Reopening of Cork fish hatchery could help River Blackwater recover after massive fishkill

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

A former fish hatchery at Bearforest Mallow should be re-opened to help restock the Blackwater river following the massive fish kill there last month, a North Cork councillor has said.

Speaking at this week’s meeting of Cork County Council, Councillor Pat Hayes called on the local authority to write to the Minister for Inland Fisheries Timmy Dooley, requesting that Inland Fisheries Ireland reopen the fish hatchery, which operated for six decades but was closed in the early 2000s.

“The recent catastrophic fish kill along 40km of the river system has wiped out multiple-year classes of fish. The river will require major help to bring fish stocks back to normal levels. A local hatchery would allow for urgent and targeted restocking to prevent long-term ecological damage,” Cllr Hayes said.

“Hatcheries can help restore endangered or declining fish populations by reintroducing genetically suitable stock to the affected waterways, preserving local biodiversity. A healthy fish population supports angling tourism, which is a major economic contributor in the Mallow and Blackwater Valley region. Restocking can help restore this quickly.”

The Kanturk-Mallow councillor said the fish hatchery at Bearforest was a key regional facility for breeding and restocking native fish species — particularly salmon and brown trout — into the Blackwater River system and its tributaries, releasing 1.25 million salmon fry and 250,000 brown trout fry every year.

“It was a phenomenal system, it worked really well. We had the highest return of salmon in the country, there was like 25,000, 26,000 salmon back every year. And they closed it and since then the salmon population has been declining,” he said.

The motion was seconded by Cllr Gearoid Murphy, who described the recent fish kill as “nothing short of an ecological disaster.”

“Where the hatchery was previously closed because there were already sufficient fish stocks, it is clear that this is no longer the case. So it seems to be a very effective measure to hopefully help to undo some of the damage which has been done and repopulate the river,” he said.

Councillor Ronan Sheehan said the hatchery was “by all accounts, the top hatchery in Europe, lots of visitors trying to emulate it used come there. Everything about it just makes sense to do it now and the river absolutely needs it. The rationale that the river was full no longer stands.”

Cork County Council agreed to write to the inland fisheries minister about reopening the hatchery. The fish kill in August killed over 50,000 fish in the Blackwater river with no explanation yet as to what caused it.