Lough Neagh fishermen were left unable to work after broken water sensors saw it drained to “unprecedented” low levels for over a week.
The Department for Infrastructure says the issue was caused by false average readings at two of the four gauging stations following a system update.
As a result, huge quantities of water were drained from Toome sluice gates leaving the lough 100mm lower than its statutory minimum.
Mid Ulster SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone told Belfast Live fishermen’s livelihoods were hit.
“Some of them couldn’t get out to fish and some, when they had been out, had a load on their boats and couldn’t get back into the quay,” he explained.
“It was causing a lot of difficulties for people and for their livelihoods.
“I am glad they’ve got to the bottom of it now.”
But Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Co-operative Society chair Pat Close said problems getting quays dredged made the situation worse.
“Fishermen have been having problems getting their quays dredged for the past five years or more,” he told us.
“Under a long standing agreement certain quays are required to be cleaned out.
“There’s always problems with availability of men, machinery and resource to do it - so the process has slipped for a number of years.
“Had the quays been cleaned on a regular basis - what happened in that week or 10 days would not have been as big a problem because the depth of water available for fishermen would have been better.
“I think this is an opportunity to bring that to a head.”
Mr Close said he is aware of “seven or eight boats that were tied up and not able to supply fish” while the lough’s levels were low.
“But the likelihood is that there are others because not all scale fishermen supply us,” he added.
“For a period of days there were a couple of sand barges stranded as well.”
Mr Close said the Rivers Agency “admitted their readings were wrong for a week on January 27”.
“They closed it on the 28 and it had been pumping for at least a week or possibly 10 days before that.”
A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said: “The water level on Lough Neagh is controlled by sluice gates at Toome and maintained between statutory limits of 12.450 – 12.600 OD Belfast, subject to weather conditions.
“Average readings taken since the 19 January seemed to indicate the Lough was remaining relatively static around 12.506 OD, mid-range within the statutory limits.
“It has since been discovered that a software update caused readings at 2 of the 4 stations to go up instead of down, resulting in false average readings.
“This software glitch has now been fixed and all four stations are now fully working as normal.
“The gates at Toome have been fully closed since 28 January and the water level on 9 February is 12.521 metres Ordnance Datum which is within the specified range.”
It is understood that talks are ongoing around the dredging of quays around the lough.
