18/08/2025
That figure of 20,000 has now doubled to 46,000 looking like a wipeout of the entire population of fish in the river comprising of:
Brown Trout
Wild Atlantic Salmon
Young Trout Parr
Young Salmon Parr
Eels
Dace
Roche
The Pearl Muscle Protected under European Law
Thanks to John Flynn for reporting from the Munster Blackwater river via TAFI which we share below.
Tomorrow Tuesday 19th August 2025 we meet the responsible Minister Timmy Dooley TD and we will deliver the following opening statement and we will publish his response immediately.
Opening Statement to the Minister on behalf of the AGAF - ALLIANCE OF GAME ANGLING FEDERATIONS
Comprising of Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland (TAFI), the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers (FISSTA) and the National Anglers Representative Association (NARA).
18th August 2025
The above groups represent all of Irelands Federated Game Anglers. As a combined group we are seriously concerned at the number of water quality related fish kills which have taken place over the past few weeks.
There has been and continues to be a serious fish kill on the Munster Blackwater system where thousands of wild brown trout and salmon have been killed. There was a serious fish kill on Lough Sheelin in County Cavan where in excess of 1,200 are believed to have died. There have also been other fish kills in County Cavan on the Erne System and fish kills in Clare and Cork. In reality it is not possible to outline all of the fish kills that happen on a regular basis every year.
TAFI, FISSTA and NARA under the AGAF - ALLIANCE OF GAME ANGLING FEDERATIONS are astounded at the lack of outrage and urgency shown in relation to these monumental environmental disasters. In a number of the recent kills Inland Fisheries Ireland staff have blamed low water conditions and high water temperatures as the cause of the kills. They have completely ignored the fact that most Irish waterways are seriously polluted and this is the major contributory factor in the amount of fish mortalities. No statement of concern has been heard from the EPA in relation to the fish kills and the County Councils are also silent. These three groups have divided responsibility for water quality in the State.
It appears that those with responsibility for cleaning up our waterways have accepted that fish kills are the norm and the public including anglers should accept this.
Those with responsibility for our waterways cannot say that this problem is not known. Angling groups have highlighted the issues around our waterways for years. In 2024 TAFI met with IFI and the issue of the environment and fish habitat has been a major item on the agenda. FISTA and NARA have also highlighted water quality issues on a regular basis.
TAFA, FISSTA and NARA are calling on the minister with responsibility to review how our waterways are managed from a water quality perspective. We are calling for one overall body with full operational and strategic responsibility for water quality and the fisheries environment. This body must be given the full resources to carry out audits spot checks and inspections on any industry which discharges to our public waterways. This body will have responsibility for the issuing of court proceedings to enforce the legislation that is in place currently. We also call on the Minister to review the fines in relation to pollution incidents. We are asking that legislation is put in place to hold directors and owners of companies directly responsible for acts or omissions that result in pollution to our waterways.
It is the belief of TAFI, FISSTA and NARA that the current implementation system for water quality is in complete disarray from an enforcement perspective and if we are to achieve our statutory objectives under the water framework directive the state needs to implement immediate and radical change in how anti pollution laws are monitored and enforced. Should the state not do so we will have not option but to bring the issue oif water quality to the EU who have overall responsibility for the achievement of our Water Freamwork Directive targets and objectives.
Chair of TAFI
Chair of FISSTA Paul Lawton
Chair of NARA Martin Kearney.
Timeline & Update from John Flynn
Secretary Killavullen Angling Club
Blackwater River Co Cork and commentary at the end from someone who knows what he is talking about.
My name is John Flynn and I am secretary of the Killavullen Angling Club.
I thought you might interested in an update on the Blackwater fish kill of earlier this week.
The initial estimate given in the media last Tuesday mentioned up to 1000 fish over an 8km stretch. Sadly it has become apparent since then that the scale of this ecological disaster is much bigger than first thought.
As of last Thursday it is Estimated that this incident has killed over 46,000 fish and the disaster is still ongoing. With more dead and dying fish being seen every day the number now is likely to be considerably more especially as fish have been seen attempting to go up tributaries where they are also dying to escape whatever is in the Blackwater . Today we have also seen the upper food chains being affected with a dying Cormorant, a bird who lives on fish and avoids any close contact with humans having been seen in a Main Street in Mallow disoriented and dying.
