Westmeath recorded the joint-lowest number of fish kills in Ireland over the fifty years previous to 2022, and according to Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) this is because of its low farm animal populations and lower population density.
Data released recently, gleaned from data recorded between 1969 and 2022 by Inland Fisheries shows that there were 2,107 fish kills in Irish rivers and lakes over that period.
Along with Roscommon, Westmeath had only 0.7% of fish kills during that time period, totalling 13 fish kills. Cork and Cavan had the worst record and accounted for the highest proportion of kills.
The low amount of fish kills is important in a county like Westmeath, where trout fishing is a big attraction on the major lakes and fishing generally brings visitors to the county for much of the year.
Fish kills can involve small numbers of fish deaths in localised areas and are attributed to a wide variety of natural and human-linked causes. However, most of them are linked to pollutants entering a rivers and suffocating or poisoning fish and other creatures living in the waterways. Hum-an influenced fish kill events include discharges of sewage or other organic materials, herbicides, pesticides, industrial chemicals or fertilisers to surface waters.
One of the most recent “kills” was in the Allow River in Co. Cork, which was polluted by a chemical escapig from an Uisce Eireann upstream water treatment plant and destroyed thousands of fish downstream. It also damaged the entire ecosystem of the river, which could take many years to restore.
Other recent recorded fish kills happened at the Riverstown River in 2022, 2013, and 2011, due to unknown causes. Before that, fish kills occurred in the Kinnegad river in 1989, 1991 and 1995 due to industrial activity and agriculture.
Data of the report by Inland Fisheries Island linked fish kill hotspots to intense agricultural activity and large urban centres and was prevalent in the east, south and north midlands.
A statement from Inland Fisheries Ireland to Topic said: “Co. Westmeath has seen fewer fish kills compared with other counties with, for example, a history of more intensive agriculture or a higher population density.
“IFI’s Fish Kills in Ireland, History, Current Status and Recovery report shows fish kills incidents are more prevalent in counties with high-intensity farming, such as Co. Cork and Co. Cavan.
“In Co. Westmeath, sheep, pig and cattle stock populations have been among the lowest of Ireland’s counties.
“Places with lower population densities, such as Co. Westmeath, tend to have fewer domestic pollution discharges, and municipal facilities, such as wastewater treatment plants, tend to put less pressure on waterbodies.”
