Lough Neah 'Dying In Front Of Our Eyes", Choked With Cyanobacteria; Fish & Eeels Dead, Tourists Gone [View all]

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Beauty, ecology, heritage, tourism, fishing – the UK’s biggest lake, sitting in the heart of Northern Ireland, had bragging rights to fill a hundred signs. But now they line the shoreline as testaments to hubris because of an environmental disaster. The 400 sq km (150 sq mile) freshwater lough is choking on recurring toxic algal blooms that coat the surface, kill wildlife, unleash stenches and make the lake all but unusable. Eel fishing has been suspended and tourists have fled.

The lough and surrounding watercourses are on course to record their worst year, with at least 171 detections of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) growths, according to a government pollution tracker. The algae’s return was a “distressing but timely reminder of the need to urgently turn the tide on the ecological crisis”, Northern Ireland’s environment minister, Andrew Muir, said in a statement.

The main cause is an overload of phosphorus and nitrogen from agriculture, including farm runoff, fertilisers and animal waste. Inadequate wastewater treatment facilities and septic tank leakage aggravate the problems. Additional factors are sand extraction, warming water and proliferating zebra mussels, an invasive species.

The Stormont executive agreed a rescue plan last year but has balked at reining in polluters, prompting condemnation from Claire Hanna, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party: “Lough Neagh is dying in front of our eyes. Images of fish and eels gasping for life on the surface are not just shocking – they are a stark warning of total ecological collapse.” This week an activist, Bea Shrewsbury, attempted to present a “Lough Neagh smoothie”, drawn from the lake, to assembly members at Stormont. Police escorted her away.

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/14/its-dying-in-front-of-our-eyes-how-the-uks-largest-lake-became-an-ecological-disaster