Activists dressed in black and carried a makeshift coffin to the lough shore
Environmentalists have held a wake to mark the “death” of the UK and Ireland’s largest freshwater lake as they accused polluters of causing a huge bloom of toxic blue-green algae.
Lough Neagh supplies 40% of Northern Ireland’s drinking water. It also sustains a major eel fishing industry. Climate change is another factor cited, with the temperature of the lough having risen by one degree Celsius in the last two decades. “It is the largest freshwater lake in the UK and Ireland and it’s currently in an ecological crisis and it’s now a public health emergency.”“This is their home. They can’t escape this. We can stay away or we can be very careful about making physical contact, but the wildlife have nowhere to go,” she said.“Lough Neagh has no rights as an ecosystem to thrive and live at this point, whereas the polluters have more rights,” she added.
“There’s heads of civil servants still here, there’s departments still here, there’s lots of people still here,” he said.
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