'Needless, avoidable and criminal,' New study reveals Tipperary's 53-year record on fish kills

A new study by Inland Fisheries Ireland over a 53-year period has found that Tipperary had some of the highest levels of fish kills in the country. 

The study titled Fish Kills in Ireland - History, Current Status and Recovery, published last week, looked at 2107  fish kills from 1969 to 2022.

The authors used historic reports compiled by fisheries environmental officers. Spatial data (county and catchment) was available for 1,738 incidents.

Tipperary accounted for 7.2% or 125 kills, which put it in the top five counties after Cavan, Cork and Monaghan.

In a statement following the report’s publishing, lead author and eastern region director at Inland Fisheries Ireland, Dr Ronan Matson said more needs to be done to prevent fish kills.

“Fish kills caused by pollution are heartbreaking for local communities.

“Many of these lethal events are needless, avoidable and criminal.

“The ripple effect of ecological damage on biodiversity is long-lasting,” said Dr Matson.

COUNTY AND CATCHMENT

The Premier County had the highest number of fish kills in the 1970s.

The river Suir was sixth-highest for fish kills between 1969 and 2022 with 100 reports. 

Fish kills on the Nenagh waterbody occurred once per year between 1969 and 1974.

This was due to industrial activities like spills from factories or creameries. 

Tipperary accounted for a whopping 13.3% of all fish kills associated with industry. 

Overall, agriculture accounted for the most fish kills nationally at 23% Tipperary came fourth in fish kills associated with agriculture, with 6.9% of all incidents.

That was followed by eutrophication (algae bloom, fertilisers in the water), followed by industrial activities and municipal activities (wastewater treatment, etc).

The study found that Tipperary came second for fish kills associated with industrial activities and fifth for municipal activities (9%).

Salmonids were the most affected fish, followed by brown trout and salmon.

NITRATES DIRECTIVE 

The study also looked at what impact the EU’s Nitrate Directive beginning in 2006 might have had. 

The authors found that fish kills associated with agriculture, eutrophication, construction and mining went down.

But, those associated with municipal and other activities went up. 

Between 1969 and 2006, Tipperary had 7.3% of all fish kills and was in the top five in the country but wasn’t in the 2007 to 2022 timeframe.

According to Inland Fisheries Ireland, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications is currently reviewing fisheries legislation.

Sanctions are to be examined, reviewed and potentially updated.