Farmers resist action despite 'worst ever' year for toxic algae in UK's largest lake

The UK's largest lake is on course to record its worst year of potentially toxic algal blooms to date, as rescue plans for Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland remain deadlocked.

- Tommy Greene

As a ban on eel fishing is extended and local incomes from fishing have fallen by 60% since 2023, there have been 139 detections of cyanobacteria ("blue-green algae") growths recorded at the lough and its surrounding watercourses so far this year, according to a government pollution tracker, more than treble the number for the same point in 2024 (45).

The data covers the 154 sq mile freshwater lough, its tributaries and smaller peripheral bodies of water, including Portmore Lough and Lough Gullion. At the central water body within this vast lough, river and wetland system that drains nearly half of all land in Northern Ireland, along with parts of two counties in the Irish Republic, the number of detections was slightly lower than 2024's tally.

As of Monday, there had been 35 confirmed reports, compared with 42 during the same period in 2024, according to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera).

The data from Northern Ireland's devolved government at Stormont comes as local people say that this year's blooms have been the "worst ever" seen within their lifetimes. Fertiliser run-off from farms is blamed for much of the phosphorus pollution that feeds the algal blooms.