The Hatchery

Due to past pollution of the Inver River which resulted in serious fish kills in the lower stretches and a resulting drop in membership, the Association felt that some sort of action was required to retain our indigenous brown trout and sea-trout. We have resisted the stocking of our river by non - indigenous brown trout as compensation for past fish kills.

The only way to build up the stocks of indigenous fish to sustainable levels was to build our own hatchery. To this end our Association appointed Frank Quigley 'Committee Member' as Project Manager. Frank submitted an application for 'Grant Aid' under the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (NI) Peace 2. From the time of our application until the final letter of approval allowing us to commence the project took a total of 20 months. The good news is that the hatchery is now complete thanks to the sterling work undertaken by the appointed building contractor Mr. Harry Keenan and his employees from Magherafelt who were able to keep to the construction time schedule. You can view the building progress of the hatchery on our photograph gallery. The Hatchery is situated inside the refurbished Old Flex Mill which is at least 150 years old, and the hatchery is fed by pure spring water. This is the same spring water that feeds and forms one of our main tributaries into the Inver River. We have retained the original stone building and restored the roof.
The Lower Dam, Layde, and the Old Flex Mill plus ample parking and storage areas have all been leased from the Landlord for a period of 10 years plus an option of another 10 years.