By Lisa Ramsden
The sale of passes to fish on the Shimna River has been suspended amid intensifying water quality concerns.
For the first time in its 46-year history, the angling club which manages the section of the Newcastle waterway at the centre of the issue withdrew the sale of day and week-long passes due to the level of complaints lodged.
Shimna Angling Club’s chairman, Mr Dennis O’Flaherty, said the club was left with no option but to withdraw the tickets – which are especially popular with visitors during the summer season – on health and safety grounds.
The river is designated an Area of Special Scientific Interest for, amongst other things, its unique aquatic ecosystem and rare flora.
Atlantic salmon, brown trout and sea trout frequent its waters and use it as a natural spawning ground. From August, and under normal conditions, salmon is prevalent in the water.
The fishing passes were withdrawn from sale last Monday, 17 August, with club members now pinning their hopes on heavy rains in a bid to dilute pollution as well as freshen the watercourse.
This summer’s prolonged dry spell, coupled with the rapidly decaying weir at the mouth of the river, which flows into Dundrum Bay, have compounded the problem, the anglers say.
Concerns about the weir, which is built across the full width of the river and acts like a small dam, letting water flow freely over the top to raise the water levels upstream, including within the town’s boating pond, were first flagged by Shimna Angling Club in early 2024.
With no repairs carried out to date, and no-one willing to take ownership of the weir, the structure continues to crumble away.
To add to that, the boating pond, in June, was discovered – through routine water sampling – to have elevated levels of E-coli and Intestinal Enterococci, with the findings raising local concerns over stagnation, potential sewage leaks and the risk of toxic blue-green algae appearing.
Speaking on Friday, Mr O’Flaherty told his local paper that the club had witnessed a decline in the sale of these passes in 2026 – and said the health of the river was “entirely to blame”.
He added that club members had been advised of an increase in deaths of wildlife which inhabit the river, including an otter, geese, ducks and at least one kingfisher.
Hopeful that heavy rains will help improve water quality, Mr O’Flaherty described the river as “absolutely stinking”, adding that the club “hand on heart could not sell tickets to people”.
He continued: “There have been so many creatures dying down there, and we had to put public safety first.
“Further up the river is very dry, but we are very concerned about the lower stretch and when people buy permits that’s normally where they would fish, along Islands Park and down behind the boating pond.”
The local man said the “noticeable reduction” in visiting anglers, and feedback received from them, was a clear indicator of the situation.
Shimna Angling Club was formed in 1960 and currently has around 125 members.
He continued: “In all the club’s years, we have never had to resort to something like this.
“Our members are not fishing it, and we closed the river to visitors at the start of the week.
“The water is in a terrible state, and the weir, or lack of weir, is making matters even worse.”
