Ballygawley farmer fined £1,750 for pollution offence resulting in a fish kill

A Co Tyrone farmer was fined £1,750 plus £31 court costs at Dungannon Magistrates Court today.

Mr Edmund Smith, of Bockets Road, Ballygawley, Co.Tyrone, was fined for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

On 30 November 2008, a Senior Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formerly the Environment and Heritage Service) observed deposits of fresh slurry on the edge of a waterway and fungal growth on the river bed. On 1 December 2008 he again observed a large amount of fungal growth on the river bed. A further inspection revealed that slurry coated

he aquatic vegetation along the entire length of a small tributary. The source of the polluting discharge was traced to a farm owned by Mr Smith.

A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious and polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving watercourse. The numbers of dead fish counted were 172 brown trout; 51 salmon par and two adult hen salmon

Notes to editors:

1. Mr Smith was charged under Article 7 (1) (a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 with the offence of making a polluting discharge to a waterway.
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