Activists call for urgent action to tackle environmental crisis at Lough Neagh

Campaigners have accused Stormont to failing to prioritise an environmental crisis that is “killing” Lough Neagh.

Environmental activists from the Save Lough Neagh group gathered at the shores of the lough in Antrim on Sunday to demand a step change in the political response, as they criticised the contents of a Stormont action plan aimed at tackling the issue.

Noxious blooms of blue-green algae covered large parts of the lough last summer and also affected other waterways and beaches in the region.

The algae returned this summer.

The UK and Ireland’s largest freshwater lake provides more than 40% of Northern Ireland’s drinking water and supports Europe’s largest commercial eel fishery.

It also drains around 40% of Northern Ireland’s land, of which three-quarters is agricultural.

Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertiliser running off fields is believed to be a major contributory factor in the blue-green algae blooms.

The spread of the invasive zebra mussel species is also understood to have played a role in the blooms, as they have made the water clearer, allowing more sunlight to penetrate, stimulating more algal photosynthesis.

Climate change is another factor cited

In July, Stormont’s Environment minister Andrew Muir secured Stormont Executive approval for a 37-point action plan for Lough Neagh.

At the time, Mr Muir said the approval was the first step on a journey towards the long-term rehabilitation of water quality in the lough.

Sunday’s demonstration took place at the Statue of the Lough Protector outside Antrim town.

A series of speakers addressed the event.

Among them was a fisherman who said he put down 40 nets in the lough in recent weeks and only caught six fish.

Padraig Cairns from the Save Lough Neagh group said dead animals had been washing up along the shores of the lough throughout the summer.

He said the “immediacy of the catastrophe” at Lough Neagh cannot be “ignored” any longer.

Mr Cairn said there was a need for enforcement and deterrents to prevent further pollution.

“It’s in total collapse,” he said of the lough.

“We’ve seen it last summer, we’ve seen it this summer.

“When the algae disappears from sight and it sinks over the colder months, it doesn’t mean that the damage has been undone somehow.

“We’re basically seeing the lough being killed before our eyes.

“We can’t stress enough how urgent this crisis is really.”