Farmers warned about slurry spreading and fish kills

Anton McNulty

Farmers spreading slurry over the coming weeks have been warned not to risk water pollution after eight of the 31 fish kills in 2016 were directly attributed to farming activities.
Inland Fisheries Ireland has issued the appeal as farmers are completing their silage harvest and preparing to spread slurry and farmyard manure. While no fish kills were directly attributed to agricultural activities in Mayo in 2016, there were eight in total in the State, including one in Sligo and another in Galway.
Dr Greg Forde, Head of Operations at Inland Fisheries Ireland, is grateful to the farming community for their record of consideration and vigilance.
“Good farmyard management can help to prevent accidental runs of polluting substances and protect the local environment. This will have a significant and lasting positive impact on valuable wild fish populations in an area,” he said.
Silage effluent has been described as a ‘significant polluting substance’, and huge damage can be caused by a small leak during summer time when river levels are low.
Risk-mitigating steps that Inland Fisheries Ireland is asking farmers to take include using round bales instead of a pit. If a pit is used, the farmer must ensure it is properly sealed to prevent leakage.
The slurry-spreading season closes on November 1, and farmers have been advised not to spread when heavy rain is forecast and never to spread close to a watercourse.
Inland Fisheries Ireland manages a wide range of environmental issues that can affect the fisheries resource, with over 22,000 environmental inspections carried out in 2016 across industrial, forestry, engineering, water treatment and wind farms sites. There were 1,553 inspections across farmyards to help identify any risks and prevent damage to the local aquatic habitat.
Fish killed in incidents in 2016 included brown trout, Atlantic salmon, eel, stone loach and stickleback.

MORE Inland Fisheries Ireland’s confidential hotline number for reporting incidents of water pollution, fish kills and illegal fishing is 1890 347424 or 1890 FISH 24. For more information on Inland Fisheries Ireland, visit
www.fisheriesireland.ie.