A fish kill has completely wiped out stocks on a tributary of Lough Arrow after several thousand pounds were spent on an EU-funded scheme aimed at replenishing the stream with wild trout.
Farm effluent is believed to have caused the kill on Flanagan's stream on the Sligo/Roscommon border, and the North Western Regional Fisheries Board has urged farmers to be vigilant, particularly as the silage season approaches. The fishery board's chief officer, Mr Vincent Roche, described the fish kill as a serious blow and said it would take years to replace the stocks.
A total of £350,000 has been spent in the Lough Arrow catchment area under an EU-funded scheme aimed at restoring stocks of wild trout. Flanagan's Stream, which is a nursery stream, was included in the project. Pools were created, weirs built and banks protected - all measures which can help boost stocks. Mr Roche said several hundred young trout were killed. The policy of the board in recent years had been to stop stocking Lough Arrow with adult trout and to try to increase wild stocks, and for this reason the kill was a blow, he said.
On average, there are one or two fish kills per year in the north western board area and Mr Roche said he believed this was the first kill at Lough Arrow.
"Any spillage of silage or any other farm effluent is very dangerous, particularly on small streams and in low water conditions," he said.
Meanwhile, the fisheries board has opened a new angling centre at the Ridge Pool on the River Moy in Ballina. More than 4,000 people from 30 countries paid to fish on the State-owned Moy fishery last year and the new centre includes an anglers' lounge with catering facilities, a gillies' office, tackle and fish storage areas and toilets and showers.