As you can see this is an unprecedented ecological disaster and to my knowledge this is by bar the biggest fish kill in the history of the State with the previous dubious record being 5000.
Huge numbers of dead / dying fish have been found over a 30km stretch from Clonmeen house down to Ballyhooly so far and this is sadly still ongoing
These include Brown Trout
Wild Atlantic Salmon endangered species
Young Trout Parr
Young Salmon Parr endangered species
Eels
Dace
Roche
The Pearl Muscle Protected under European Law
The update on fish killed as of last Thursday evening is: (since then the IFI have prohibited people entering the river or removing dead fish)
Lombardstown, Mallow and killavullen clubs recovered approx 3500 fish from the river blackwater.
There was the same volume in the river that were in water too deep to recover.
That's approx 7000 fish.
There was also the same amount observed still swimming but obviously affected...
That's 10,500 fish.
Allow perhaps 10% for predation from birds etc and it totals over 11,500 fish.
This was only covering approx one quarter of the affected stretch which spans some 30km.
So, 11,500 x 4 which totals approx 46,000 is the actual number of what has been affected so far as of last Thursday ...and it is still ongoing.
As you can see this is an unmitigated ecological disaster. I have attached some pictures of over 350 fish recovered at Killavullen Bridge on Thursday evening over a one and half hour period only. Mallow anglers also collected dead fish on the same evening and the overall total was 3,500 dead fish
The IFI advised all clubs on Friday not to remove dead fish from the river under Health and Safety grounds until the source of the fish kill has been established so The river is full of rotting fish. What is concerning for the general public is that no warning has been published or signs put up advertising people that people or animals should not enter the water .
As of 7pm on Sunday 17th it appears that this is now entering the upper food chain . A cormorant has been seen in mallow town in obvious distress, disoriented and possibly dying. See video attached.These predator birds who consume up to 2 lbs fish per day and always avoid at all costs any close contact with humans and yet here it is in a Main Street in Mallow.
Based on this It now seems likely that it will infect other fish eating animals on the river such as Herons , kingfishers , Otters ,swans, etc.
Undoubtedly it will also have killed the Pearl muscle which is an endangered species and one of the few places it is found is in the Blackwater River
The Marine institute of Ireland completed their sampling of fish on Friday and the results of what the fish died of won’t be known for 20 days
The EPA took water samples earlier last week and the results of these tests were due to be published last Friday but unfortunately still haven’t been to date
The IFI who are responsible for the river have been uncontactable since this happened last Monday and inexplicably have released no meaningful updates on their actions to Clubs, Anglers or the general public . I think this is disappointing for a state body that has the total legal responsibility for the management and protection of all of our waterways .
Numerous enquiries have been made by clubs and concerned anglers to the EPA , Cork County Council and the IFI , but to date we have only received a generic response advising results will be published in due course
Our Chairman Conor Arnold has confirmed that he would be happy to take any follow up calls on this disaster
087 7554682
Best Regards
John Flynn
Secretary Killavullen Angling Club
Commentary
It is difficult not to be cynical about the content of the latest update from IFI—18-08 25:
If one has not tested /analysed samples for pollutants ie fish samples for pesticides, herbicides , disinfectant /cleansing agents ( commonly used in industry), together with a broad spectrum of tests on water samples for all the above chemicals, then it is not possible to categorically rule out pollutants as a possible primary trigger for weakening the fish and rendering them vulnerable to severe fungal infections in a watercourse where water volumes are depleted:high water temperatures exacerbating the poor environmental state of the waters.
IFI — please think outside the box and putting out press releases that suggest that a Fungal agent is the most likely cause of this ‘catastrophic loss of fish’ only adds to the frustration of all concerned anglers in this region. Appreciate that analyses of samples does take time. It might help the anglers and those interested in the wildlife of this region if IFI and Marine Institute disclosed/ published/make a statement to the media as to what is the range of the bacteriological/virologjcal and fungal agents that are ‘being looked at’ and as important the range of chemical agents which the laboritories are investigating . We await greater transparency and clarity in the next ‘Press Release from IFI’ . D. H.
