Fish kill on Folly River a cause for concern
“Someone has poisoned the river with oil and then has tried to cover it up with some type of chemical cleaner”
CONCERNS have been raised over a kill on the Folly River in Armagh.
The matter was raised at Stormont’s Agriculture Committee by Newry and Armagh MLA Gareth Wilson.
The fish kill happened last week and was greeted with horror by the Friends of the Folly Rover group.
A spokesperson said, “ After years of hard work with the group to try and protect the folly river someone has poisoned the river with oil and then has tried to cover it up with some type of chemical cleaner.”
They asked people to “please be careful and don't let your pets in the river”.
The spokesperson added, ”It has totally wiped the river out just when the river was coming back to great strength and when the fish would have started to breed .”
Speaking after this week’s DAERA Committee Gareth Wilson MLA said, “I raised the concerning issue of the pollution incident which resulted in fish kill on the Folly river in Armagh.
“I explained my concerns to committee colleagues under Any Other Business at the close of the meeting and asked that a briefing be sought from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to better understand how they prioritise pollution incidents in our rivers and how quickly they react.”
He added, “It would seem counterproductive to have any delay in actually going out on site to ascertain the type of pollution and ideally the source, in order to quickly stem any further flow of contaminants or toxins and ultimately investigate how it happened and who caused it.
“It is always disheartening and concerning to learn of pollution incidents and especially so given the damage to our river ecosystems, in my opinion speed is essential in responding to incidents and I will be very interested in the response from NIEA.”