Kinahan calls for heavy fine on river polluters

Antrim Local Councillor Danny Kinahan is requesting that heavy fines be imposed upon those responsible for a major spillage that destroyed fish stocks in both the Six Mile Water and Ballymartin rivers.

A survey of the spillage has suggested that the rivers and local wildlife may never fully recover, with fish stocks likely to remain permanently lower than before the spillage. The rivers are popular with anglers from the area.

Kinahan believes that fines should be imposed on those responsible for the “criminal action” to make sure that such a spillage never occurs again.

“The responsibility falls squarely on all the company directors, as well as the individual who may have done it without considering the damage he will cause,” said Kinahan.

“Over the years, these rivers have had hundreds of thousands spent on restocking them with fish and reinvigorating all the other wildlife that are in and around our rivers.

“Now they have to start again, as all the invertebrates and the fish are dead, and we will very likely see the same happening to the birds and animals who rely on the river.”