Farmer in apology for fish kill

Farmer in apology for fish kill

28 August 2013

A FARMER responsible for the deaths of thousands of fish at the Enler River in Comber has apologised for what happened.

Martin Hamilton of Mash Direct said he will pay for the waterway to be manually cleaned and restocked with fish after a spill of dirty water led to the major fish kill.

Mr. Hamilton admitted his business was responsible for the pollution incident which was caused when thousands of litres of silty water used to wash vegetables ran off a field into a tributary of the popular angling river.

The mistake happened when the water treatment area that receives the run-off from a vegetable washing plant filled to capacity and a “third party” was asked to spray 25,000 litres of dirty water over a wide area of the field.

Instead, spray which was concentrated in one area of the field, found its way into the twin wheel tracks gouged in the ground by tractors and poured straight down into the stream.

Mr. Hamilton said he was giving “cast iron guarantees” that his company will make good every bit of damage that has been caused.

He also admitted Mash Direct was taken to court several years ago for polluting the same river, but said this was caused by a completely different issue linked to the sceptic tank of a house and fortunately, no fish were killed that time.

When asked how he would respond to anyone concerned there could be further incidents on the river Mr. Hamilton said he had not heard such a reaction.

“We have been totally open and honest and upfront saying it is us and we are taking responsibility for it,” he said.

Two environmental companies hired by Mash Direct — Raw and Ethos — were at the Hamilton farm last weekend to assess the damage caused to the river, plan remedial work and ensure that plant and operational procedures are put in place to prevent anything like this happening again.

“The pollution was relatively high strength but was quite low volume in comparison with the receiving water. From the last inspection the waterway is recovering and will continue to do so over the coming days,” said Declan Flynn of Ethos.

Mr. Hamilton said he had contacted the same company in Enniskillen that had originally stocked the Comber river and that once the water quality tests get the all clear, he would make arrangements for the Enler to be restocked.

“I don’t expect that it’s going to take years to recover; I expect it will be weeks and months,” he added.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, which lead the investigation into the pollution incident, said a fish kill is classed as a major incident if more than 100 adult fish are killed. He also explained a court may require Mr. Hamilton to pay to restore habitat, rather than simply restocking the river.

Strangford Assemblyman, Jonathan Bell, said the latest pollution incident had “absolutely devastated the fish stock in the river.”

He added: “Having listened to local anglers I known that the fish stock has been built up over the past number of years. This disaster has hit them particularly hard.”