The environment watchdog should investigate why stocks of shellfish have declined and seaweed has stopped growing in parts of the Waterford estuary, fishermen have said.
The National Inshore Fishermen’s Association (Nifa) has claimed that chemicals from a power plant downstream are to blame for changes in marine life.
It has called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to refuse a discharge license application sought by a gas-powered plant at Great Island in Co Wexford, on the confluence of the Suir and Barrow river estuaries.
Alex Crowley, Nifa general secretary, said that the Waterford estuary supports important inshore fisheries for shrimp, whelk, lobster, velvet and green crab, and there is also pelagic trawling for sprat and herring and dredging for various bivalve species. He said the estuary is also close to an “important spawning ground” for a number of commercially important species including Celtic Sea herring.
Crowley said that local fishermen have noticed how shrimp, whelk and velvet crab stocks have recorded a “noticeable decline”. The fishermen claim that there has been “significant die off” of bivalve shellfish species, and seaweed no longer grows in the intertidal zone for “some miles” downstream of the plant’s outfall pipe.
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Nifa, which represents about 200 commercial inshore boats, works closely with the National Inshore Fishermen’s Organisation, which also opposes the license application.
SSE Generation’s 464MW natural gas-fired combined cycle gas turbine power plant became operational in 2015, replacing the former oil-fired station run by the ESB. SSE said that the plant operates under an integrated pollution prevention control licence, administered by the EPA, which covers all environmental management at the station.
All large combustion plants are required to renew their licence under the EU’s industrial emissions directive, and SSE’s application for a licence review is part of this process, the company said. It described the plant as “one of the cleanest and most efficient power stations” on the island of Ireland, generating enough electricity to “power half a million Irish homes”. It said it works with the EPA on an ongoing basis to ensure it is compliant with its licence conditions at all times.
Nifa said that the EPA learned last September that 1,300 tonnes of chemicals were being discharged into the estuary under a license covering just five tonnes. It said it is specifically concerned with the use of chlorine, in the form of sodium hypochlorite. Nifa said that the effects of sodium hypochlorite on marine life are “well documented,” and the fishermen have noticed incidents of “foaming” in Duncannon harbour. The fishermen said that they believe the revised license application “seeks to legitimise the increase volume of sodium hypochlorite discharged”.
The EPA said it had investigated the allegations and found SSE to be “compliant with the license limits on the concentration of chlorine in discharged water”. The watchdog said it found no evidence that SSE’s discharge was having “such an effect on shellfish and fish mortality”. It also said there was “insufficient evidence” to conclude which “individual pressures, if any, are contributing to impacts on marine life in the estuary”.
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The EPA said it became aware of the “error in relation to hypochlorite usage” during a site visit on July 22, 2019 when the license advised that estimated usage “could be up to 1,300 tonnes per year”.
“The license subsequently confirmed that actual usage for 2019 was 1,128 tonnes and for 2020 was 525 tonnes,” the EPA said.
“SSE have been active in examining and reducing hypochlorite usage and we will continue to engage with SSE on the matter to see if further reductions are possible.”
The EPA said the submission by Nifa would be considered as part of the revised license application under the relevant legislation.