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Departmental Decisions (Appeals)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list those administrative decisions of his Department affecting (a) United Kingdom citizens and (b) non-citizens where there is no right of appeal. [6032]

Sir John Wheeler [holding answer 25 November 1996]: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 185

Pollution (Fish Kills)

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was in each of the last five years and the current year to the latest available date, the number of pollution incidents which resulted in fish kills in Northern Ireland waters; what waters were involved; what fish species were killed and in what approximate numbers; what action was taken to restock and the cost of restocking in each case; how many of the pollution incidents were the result of pollution material emanating from (a) Department of Environment premises, (b) farms, (c) industrial premises and (d) other; what was the number of prosecutions brought; and if he will list the results of the court proceedings. [1966]

Mr. Moss [holding answer 1 November 1996]: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Environment and Heritage Service under its chief executive, Mr. Robert C. Martin. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Robert C. Martin to Mr. William Ross, dated 22 November 1996:

As Chief Executive of Environment and Heritage Service, I am responsible for all operational aspects of the Department of the Environment's environmental policies.

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 186

I am therefore responding to the written Parliamentary Question which you put down in the House of Commons on 30 October 1996 'to ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what was in each of the last 5 years and the current year to the latest available date, the number of pollution incidents which resulted in fish kills in Northern Ireland waters, what waters were involved, what fish species were killed and in what approximate numbers; what action was taken to restock and the cost of restocking in each case; how many of the pollution incidents were the result of polluting material emanating from (a) Department of Environment premises, (b) farms, (c) industrial premises and (d) other; what was the number of prosecutions brought; and if he will list the result of the court proceedings'.
The enclosed schedule lists all reported polluted incidents which resulted in a fish kill and included cases where prosecutions have been taken under the Water Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 and the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1996. Where costs have been obtained towards the cost of restocking this is carried out by either the Fisheries Conservancy Board for Northern Ireland or by the Foyle Fisheries Commission. In cases where private fishery has been affected, we have no record of whether restocking costs have been awarded as a result of any private court action.
I trust that you find this information helpful.

