Inconclusive probe into Cork fish kill on the River Blackwater blasted by Social Democrats

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

The Social Democrats have strongly criticised state agencies’ response to the devastating fish kill in the Blackwater river with no explanation almost two months later as to what caused it despite numerous investigations in the meantime.

“The multi-agency report asserts that a fish kill in the River Blackwater, County Cork in August which saw the deaths of up to 42,000 fish cannot be explained,” the party’s environment spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore said.

“The report was conducted by Environmental Protection Agency, Inland Fisheries Ireland, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Cork County Council, Uisce Éireann, the Marine Institute, the Departments of Environment and Agriculture, and the HSE - yet none of these agencies could identify the cause of this catastrophe.”

“The EPA only became aware of the kill up to a week after it may have occurred - by the time it had taken samples to identify potential pollutants, those pollutants would likely have already left the river and its tributaries, as well as the discharge flows of local industries,” she said.

Deputy Whitmore said if the cause of the fish kill isn’t identified there’s no guarantee it won’t happen again.

“Despite not being causally linked to the fish kill, findings highlighting that 362,000 litres of wastewater, with ammonia levels 30 times above the legal limit, were emptied into the river during a ten-hour period on the night of the fish kill is blatantly unacceptable.”

“It’s clear there must be a complete review of how agencies cooperate and work together immediately once a fish kill is identified,” she said, promising to raise the issue next week when the EPA comes before the Oireachtas Climate committee.

The multi-agency investigation has not yielded any “definite” results so far, Minister of State Timmy Dooley said last week. Technical teams have concluded that the most likely cause of the fish kill was an irritant in the water, but neither the irritant nor its source have been identified.