Thousands of fish have been killed by pollutants along a 12-mile stretch of a river in County Antrim. Anglers are being warned that fish stocks in the Ballymartin River and Six Mile Water may never recover from the spillage, which was believed to have originated from the Mallusk area. The Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) are currently investigating the incident, after members of the Antrim and District Angling Association reported fish lying dead in both rivers. There are also concerns that the impacts of the pollutants could spread to birds and otters in the area.
Antrim Councillor Danny Kinahan has called for those responsible to be fined hundreds of thousands of pounds. "The responsibility falls squarely on all the company directors as well as the individuals who may have done it without considering the damage they will cause. Over the years, these rivers have had hundreds of thousands spent on restocking them with fish and reinvigorating all the other wildlife that are in and around them. Now they have to start again, as all the invertebrates and the fish are dead, and we will very likely see the same happening to the birds and animals who rely on the river."
Mr Kinahan's comments echo those of his Ulster Unionist Party colleague David Burnside, who this week called on Environment Minister Arlene Foster to act quickly on environmental protection reform in order to ensure incidents like this are resigned to the past. He commented, "This pollution incident is only the latest in a long list of episodes to affect this area and there are fears that the fish stocks will never recover which will have a long-term impact on the local and regional area. Equally Lough Neagh is one of Northern Ireland's major sources of drinking water, so the wider community is affected."