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 185

Waterway affected	Fish species affected	Number Killed (aprox.)	Pollution source	Action taken against the polluter	Fine + costs (£)	Restocking costs (£)
1991
Auglish	trout and minnows	200	silage	prosecution	601	none
Carnowen	trout	2,500	food processing	prosecution	478	3,273
Owenbeg	trout	1,500	silage	prosecution	429	600
Strule	salmon	174	industry	prosecution	1,052	pending
Castle (Roe)	trout	1,500	agriculture	prosecution	347	475
Boveva (Roe)	trout	750	agriculture		none--defendant deceased
Faughan	minnows	10	industry	prosecution	308	none
Drum	trout	28	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	380
Ballinderry	trout	331	agriculture	prosecution--absolute discharge	costs 127	504
Ballinderry		not assessed		gas (poaching)	no offender found	n/a	none
Maine		not assessed		agriculture	warning letter	n/a	none
Maine	salmon, parr and trout	300	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Maine	various	1000's	industry	prosecution	610	n/a (private fishery)
Maine	trout, fry and eels	75	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Maine	trout and dollaghan	150	industry	warning letter		n/a (private fishery)
Crumlin	trout	645	agriculture	prosecution	803	550
Crumlin	trout	1,284	agriculture	prosecution	100	1,510
Crumlin		not assessed		oil	warning letter	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Agivey	trout, salmon and fry	650	agriculture	prosecution	400	n/a (private fishery)
Agivey	trout and salmon fry	1,000	agriculture	prosecution	400	n/a (private fishery)
Agivey	various	400	agriculture	prosecution	50	n/a (private fishery)
Leitrim	trout, fry and eels	78	agriculture	prosecution--conditional discharge	198	340
Whitewater	trout, salmon and fry	280	agriculture	prosecution	100	198
Upper Bann	trout	392	agriculture	prosecution	1,166	284
Upper Bann	trout, dollaghan and salmon	186	industry	prosecution absolute discharge	238	744
Lagan	trout	150	agriculture	prosecution withdrawn		400
Lagan	trout	300	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	164
Lagan	trout and fry	350	industry	warning letter	n/a	300
Lagan		not assessed		unknown	n/a	n/a	none
Bush	trout	32	agriculture	prosecution	354	n/a (private fishery)
Grillagh	trout and salmon fry	1,000	agriculture	prosecution	446	n/a (private fishery)
Torrent	unknown	unknown	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	300
Torrent		not assessed		agriculture	warning letter	n/a	379
Torrent		not assessed		sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	253
Torrent	trout	27	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	67
Mayobridge	trout	80	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	25
Lonagher		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	607	none
Coolaness		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	302	none
Finn		not assessed		agriculture	warning letter		none
Cusher		not assessed		sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	160
Cusher		not assessed		sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	none
Burren	trout and eels	102	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	761
Creggan	trout	80	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	189
Ghann	trout	202	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	148
Woodvale		not assessed		sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	none
Quoile		not assessed		water abstraction	none	n/a	none
Ballybay		not assessed		unknown	n/a	n/a	none
Enler	trout and stickleback	4 trout and several s/back	unknown	n/a	n/a	none
1992
Castle (Roe)	trout and salmon	850	agriculture	prosecution	383	3,280
Routing Burn	trout and salmon	100,000	agriculture	prosecution	567	assessed at 50,000
Fintona	trout	200	agriculture	prosecution	497	none
Drumquin	trout	200	agriculture	prosecution--conditional discharge	costs 313	185
Derg	trout	1,000	agriculture	prosecution	270	508
Fairywater	trout	1,200	agriculture	prosecution--conditional discharge	costs 469	612
Salterstown		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	578	none
Ballinderry		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	376	none
Ballinderry		not assessed		industry	no further action		3,878
Ballinderry		not assessed		low oxygen levels	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Blackstaff		not assessed		agriculture	warning letter		none
Oona	trout, pike	77	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	470
Oona		not assessed		oil	prosecution	479	none
Oona	trout	1,141	sewage	prosecution	427	300
Bessbrook		not assessed		industry	prosecution	1,383	none
Blackwater	various	1,000's	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	1,832
Kilkeel	trout, salmon smolts	80	industry	prosecution--absolute discharge	costs 50	432
Kesh	trout	410	agriculture	prosecution	452	950
