Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has said it is investigating a “significant” kill in the Rye River in Maynooth, with initial estimates of 500 dead fish.

According to IFI, the fish kills extends for approximately 2km downstream from Maynooth in the river in Co. Kildare.

The dead fish include 200 lamprey and 100 brown trout, as well as stone loach, minnow, and gudgeon.

IFI fisheries environmental officers have been on site since Wednesday evening (July 1) to investigate the incident. 

The EPA, Kildare County Council and the River Basin Management Services have been on the ground today investigating the issue.

Water and fish samples have been taken from the river and will be sent for analysis. 

No pollution source has been identified at present, and IFI stated that it will work with state partners in line with the new national protocol.

Inter-agency plan

A new State inter-agency plan aimed at ensuring a swift and co-ordinated response to major fish kill incidents was published last week (June 25).

IFI is the lead agency on the project, for which it worked with multiple statutory bodies on the National Protocol for Coordinating the Response to Significant Fish Mortality Events in Freshwater.

It said the plan sets out clear procedures for responding to large-scale fish deaths.

It sets out the recommended minimum requirements for each stage of the management of a fish mortality event, including "preparedness, investigation and reporting activities".

The plan was developed in the wake of the major fish kill in the River Blackwater catchment in Co. Cork last August, which is the largest recorded fish kill incident in Ireland.

According to the IFI evidence suggested the incident involved "a short-term pollution event", but as a result around 32,000 salmon and brown trout died in the River Blackwater.

However no evidence was found to link the fish mortalities in the River Blackwater to a "point source of pollution or a specific environmental insult or waterborne irritant".

Fish kill

Separately, an estimated 20,000 fish died in an incident earlier this month over an approximate 25km stretch of the river of the River Glyde in Co. Louth.

The source of the pollution in the river was identified as an agricultural discharge, and was subsequently halted.

Minister of State at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment Timmy Dooley, warned that "protecting Ireland’s rivers and fisheries is a shared responsibility".