Geoff's Rants

Hi Martyn, Apologies for delay in answering your comment. The decline of Irish Rudd started many years ago. Possibly mans intervention which has destroyed classic rudd habitat is the main reason but also the prolific spread of roach has also caused the demise of rudd in many areas. Bream shoals began to crash around 1995-6. The main reason this took place on the Shannon in my opinion was a factory that was set up on it's banks polluting all bellow it. Indeed I spent a great deal of my own money having samples analysed. The results were shocking showing high perecentages of Formaldehyde and a defoaming agent. I showed the results to the EPA, fisheries boards and various locla councils. All ignored my findings. On a wider spectrum over use of fertilizer caused many lakes to go into decline. The control of Fertilizer use has already seen a vast improvement on this score. The factory (which has a world wide reputation for polluting not only water but the atmosphere) installed a water treatment plant which does work and the Shannon is now on the up.