05/10/2005 - The Environment
Agency is appealing to members of the public
to help find the cause of a serious pollution
incident on a Devon stream that has left more
than 1,500 fish dead.
A mystery pollutant is believed to have entered
the Shobrooke Lake stream near Crediton at
the weekend. The Environment Agency was alerted
late on Sunday after two people walking the
riverbank reported seeing dozens of dead and
dying fish.
The casualties were mostly minnows, bullhead
and lamprey but also included a number of
other fish species including stone loach and
eels. Approximately 100 young brown trout
also died. The pollution has virtually wiped
out the fish population on a 3 kilometre stretch
of the stream, a tributary of the River Creedy.
The Environment Agency has launched a full
investigation and officers have been on site
since early on Monday looking for clues and
carrying out fish and biological surveys.
The pollution appears to have been confined
to the tributary as there was no sign of any
dead fish in the Creedy or the River Exe further
down the catchment. It is thought the pollution
may have come from a farm, but as yet there
is limited evidence to support this theory
and investigations are continuing.
It is also possible there was an earlier
pollution incident on the stream last week
and the fish found at the weekend were either
killed then or by a subsequent spill.
‘It is all a bit of a mystery. So far we
haven’t been able to find any trace of a pollutant.
It was clearly toxic to fish, but only affected
part of the watercourse. We would like to
hear from anyone who has noticed anything
unusual about the stream over the past week
or has information that could help us in our
investigation,’ said Sean McKay for the Environment
Agency.
Members of the public can call the Environment
Agency’s free 24 hour hotline 0800 80 70 60
to report pollution incidents.
