THE Environment Agency is investigating the mysterious death of hundreds of small fish during repairs on the flood defences at West Bay in Dorset.
West Bay is defended against flooding by a sea wall and a set of gates between the harbour and the River Brit.
These gates are in urgent need of repair and this morning contractors and Agency teams opened hatches on the defences to allow the level in the river to drop enough to get access to the bottom of the gates.
This procedure has been carried out on numerous occasions by both the Agency and the West Bay Harbourmaster.
Today, the introduction of the river water into the harbour caused a dramatic reaction and hundreds of fish fry died.
The Agency’s pollution experts have been investigating all day and early suggestions are that compounds within the silts at the bottom of the harbour have been stirred up.
Stirring the silts dropped the oxygen levels which, combined with the drop in salinity and recent warm weather limiting the amount of oxygen already in the water, may have resulted in the fish deaths.
Investigations into the cause of the fish deaths and work to repair the flood defence gates are continuing.
“This sudden reaction has taken us all by surprise,” said Howard Davidson, area manager for the Environment Agency.
“This operation has taken place many times in the past and neither the harbourmaster or our staff can recall anything like it. We will make a full investigation and if we are able to identify any procedural changes we will put those in place.”
For more please see the Environment Agency website.
