Stock pic
The fish kill happened along the River Roe at Burnfoot, between Limavady and Dungiven.
A spokesperson for the Departure of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) confirmed a fish kill occurred in a tributary of the River Roe in Co Derry on Friday evening.
Eamon Mullan, chairperson of Roe Angling Limited, told BBC News NI more than 700 juvenile fish, including salmon, sea trout and brown trout, were killed in the tributary.
Mr Mullan said Loughs Agency staff were alerted to the incident late on Friday evening and inspectors have been attending the scene in the days since.
“It’s a very, very substantial fish kill,” he said.
Mr Mullan explained that the tributary is a spawning area for salmon and a nursery area for juvenile fish, both salmon and sea trout.
He said the fish kill would have a “major impact” on the tributary for some years to come.
Agency staff have so far been unable to identify the source of the fish kill, according to Mr Mullan.
“They were looking for evidence to see what type of material might have caused the problem and so far they haven’t been able to determine that,” he said.
He added that agency staff will be on the river again today, Monday, June 17, to try to identify the source of the kill.
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