Cause of fish kill at Ramparts is a mystery

A fish kill on the Ramparts that was investigated by State agencies failed to find the cause, which, the politician who highlighted the kill, says he remains concerned about.

At the start of August, Declan Breathnach TD was informed there were a number of dead fish floating on the stretch of the Ramparts river between Martin’s Garage and Tesco Xtra. He informed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Inland Fisheries about the incident and Louth County Council were also made aware.

However, following a query from the Argus last week, a spokesperson for the council said that despite ‘widespread checks’, no pollution source was identified. They carried out an examination of the river on Thursday August 28. ‘Four dead fish were observed and the cause was attributed to low dissolved oxygen levels. Widespread checks were carried out in the catchment to try and establish a source of pollution that might have caused the low oxygen levels but none was identified. No further dead fish were observed.

‘Fisheries Ireland also carried out follow up visits and did not find any evidence of a discharge into the river. The oxygen levels returned to normal within days of the incident’. Mr Breathnach welcomed the report, but remains concerned as it ‘is clearly caused by someone polluting’. He said: ‘I ask the public to be vigilant to anyone discharging pollutants. I commend the individual who highlighted the problem in the first instance and ask others to be vigilant’.