Today, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) launched an investigation into the discovery of thousands of dead salmon in a Scottish island sea loch.
A spokeswoman for SEPA said that a shoal of dead fish half a mile long had been reported in Loch Erisort, on the Isle of Lewis, yesterday. “All we know at the moment is that we received information about a significant number of dead salmon in the loch.”
Samples of the dead fish were being taken away for laboratory analysis by Sepa’s marine survey vessel, the Enderick II.
“We are investigating and trying to find out what happened. We are employing what resources we can and samples are being taken to go back to the laboratory.” She added. She said it was not known if the salmon were wild or came from a fish farm on the island.
Members of the public have been warned to stay away in case the fish proved to be toxic. The island’s salmon population was hit recently by an invasion of tiny jellyfish which killed more than two million farmed fish.
For years Friends of the Earth have been warning about the environmental consequences of all the intensive fish farms on sea lochs.
