after Blackwater incident destroyed over 41,000 fish

Almost €80,000 has been allocated to restoring fish stock and habitats on the River Blackwater in Cork by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) following the extensive fish kill last year.

The funding, announced under a new inter-agency fish kill response plan, will be used to help restore salmon and trout stocks and their habitats on the River Blackwater.

IFI is the lead agency on the project, and worked with multiple statutory bodies on the plan, entitled the National Protocol for Co-ordinating the Response to Significant Fish Mortality Events in Freshwater.

The publication of this rapid response plan comes following the record-breaking fish kill in the River Blackwater catchment in August 2025, which saw an estimated 41,801 fish killed — of which up to 32,178 were brown trout and salmon.

Despite an extensive inter-agency investigation, with a cost of over €42,000, the cause and source of the fish kill was not identified.

However, IFI concluded that a waterborne irritant “likely entered the river 72 hours before the first mortalities were observed, at an unidentified point, and dissipated quickly, rendering it undetectable in water samples and fish-tissue samples”.

Under this new scheme, funding of €67,303 has now been allocated for a genetic study to collect 2,000 juvenile salmon and trout samples from spawning streams for analysis, with key assistance from local anglers.

A grant of €10,000 is also being provided for the Killavullen fishery riparian restoration project, to develop a river habitat plan in cooperation with IFI.

CEO of IFI, Dr Eamonn Kelly said the River Blackwater fish kill was “devastating for anglers and the local community in Cork”.

"This protocol strengthens how State organisations will cooperate, and mobilise, in each step of a significant fish kill event in the future,” said Dr Kelly.

"It centres on procedures to be quicky followed, and on clear communication and information-sharing between all the agencies involved, and with the wider public.

"It provides a practical and collaborative framework to ensure all relevant State authorities are better prepared to collectively respond to any future incidents."

The new protocol sets out the recommended minimum requirements for each stage of the management of a fish mortality event, including preparedness, investigation, and reporting activities.

Following the inter-agency investigation into the River Blackwater fish kill in September, a summary report on the investigation was published by IFI.

As no definitive cause for the incident was identified, an independent review was carried out by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).

The JRC report, published in February, included a range of recommendations such as the development of a national protocol to improve coordination, information sharing, and communication between relevant agencies.

Minister of State Timmy Dooley said the publication of the new protocol “reflects our commitment to implementing lessons learned from the Blackwater incident and marks the delivery of one of the key actions arising from the JRC review”.

“It addresses many of the review’s recommendations, particularly those relating to governance, coordination, and communications, and strengthens how our agencies prepare for and respond to major fish kill events,” said Mr Dooley.