Universal Foods Ltd - a company based in east Cork - has said it is investigating a pollution incident which led to the loss of 5,000 fish on the Owenacurra river near Midleton on Tuesday evening.
In a statement yesterday, the company said it was very concerned about the incident and had started an inquiry to determine whether it was involved in the pollution of the Owenacurra, a major fishing river. The statement said that Universal Foods would co-operate with the statutory authorities in the matter.
Mr Aidan Barry, the manager of the South-Western Regional Fisheries Board, said the company responsible for the pollution could not be named for legal reasons, but the board's own investigations had established that the pollution was chlorine-based and came from an industrial source near the river. Mr Barry added that the board expected to be able to bring a prosecution against the company concerned.
He told The Irish Times that last year there were 10 fish kills in the Cork and Kerry region, which is administered by the board. Three of these were on the river Argideen, near Clonakilty, in west Cork, and in the worst of them some 10,000 fish were destroyed.
But by far the worst fish kill last year was on the River Martin, near Blarney, outside Cork, when up to 80,000 fish were killed as a result of agriculture effluent seeping into the river.
This was the biggest fish kill recorded by the board in its history, and at one stage it threatened to close down the Cork city waterworks, supplying fresh water to more than 136,000 homes, as the river-borne pollution neared the water treatment plant. Mr Barry said that last year some 20 miles of rivers in Cork and Kerry were affected by pollution and that some 120,000 fish had died as a result. This year, so far, only two miles of rivers in both counties had been affected, while some 7,000 fish had been killed.
In the case of the Midleton fish kill, he said the board expected to be in a position to prosecute the relevant company in due course. It is understood that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has joined the board in the investigation.
The Democratic Left spokesman on the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, has said that the loss of 5,000 fish on the Owenacurra and the fact that Ireland was facing court action by the EU Commission over failure to provide sufficient control on ground water pollution meant that there had been a significant loss of momentum in the battle against water pollution since the Fianna Fail/ PD Government came to power.
"This time last year, following a similar spate of fish kills, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Michael Woods, was promising a major action plan including mobile emergency response units and fines of up to £1,000. Yet 12 months on, little or nothing has been done and we are experiencing yet another spate of fish kills," Mr Gilmore said.
The only thing that had probably prevented even greater loss of fish life this year had been the high water level in most rivers and lakes due to heavy rainfall. A more focused approach to water pollution, and a comprehensive programme of action, including increased penalties and fines, were needed, he said.