Northern Ireland Sanitary Survey Review Belfast Lough Sanitary Survey Review July 2014 Report Title Belfast Lough Sanitary Survey Review Project Name Sanitary Surveys Northern Ireland Food Standards Agency in Northern Client/Customer Ireland (FSA in NI) Cefas Project Reference C5792H Document Number C5792H_2013_1 Revision V1.1 Date 05/09/2017 Revision History Revision Date Pages revised Reason for revision number 0.1 21/03/2014 All Draft i,iv,2,4,6,7,10,16,17,21, Amended in accordance with 0.2 17/04/2014 25,43,43,53,54,56 comments received from FSA in NI Amended in accordance with 1, 17, 21, 43, 48, 51, 0.3 10/05/14 additional comments received from 57, 60, 61 FSA in NI Cover page, 57, 58, 0.4 03/06/14 Amended following internal review pagination No further comment received 1.0 11/07/2014 None following consultation period 1.1 05/09/2017 54,57 Corrected longitude for RMP4 Name Position Date Liefy Hendrikz, Louise Rae, Author Sanitary Survey Team 18/03/2014 Jessica Larkham, Frank Cox Principal Shellfish Checked Ron Lee 11/07/2014 Hygiene Scientist Senior Shellfish Hygiene Approved Michelle Price-Hayward 05/09/2017 Scientist This report was produced by Cefas for its Customer, FSA in NI, for the specific purpose of providing a sanitary survey as per the Customer’s requirements. Although every effort has been made to ensure the information contained herein is as complete as possible, there may be additional information that was either not available or not discovered during the survey. Cefas accepts no liability for any costs, liabilities or losses arising as a result of the use of or reliance upon the contents of this report by any person other than its Customer. Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, Weymouth Laboratory, Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth DT4 8UB. Tel 01305 206 600 www.cefas.defra.gov.uk Review Specification and Introduction Sanitary surveys are used to demonstrate compliance with the requirements stated in Annex II (Chapter II Paragraph 6) of Regulation (EC) 854/2004, whereby if the competent authority decides in principle to classify a production or relay area it must: • make an inventory of pollution sources of human/animal origin likely to be a contamination source for the production areas; • examine the quantities of organic pollutants which are released during the different periods of the year, according to the seasonal variations of both human and animal populations in the catchment area, rainfall readings, wastewater treatment, etc.; • determine the characteristics of the circulation of pollutants by virtue of current patterns, bathymetry and the tidal regime in the production area; • establish a sampling programme of bivalve molluscs in the production area, which is based on the examination of established data, and with a number of samples, a geographical distribution of the sampling points and a sampling frequency, which must ensure that the results of the analysis are as representative as possible for the area considered. The EURL Good Practice Guide (GPG) for the monitoring of bivalve molluscs harvesting areas recommends the re-evaluation of sanitary surveys every six years. Location, extent and nature of fisheries and faecal pollution sources may change over time and the review is conducted to determine whether the sampling plan and/or production area boundaries remain appropriate and protective of public health. As specified by FSA in NI, this review is comprised of a brief desktop search of publicly available information together with a shoreline survey. In general, no additional requests are submitted to external bodies. However, an exception was made with respect to information on sewage discharges this review for Belfast Lough: data requests were submitted to both the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Northern Ireland Water. The review is intended to identify significant changes in: • Historic microbiological data. • Sewage treatment and sewerage infrastructure. • Housing and development. • Harvester operations. Belfast Lough Sanitary Survey Review V1.1 05/09/2017 Page | i The output of the review is a report identifying any new information that has been obtained and/or whether major elements of the original sanitary survey can be regarded as essentially unchanged. That report includes an overall assessment as to whether the production area/classification zone boundaries and/or RMPs should be modified from those recommended in the original report and if so, a description of the revised boundaries and a revised sampling plan with the boundaries and RMP(s) locations. In 2008, a sanitary survey was conducted for Belfast Lough to identify the location, extent and nature of the shellfishery and the potential sources of faecal contamination to the shellfishery, and to recommend boundaries and sampling plans for the production areas. The resulting sanitary survey report included a recommended sampling plan for the fishery. This is listed in the following page alongside the sampling plan recommended following findings from this review. The present report constitutes a review, primarily of publicly available information, in order to assess changes that have occurred since the 2008 sanitary survey report (see the Review Specification section for further detail). It is not intended to present detailed information relating to pollution sources that were identified in the previous report. This review should be read in conjunction with the 2008 sanitary survey report. Belfast Lough Sanitary Survey Review V1.1 05/09/2017 Page | ii Table of Contents Northern Ireland Sanitary Survey Review .................................................................................................. i Review Specification and Introduction ....................................................................................................... i 1. AREA DESCRIPTION AND FISHERY .................................................................................................... 1 2. POPULATION AND HUMAN SEWAGE IMPACTS ................................................................................ 5 3. FARM ANIMAL POPULATION AND AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS ......................................................... 23 4. WILDLIFE AND OTHER NON-FARM ANIMALS ................................................................................. 25 5. WATERCOURSES ........................................................................................................................... 30 6. METEOROLOGICAL DATA .............................................................................................................. 37 7. HISTORICAL E. COLI DATA .............................................................................................................. 42 8. MOVEMENT OF CONTAMINANTS .................................................................................................. 49 9. OVERALL ASSESSMENT .................................................................................................................. 50 10. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................... 53 Sampling Plan – Belfast Lough ................................................................................................................ 56 11. REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................. 57 12. LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ........................................................................................................ 60 APPENDICES 1. Continuous Public Sewage Discharges (NIW) 2. Consented Public intermittent discharges (NIW) 3. Consented private Sewage Discharges (NIEA) 4. Public Intermittent Discharges (NIEA) 5. Descriptive Statistics 6. Shoreline survey Report 2014 © Crown Copyright 2014. Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland and Cefas. All rights reserved. Belfast Lough Sanitary Survey Review V1.1 05/09/2017 Page | iii 1. Area Description and Fishery Belfast Lough is a large sea lough on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland. The lough covers a total area of 130 km2 with a maximum depth of 23 m, and is divided into Inner and Outer Belfast Lough for the purposes of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) (NIEA, 2011). The River Lagan flows through the City of Belfast and into the head of the lough. The location of Belfast Lough is shown in Figure 1.1. © Crown copyright and database right 2014 ES&LA210.15 Figure 1.1 Location of Belfast Lough The bivalve shellfisheries in Belfast Lough currently consist of bottom culture mussel operations that are licensed by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD). The boundaries for the licensed farms are confined to the area below mean low water. The shoreline survey identified the presence of large quantities of mussels in the intertidal area. In the 2008 report, 13 bottom culture mussel farms were classified out of a total of 25 licensed sites. In 2014, 14 mussel farms were classified in Belfast Lough, which are listed in Table 1.1 and displayed in Figure 1.2. Belfast Lough Sanitary Survey: Review V1.1 05/09/2017 Page | 1 Table 1.1 Shellfisheries classified in 2014, Belfast Lough DARD Zone RMP FSA Site Name1 DARD Site Name (Code) Code Species No. Lower RMP1 Middle Bank S Middle Bank B1 Inner Gallagher Jordanstown B7 McLaughlin North Shore B10 Inner RMP2 Ross' Rock Newtownabbey B6 The Moorings Jordanstown B11 Dougold Jordanstown B3 Whitehouse Common Whitehouse Roads B2 Roads mussels