SAVING Lough Neagh isn’t really difficult – we just need to listen to David Kennedy and the other members of Crumlin and District Angling Association.
The Lough is fed by six main rivers, a multitude of smaller ones like Crumlin and Glenavy, and a network of streams.
“Fix the rivers and you fix the lough,” says David, “because the rivers feed Lough Neagh and today they are sadly bringing the pollution to Lough Neagh.”
The thriving fishing group know exactly what needs to be done – but time and again they see big government making the wrong decisions or simply looking the other way when harm is done to the environment.
Crumlin and District Angling Association have fishing rights for the whole 13-mile Crumlin River, from its source near the Standing Stones on the Belfast Hills to the mouth of the lough.
“It’s great we got the whole river,” said David, the Development Officer for the club, which was nominated for a Concentrix Guardian of the Environment Award. “Many other clubs have parts of rivers, but owning the whole river means we can see the bigger picture.”
That bigger picture isn’t always pretty. Sometimes the river turns completely dry – “You can sometimes walk up in your bare feet without getting wet” – because the water has been diverted for use in industry or agriculture. And last year Crumlin River had the highest amount of phosphates in relative terms of all the Lough Neagh feeders – phosphates are responsible for the lough’s infamous algae blooms.
“We report incidents but there’s often inaction,” said David. “I live on the river, you get to know about the different colours of water.
“But it motivates us to do the positive.”
And central to those positive steps is encouraging a new generation of young people to experience the sheer enjoyment of angling and spending time in the countryside.
Dúlra well understands what that means. He was obsessed with fishing when he was young, spending hours out in the back garden in Andytown trying to perfect his fly-fishing cast.
He preferred the Glenavy River rather than the bigger Crumlin one – there was less likelihood of being asked to show your licence! – and he remembers one beautiful summer’s day catching two perfect wee brown trout with a fly under the village bridge.
Crumlin River also has dollaghan, a trout native only to Lough Neagh, and the occasional salmon.
David’s club is determined to attract a new generation – if ever they see kids trying to fish, they don’t scare them away by asking for a licence, but give them advice on how to do it right.
“We sometimes see kids trying to fish with a rod that would catch mackerel at sea, so we even lend them the proper rods.
“At this time of year when the fishing season is closed we get the gear back and patch it up to be handed out again to other youngsters.”
A fishing licence for anyone under 18 is just a fiver – for a year!
Of course, it’s not so easy in this day and age to get young people interested in spending a day on a riverbank when they could be looking at their phone. But when the group recently held an introduction to fishing day for young people in Crumlin’s Irish language school, it was a great success.
“We showed them fly-tying and told them about the insects that the fish eat and how to make flies themselves, then they were out on the green for casting classes,” said David.
“We loan out equipment for those who can’t afford it – fishing rods and reels and all the other equipment aren’t cheap any more.”
The group are making big strides in trying to encourage more female anglers – including holding women-only classes.
Like so many other people, David got the fishing bug from family. “My granda took me fishing, but he died in an accident when I was six. And when we moved to Crumlin, the river was in the back garden so I loved it,” he said.
David knows that one small river can be overlooked by big government, and so they joined with other fishing groups to form the Lough Neagh Rivers Trust, to protect all the waterways feeding the lough.
And they’ve been awarded a grant to establish a ‘green corridor’ from the source of the river at Divis to the lough itself.
Crumlin and District Angling Association is more than a fishing club. They want to see dollaghan, salmon, kingfishers, dippers, otters, oak and willow on waters stretching from Lough Neagh to the Belfast Hills. They carry out conservation along the river and consult landowners and lobby the authorities.
Their goal is simple: to pass on a pristine, protected and regulated river and ecosystem to the next generation. The club’s 70-odd members are guardians of the outdoors – they have the answers that will end the smothering of Lough Neagh and allow nature to return and thrive once more.
What David says is so important that it bears repeating: you fix the rivers, you fix the lough.
•If you’ve seen or photographed anything interesting or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
