PUBLIC MEETING ON "SEA LETTUCE" PROBLEM IN CLONAKILTY BAY

PACKED PUBLIC MEETING ON SEA LETTUCE PROBLEM

by Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin

Over 70 people attended last Thursdays (27th August 2009) open public meeting at O’ Donovan’s Hotel on the topic of the “Sea Lettuce” that has blighted Clonakilty and Ring bays and surrounding coastal areas again this summer. While the meeting was organised by people involved in pleasure fishing to focus attention on the impact the weed is having on that activity as well as commercial fishermen, there was a wide cross section of people in attendance.

All local politicians and council officials were invited and the list of those who turned up included local County Councillors John O’ Sullivan, Donal O’ Rourke and Christopher O’ Sullivan (Jim Daly was on holidays), and Town Councillors Anthony McDermott (Mayor), Kevin O’ Regan, John Loughnan, Humphrey Deegan, Ann Cullinane and Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, all of whom made contributions during the course of the evening.

The meeting opened with Declan O’ Driscoll, Secretary of Clonakilty Fishing Club chairing proceedings flanked by fellow officers Donie Collins and Pat Hegarty at the top table. In his opening address, Declan pointed out how this problem has got progressively worse with every passing year. His own research, investigations and observations as someone who uses Clonakilty Bay and Inchydoney regularly didn’t paint a pretty picture. While the sight of the weed on the beaches and seashore around the coast is appalling, the smell when it rots can be overbearing. Many referred to the recent incident in Brittany where a horse and its rider were overcome by the fumes from sea lettuce as they walked over it on a beach. The horse died as a result and the rider was hospitalised. Many beaches in that part of France are now closed off to the public on health and safety grounds. Speaker after speaker at the meting referred to the weed as highly toxic and poisonous. People with long years of experience of fishing in Clonakilty Bay waters stated that the bay was “dying”, with certain species no longer existing.

Boatmen from Ring told of regular incidences of their motors cutting out as the weed gets entangled in the mechanics of engines leading them to overheat. One man stated that lobsters are being pulled out of pots dead – the opinion being they are being poisoned by the weed. A farmer who had accepted a small quantity of sea lettuce that had been drawn off Inchydoney Beach a couple of months ago, said he would never again do so, due to the dangers involved from the fumes that emanated from it.

A local diver said that the weed permeates from the water surface to the seabed, highlighting the physical danger to swimmers and divers if they become entangled in it. “It’s only a matter of time before we have a serious incident”, he said.

There was a lot of criticism too of the practice of the County Council spending approximately €2,000/day removing the unsightly weed from Inchydoney beach, only to dump it into the tide where it is washed back again or invades other nearby areas. Likewise the practice of storing it in large heaps on the shoreline and then dumping it back into the sea when it is semi-decomposed was condemned. Pleasure Fishermen were particularly vocal on this point, as they felt it is a waste of time, money and resources, and is counterproductive as it only leads to further polluting of the water, and speeding up repopulation by the weed. However, a couple of people stated that the council’s hands were tied as they are not allowed in law to remove the problem from the strand! On a related note, a number of other speakers also highlighted the problem with Clonakilty sewerage plant and that it is contributing to the issue, with some claiming that raw waste can be regularly seen in the bay area. This lead to another discussion on the recent smells from the plant. In summary there were a lot of voices heard, including residents who are unable to open windows due to the stench, tourism interests who now see anglers packing up and leaving the area due to lack of species and the smell. And while we are all disappointed with summer 2009 weatherwise one contributor noted that if we had a natural summer of hot dry weather, it would be unbearable and possibly dangerous to visit or live near areas like Inchydoney and Clonakilty Bay, as the stench of the rotting weed would be “an even bigger health hazard”.

Cllr. John O’ Sullivan, M.C.C. pointed out that the problem exists in many areas, and in relation to Clonakilty, Courtmacsherry Bay, Coolmain, etc. are even more affected than Clonakilty. He said the problem is creeping westwards and a public meeting in Courtmacsherry some months ago agreed to bring in experts in the filed of marine and environmental science to try to get to the bottom of the problem. Sharing of this knowledge and recourses would be important going forward.

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed to form a representative committee to work on trying to get solutions, and to seek an urgent meeting with council officials. People felt that the 2009 season is now lost, but hope to try to work, to better manage and if possible curtail the sea lettuce problem in 2010. Most of all the meeting was adamant that the county council approach would have to be more consultative and common sense. The objective going forward is in the immediate timeframe to get the council to stop the practice of merely shoving the problem off the beach at Inchydoney and into the sea (which may have consequences for the Blue Flag status), and to investigate an alternative means of disposal, and more long term to genuinely tackle the causes of the growth (high nutrient levels in the water) and adopting new ways of doing things to get to the root causes. This is of course a long term objective of well in excess of five years.

The meeting elected the following committee: Chairperson – Declan O’ Driscoll, (Clonakilty Fishing Club), the sitting Mayor of Clonakilty (currently Cllr. Anthony McDermott, Cllr. Donal O’ Rourke, (Cork County Council), Eileen Shepherd, (Ring Resident and Sec. Ring Tidy Towns as well as administrator at Inchydoney Lodge and Spa), Craig Scott, (local pleasure fisherman), Kenneth Cashman, (local Commercial Fisherman and Diver) and Lola Googan, (regular user of Clonakilty and Ring Bay). This newly elected committee plans to meet in the near future to organise a delegation to the County Council. They also plan to hold regular open meetings to keep the concerned public informed of developments and progress.