Kesh		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	452	625
Callan	trout	347	agriculture	prosecution	412	none
Callan		not assessed		unknown	n/a	n/a	none
Finn	trout	100	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	450
Brook	trout, salmon, fry	120	oil	warning letter	n/a	221
Brook		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Woodville		not assessed		sewage (DOE)	no further action	n/a	none
Bann		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Torrent		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Ballygally		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Ravarnet		not assessed		low oxygen levels	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Hillsborough Lake		not assessed		low oxygen levels	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Clady		not assessed		unsubstantiated	no further action	n/a	none
Ballynahinch		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Woodvale		not assessed		sewage (DOE)	no further action	n/a	none
Quoile		not assessed		water abstraction	none--no pollution	n/a	none
Ballybay		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
1993
Routing Burn	trout and salmon	300	agriculture	prosecution	788	none
Ballinamallard		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Fourmile Burn		not assessed		industry	warning letter	n/a	none
Sixmilewater	trout	2,500	industry	prosecution	4,161	n/a (private fishery)
Sixmilewater	trout	60	water abstraction	none--no pollution	n/a	100
Ballinderry		not assessed		agriculture	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Lagan		not assessed		unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Aghindarragh Lough		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	403	n/a (private fishery)
Doagh River		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	110	none
Whitewater		not assessed		suspected poison	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Knockoneill		not assessed		peat slide	none--natural phenomenon	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Rock	trout	300-400	cement	warning letter	n/a	475
Killygreen Lough		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	319	n/a (private fishery)
1994
Strule	all species in the river	10 miles of river	industry	prosecution	3,240	ongoing
Ballykelly	trout	1,000	agriculture	prosecution--absolute discharge	costs 251	300
Gelvin	trout	1,500	agriculture	prosecution	312	486
Glenmoran	trout and salmon	90	dairy effluent	none--extenuating circumstances	n/a	none
Muff	trout	20	agriculture	prosecution--absolute discharge	costs 115	183
Newry Canal	pike	50	landfill runoff	warning letter	n/a	none
Macosquin River	trout and salmon	213	agriculture	prosecution	670	646
Inver	trout	several 10,000s	oil (industry)	prosecution--acquitted	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Kellswater	trout	300	low water flow	none--no pollution	n/a	none
Upper Bann	trout	20	sewage (DOE)	papers lost in transit	n/a	none
Cusher	trout and dollaghan	437	agriculture	prosecution--conditional discharge	380	3,773
Lagan	trout, fly	318	agriculture	prosecution--conditional discharge	312	490
Ballybay	trout	100	agriculture	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Lisnalinchey Burn	trout	20	agriculture	prosecution	553	none
Ravarnet	trout/salmon	183	agriculture	prosecution--conditional discharge	183	470
Blackstaff	trout	25-30	agriculture	warning letter		312
Killymoon River	trout	35	unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Ravarnet	trout/salmon	183	agriculture	prosecution	251	283
Well Water	trout and salmon fry	200	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Drum	trout	1,011	agriculture	prosecution	1,285	1,045
Doora	trout	96	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	none
Salterstown Burn	trout	418	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	344
Lissan	trout	1,458	industry	warning letter	n/a	2,704
Kurin Burn	trout and salmon	482	agriculture	prosecution	914	n/a (private fishery)
Tynan	trout	8	agriculture	prosecution	65	115
Tynan		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution	115	182
Moyola		unable to assess		agriculture	prosecution withdrawn	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Tributary of Belfast L.	trout	4	agriculture	prosecution	677	none
Dibney	trout	4	unknown	none--no polluter found	n/a	none
Blackwater	trout	3	oil	prosecution	701	none
1995
Owenreagh	trout	6,000	agriculture	prosecution	580	3,500
Drumragh	trout	4,200	abbattoir waste	prosecution	911	2,128
Foyle Tributary	trout	200	sewage	follow up correspondence	none
Clanrye	trout and salmon	60	oil	warning letter		450
Ballynahinch	trout	250	agriculture	prosecution-- (2 offenders)	1,417	688
Ballygawley	trout	943	agriculture	prosecution	1,042
Kellswater	trout	150	unknown	n/a--no polluter found	n/a
