Fish Kills in Ireland in 1989

Abstract

The final estimate for the number of fish kills in 1989 was 111. The increase in 1989 is largely accounted for by the exceptional warm weather conditions which prevailed. Details of all the incidents are given in the following pages. When these are analysed some very significant facts emerge. The number of fish kills while higher than in 1988 (50 kills) was about nine percent lower than in 1987 (122 kills). Low water due to dry weather conditions was the most important factor in 1989 raising the number of kills by 50%. Despite weather conditions, fish kills due to agricultural causes showed little change on the 1988 level - thus maintaining the substantial reduction in kills due to these causes achieved in 1988. As many as 50 of the incidents resulted from pollution which in a normal wet summer would not have caused such serious damage. These problems give a useful, if painful, reminder that water pollution can have devastating results. They also serve to highlight high risk situations. Many of the 1989 fish kills resulted from a shortage of oxygen from untraceable causes, for example from excessive plant growth due to fertiliser run-off or domestic sewage - or both. Others came from identifiable sources. In about half these cases the authorities felt that genuine accidents had happened and a warning to the guilty party was all that was needed. In others, twenty-seven in all, legal proceedings were set in motion.