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NI Watersports Centre Closes After Nearly 30 Years Over ‘Unsustainable’ Blue-Green Algae Issue

23rd August 2023
Wakeboarding at the Cranagh Activity Centre on the Lower Bann in Coleraine
Wakeboarding at the Cranagh Activity Centre on the Lower Bann in Coleraine, which has announced its closure after 27 years

A popular destination for watersport on Northern Ireland’s North Coast has blamed governmental inaction over wastewater discharges for its decision to close after nearly three decades.

In a statement on social media, Rob Skelly of the Cranagh Activity Centre said recent blooms of toxic blue-green algae that have affected Lough Neagh and the Lower Bann are travelling out to sea through the river system, past its location.

“With this likely to happen on a yearly basis we feel that our business has become unsustainable and that we have no option but to close,” Skelly added.

He also echoed recent comments from concerned angling groups in saying that “we are seeing the collapse of the ecology of the Lough Neagh and Lower Bann system”.

The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.

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