Balla fish kill an ‘outrage’

Balla fish kill condemned by Ruane


Michael Commins

A substantial fish kill down stream from the Mayo County sewerage treatment plant in Balla last week has been described by Sinn Féin councillor Thérèse Ruane as an “outrage”. The pollution and contamination of the Rodney River in Balla resulted in the wipe out of a large number of wild brown trout in a stretch of more than a mile downstream from the plant.
Cllr Ruane said she was dismayed by the scene when she walked a half mile stretch of the river band on Thursday. “I got a call from the secretary of the Board of trustees of Balla Town Park on Thursday morning. That morning, while walking the park, he came upon this substantial fish kill and had counted up to 30 dead wild brown trout in a 100 metre stretch of water downstream from the sewerage treatment plant.
“I immediately reported this to the Fisheries Board who sent a team to investigate the extent of the contamination and fish kill. Water samples were taken and the majority of the fish removed from the stretch of water. I counted 119 dead fish - and that was after the Fisheries Board had removed many of the dead fish. Upriver from the plant, fish life continued as normal - full of live healthy wild brown trout.
“This river is situated in Balla Town Park, a 300 acre park with 167 acres of woodland. The GAA Park, the Golf Club is in the Park and it is also the starting point for the beautiful Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail.
Cllr Ruane said we pride ourselves on our clean rivers, lakes and waterways here in Mayo.
“Fishing is a key industry and a real boost to tourism in the County. We must protect our environment, our heritage and it is simply a disgrace to see the killing of wild species of brown trout in this way. It’s an outrage that any river or waterway could be contaminated and polluted in this way by our local authority. It’s not good enough and we need answers as to why and how this happened. It’s an outrage.”