Cusher	trout	100	unknown	n/a--no polluter found	n/a
Dibney	trout	117	chemical	warning letter	n/a	174
Aghintain	trout, trout fry, eels	60 trout, 1,000s of fry	sewage	prosecution	909	ongoing
Finn	trout	7	sewage (DOE)	warning letter		assessed at 477
Kellswater	trout	537	industry	prosecution	630
Upper Bann	trout	100	sewage (DOE)	inconclusive	n/a	none
Loughbrickland lake	trout	65	low oxygen levels	none--no polluter	n/a	none
Glasswater	trout	627	sewage (DOE)	warning letter		none
Ballymartin	trout	30	agriculture	prosecution	725	none
Lagan	trout	60	low oxygen levels	n/a--no polluter	n/a	none
Farlough Lake	trout	150	low oxygen levels	n/a--no polluter	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Upper Ballinderry	trout	368	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	337
Clanrye	trout	60	unknown	n/a--no polluter found	n/a	none
Clanrye	trout and salmon	60	sewage (DOE)	warning letter		1,878
Ballinamallard	trout and salmon	unable to assess	agriculture	prosecution	445	6,034
Tempo	trout	250	agriculture	prosecution	pending	none
Cleen	trout	40	sewage	n/a no polluter found	n/a	none
Clady	trout	35	low oxygen levels	n/a	n/a	none
Lackey	assorted coarse fish	several hundred	agriculture	prosecution	463	none
Crumlin	trout	171	sewage (DOE)	warning letter		assessed at 967
Moyola	trout	40	agriculture	prosecution	188	n/a (private fishery)
Lagan	trout	119	low oxygen levels	n/a no polluter found	n/a	none
Bush	trout and salmon	several hundreds	industry	prosecution	11,364	n/a (private fishery)
Lough Head	bream	70	sewage (DOE)	warning letter		none
Quoile	pike	175	oil/organic matter	warning letter	n/a	none
Strand Lough	eels, sticklebacks	6 eels, 147 sticklebacks	agriculture	prosecution	407	none
Lagan	sticklebacks	250	unsubstantiated	no further action		none
Lissan	trout	not assessed	unknown	no further action	n/a	none
Cusher	trout	300	low oxygen levels	n/a--no polluter found	n/a	none
Tall	trout		sewage (DOE)	warning letter		96
Quoile	assorted coarse fish	150	sewage (DOE)	warning letter		none
Rhone	perch	184	creamery effluent	prosecution	521	none
1996
Camowen	trout	1,250	agriculture	prosecution pending		pending
Woodville	roach fry	10,000	unknown	no further action	n/a	none
Upper Bann	assorted species	13,173	chemical (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	not yet finalised
Lagan	trout and eel	42 trout, 1 eel	industry	prosecution	930	813
Farlough	trout	27	unknown	n/a--no polluter found	n/a	none
Ravarnet	trout, salmon	50 trout, 27 salmon	agriculture	prosecution pending		assessed at 910
Kilkeel	salmon parr and fry	200	sandwashing (DOE)	warning letter recommended		none
Ballymartin	trout	234	unknown	n/a--no polluter found	n/a	none
Wee Agivey	trout	350	agriculture	warning letter--extenuating circumstances	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Crumlin	trout (fish farm)	1,000	agriculture	prosecution pending		assessed at 1,806
Oona	trout	not assessed	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	240
Callan	trout	150	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	450
Roughan	assorted species	70	poaching	none--no offender found	n/a	none
Camlough Lake	assorted coarse fish	10	unknown	n/a--no polluter found	n/a	none
Necarne (1 incident)	trout, eel	12 trout, 1 eel	sewage (DOE)	warning letter	n/a	none
Necarne (1 incident)	trout and eel	12 trout, 1 eel	agriculture	warning letter	n/a	none
Drum		not assessed		agriculture	prosecution pending		assessed at 859
Butterwater	trout	30	agriculture	decision pending	n/a	assessed at 375
Newry Canal	perch	50	unknown	n/a--no polluter found	n/a	none
Cunningham	trout	53	agriculture	prosecution pending		assessed at 424
Derriaghey	trout	22	sewage (DOE)	warning letter recommended	n/a	none
Fardross		not assessed		agriculture	decision pending		none
Kellswater	trout	450	industry	decision pending		n/a (private fishery)
Ballynahinch	trout	150	agriculture	warning leter recommended	n/a	assessed at 600
Ballinamallard	trout fry	unknown	agriculture	prosecution recommended		assessed at 352
Kellswater	trout	100	agriculture	prosecution recommended		none
Tonent		not assessed		sewage (DOE)	decision pending	n/a	none
Kellswater	trout	260	industry/sewage	decision pending		n/a (private fishery)
Blackwater	trout	300	poaching	none--no offender found	n/a
Drumadonnel	trout	200	agriculture	decision pending		pending
Kellswater	trout, dollaghan	73 trout, 4 dollaghan	sewage (DOE)	decision pending	n/a	n/a (private fishery)
Inve:	trout	10 tons (fish farm)	industry	decision pending		n/a (private fishery)
Ardilee	trout	100	landfill leachate	decision pending		pending

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 191

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 191

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