Lough Neagh: 'You can't put your children in the water'

Joan Gribbin had high hopes for her paddle-boarding and canoe project teaching children and young people

Communities around Lough Neagh are probably some of the only people who rejoice at the colder, stormier weather of winter.

For two years now, the sunshine and settled forecast of the warmer seasons have brought blue-green algal misery to their lives.

The cooler temperatures, duller days and increased wind of winter combine to make blue-green algae sink from the surface where blooms have formed for the past three summers.

Those who live by the lough and who use it for work and for pleasure say they are in despair.

BBC News NI spoke to people who live by the lough and who use it for work and for pleasure

The paddler

Joan Gribbin had high hopes for her paddle-boarding and canoe project - using the lough to teach children and young people water skills, to build confidence and improve mental health.

The Tidal Community Centre had weighed in behind her with funding support.

But algal blooms put paid to all their summer dreams.

"It's just too worrying - you can't put children in the water," said Joan.

The longer the crisis continues, the more she is worried about the community's health and mental wellbeing.

"We had people coming and they said, for example: 'I've never been down to the Blue Bridge in Toome and now I'm sitting in a kayak looking at it.'

"They thought it was great and wanted to know when the next course was, but we had to say, we don't know.

"I met people from Spain, France, people from Donegal, from Galway, they were paddling down the canoe trails right down to the sea.

"None of that happens anymore."

And that means a knock-on effect for the local economy; people used to stay, eat and shop locally, but that doesn't happen now.

Among those who are still coming are the dog walkers, but for them, things have changed too.

The walker

Seamus McGee: "The worry is that it's just getting worse and worse"

"It feels like it's been going on a long time," Seamus McGee told BBC News NI.

He walks along the lough almost daily.

"Over by Antrim, you really notice the algae, you notice the smell, and I suppose the worry is that it's just getting worse and worse."

Like everyone around the lough and beyond, he wants to know what is being done to tackle the situation.

"It's almost like we're just blindly walking towards the lough becoming something horrible instead of something beautiful, which is what it is."

He is concerned that those seeking solutions aren't looking widely enough.

"Unless something is done reasonably quickly, you start to wonder, is it going to be reversible? And how long will it take to actually remedy it?

"It has to get prioritisation in terms of the public spending purse.

"But I think a lot should be learned from what has happened around the world, because it's not a unique Lough Neagh issue."

But Lough Neagh does define this whole area.

The community worker

Henry Marron: "Who in their right mind in the summertime would want to come on to Lough Neagh?

Tidal - Toomebridge Industrial Development and Amenities Limited - was set up in 1994 to regenerate the area and provide support to local people.

Trustees like Henry Marron saw the opportunities.

"Tidal had a survey done back in the late '90s, and we were told then Lough Neagh was the most under-utilised lough in Ireland from the point of view of tourism."

With health, education and employment programmes, Tidal is a Toome success story.

Henry and his colleagues had been dreaming big. They bought land with the ambition of putting in a marina.

"But at the present time, if you go to funders, you haven't a mission of getting funding for pleasure vehicles or yachts on the lough.

"Who in their right mind in the summertime would want to come on to Lough Neagh?

"The winter's lovely now - it's the summers that are the problem."

That has proved the case for those who see the lough's potential as a leisure resource.

The dog owner

Terence McAlister: "It's going to take time and I don't know what the answer is."

Terence McAllister loves his golden Labrador, Molly, and she loves her daily walks around the lough.

But blue-green algae is highly toxic to animals.

"She can't get onto the lough, can't get in for a swim, so really, that's how it's affecting me on the social side," said Terence.

He's found the lough a quieter place.

"At this time of the year, there's normally duck-shooting going on, you hear the ducks rising with all that.

"There's none of that happening at all now.

"It's the same with the canoers, they're gone too."

The impact of climate change on our weather worries him.

"When the good weather does come in, the algae is about to start, and as the summers are getting warmer, it'll just get worse.

"It's going to take time, and I don't know what the answer is. Patience?"

The fisherman

Patrick McCoy: "They need to stop the pollution and that's the only solution."

Patrick McCoy and his three brothers know the meaning of patience.

They have all been commercial fishermen on Lough Neagh in their time, with Patrick working from Scaddy Island.

It has never been an easy life, but the cancellation of the brown eel fishing season this year amid concerns about the quality of the catch has come as a huge blow.

Patrick said he and his fellow fishermen are losing hope that the crisis will be resolved any time soon.

"They can't see a future, there's nothing been done - sewers haven't been sorted, there's other chemicals, bleaches and car washes, that all ends up in the rivers."

He is angry.

"I think it's a lot worse and getting worse every year.

"You see it coming, floating like bits of sponge, like you'd see in a pillow.

"It blows in and turns pure green, then it gets thicker again and it turns blue and there's a real stench off it."

While proposed solutions are being trialled, from monitoring the algae to changing farming practices, his answer to the problem is simple.

"They needn't worry about the algae that's in the lough, they need to stop the pollution and that's the only solution."