DUP Minister for Environment denied (on the Hansard record) there had been another fish kill on the Quoile in 2008 when questions were put to him claiming one fish had died of ‘natural causes’ .
Lecale Conservation working with Quoile fishing enthusiasts published contradictory pictures in the regional papers including one of the first videos ever to go viral on the internet in NI which sadly we have not been able to recover for our new website,
Aside from the issue with sewerage works upstream at the time, the Quoile Barrier is not ‘fit for purpose’ and its design accumulates all the pollutants since 1957 when it was built. These end up in the Quoile Pondage that get stirred up in heavy rain.
However this fish kill had a chemical origin
The Quoile Barrier needs to be replaced with a functioning lock in the same was as the Bann in Belfast, allowing the natural scour to mover sediment over time.
This would also allow for the 2 banks of the river to be connected as in Belfast to make a very attractive public walkway with a fish pass so the Quoile can once again become a Salmonid river again
