Antrim Alliance Councillors Neil Kelly and Alan Lawther have expressed concern at the fish kill which occurred in the Sixmile River between Ballynure and Ballyclare. This follows two previous incidents which occurred in 2006 and again in 2008 which resulted in hundreds of dead fish in the castle grounds area of the river in Antrim – no prosecutions were made after the 2008 incident which was thoroughly investigated at the time.
Cllr Neil Kelly said: “Early indications are that this current incident is probably due to pollution and again will be investigated. There is no evidence at this time that fish and wildlife have been affected down stream from this incident towards the Antrim area. In recent years the river wildlife has been flourishing with otters and kingfisher a common sight on the Sixmile between Antrim Town and the Lough shore.
“If indeed the cause of this incident is established and pollution is deemed to be the cause, I would hope the full rigour of the law is brought to bear on those responsible.
Local Alliance Councillor Alan Lawther said: “There have been a number of incidents of this nature in recent years and they are totally unacceptable. To have one fish kill is a very worrying, to have several over a period of time is nothing short of disgraceful.”