I
Ian Cloke
Guest
Government departments are being accused of being incompetent or incapable of enacting the legislation designed to protect the natural environment.
Friends of the Earth and angling bodies hit out at a failure to act over renewed pollution of Six Mile Water and a major tributary, Ballymartin Water.
They warned aquatic life faced being wiped out on one of Northern Ireland's best angling rivers.
They claimed it was being polluted on an almost daily basis from a drain at a quarry complex in Mallusk and a dense slick of pollution could be seen along a 14 km stretch of the Six Mile Water from Templepatrick to Antrim and 7kms of Ballymartin Water.
In August last year the polluter was prosecuted by the Environment and Heritage Service, the company pleaded guilty and was given an absolute discharge because it said it was carrying out work to prevent further incidents, they said.
This time the pollution is much worse and happening over a longer period, they claimed.
Friends of the Earth and the Antrim Angling Association demanded immediate action by the Department of Environment to halt the pollution.
Speaking on behalf of the green pressure group Lisa Fagan said: "What this case illustrates is an unholy trinity comprising an industrial polluter, an ineffective regulator and a complacent judiciary.
"It's hardly surprising that there's been another pollution incident on this stretch of river, given the absolute discharge handed down by the magistrate on the last occasion."
The long term solution was the creation of an Environmental Protection Agency, she said.
In the meantime the DOE Environment and Heritage Service "must stem this pollution and sanction those responsible before they wipe out the aquatic life of one of Northern Ireland best angling rivers."
Major enhancement work is being completed in the river by the Antrim Angling Association with the help of European funding in order to improve fish stocks and provide a tourist attraction.
"The club now have to watch as 75% of their fishery is wiped out," said association fishery manager Allan Kirkpatrick.
He said: "This pollution clogs the gills of fish causing stress and death, it settles on spawning beds stopping fish from breeding.
"When eggs are laid, the silt suffocates them and they die. Invertebrate life in the river bed cannot survive and so the food chain is broken and all wildlife along the river corridor is affected."
Friends of the Earth and angling bodies hit out at a failure to act over renewed pollution of Six Mile Water and a major tributary, Ballymartin Water.
They warned aquatic life faced being wiped out on one of Northern Ireland's best angling rivers.
They claimed it was being polluted on an almost daily basis from a drain at a quarry complex in Mallusk and a dense slick of pollution could be seen along a 14 km stretch of the Six Mile Water from Templepatrick to Antrim and 7kms of Ballymartin Water.
In August last year the polluter was prosecuted by the Environment and Heritage Service, the company pleaded guilty and was given an absolute discharge because it said it was carrying out work to prevent further incidents, they said.
This time the pollution is much worse and happening over a longer period, they claimed.
Friends of the Earth and the Antrim Angling Association demanded immediate action by the Department of Environment to halt the pollution.
Speaking on behalf of the green pressure group Lisa Fagan said: "What this case illustrates is an unholy trinity comprising an industrial polluter, an ineffective regulator and a complacent judiciary.
"It's hardly surprising that there's been another pollution incident on this stretch of river, given the absolute discharge handed down by the magistrate on the last occasion."
The long term solution was the creation of an Environmental Protection Agency, she said.
In the meantime the DOE Environment and Heritage Service "must stem this pollution and sanction those responsible before they wipe out the aquatic life of one of Northern Ireland best angling rivers."
Major enhancement work is being completed in the river by the Antrim Angling Association with the help of European funding in order to improve fish stocks and provide a tourist attraction.
"The club now have to watch as 75% of their fishery is wiped out," said association fishery manager Allan Kirkpatrick.
He said: "This pollution clogs the gills of fish causing stress and death, it settles on spawning beds stopping fish from breeding.
"When eggs are laid, the silt suffocates them and they die. Invertebrate life in the river bed cannot survive and so the food chain is broken and all wildlife along the river corridor is affected."