IFI appeal to protect rivers/lakes during silage season
INLAND Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is appealing to farmers and contractors to help protect Ireland’s rivers and lakes from agricultural pollution during the silage cutting season.
IFI is advising farmers or their contractors to follow its six-point SILAGE plan for optimum silage cutting and slurry spreading etiquette to reduce the risk of contaminating rivers, lakes, streams and seas.
Livestock manure and other organic fertilisers, silage effluent and soiled water are highly damaging substances, and on entering a watercourse can kill fish and severely impact their habitats.
Commenting, Barry Fox, head of operations at Inland Fisheries Ireland, said: "We ask farmers and contractors to take all possible precautionary measures to stop harmful materials seeping into the water over summer months.
"With water levels currently very low, with elevated temperatures, fish are particularly vulnerable to external pressures.
"Poor farmyard management and poor slurry spreading practices following a silage cut can harm local fish populations and ruin their habitats.
"Agricultural communities continue to play a pivotal role in the responsible stewardship of our environment."
IFI continue to secure successful convictions for agricultural pollution of waters, and other breaches of legislation.
In 2024, IFI officers carried out 2,736 investigations in agricultural and rural settings to identify environmental risks or active pollution incidents.
IFI’s six-point SILAGE plan recommends the following:
S. Spread slurry during dry weather only, and never when a period of heavy rain is forecast.
I. Investigate if silage pits are properly sealed to prevent the entry of water, and/or if there is leakage from the slabs.
L. Lead slurry away from a watercourse when working the land. Be aware of the slope of the field, and respect the buffer zones near a river, lake, stream or shoreline.
A. Avoid allowing effluent or any other discharge reaching the clean water drainage on a yard.
G. Generate good yard cleaning practices - to stop effluent and soiled washings from inadvertently flowing to a watercourse.
E. Engage with statutory requirements by ensuring that adequate storage capacity for slurry, soiled water, and silage effluent, meets the regulations.
Farmers and contractors are also asked to contact their local IFI office before carrying out works in or near any watercourses.
IFI urges the public to report any instances of distressed fish, fish kills, or pollution to IFI’s confidential 24/7 number on 0818 34 74 24.