On Wednesday, 14th, I read a disturbing account of dead fish floating in Salford Quays, the old Manchester Dock on the Ship Canal. Photographs accompanying the account were heart rendering for an angler. Later more photos were posted but this time from Warrington Anglers of dead fish around Kingsway Bridge, Warrington.
To say I was alarmed is an understatement as our Rixton stretch of the Mersey sits between these two venues.
My first thought was that it had to be a pollution incident. I became unsure as Wednesday ticked on as various angling blogs and news outlets relayed sad tales of fish mortality around the North West. The Mersey, river Weaver at Nantwich, Sankey Brook, river Alt (runs by Aintree to enter the sea at Formby), but then the Trent & Mersey canal near Barnton and various still waters. The only thing connecting them was the recent hot weather.
Bulletins released by the Environment Agency (EA) began to confirm the cause as a massive decline in dissolved Oxygen levels in waters around the region.
On Thursday morning, Hon Treasurer ( H), went to our stretch, spoke to Andrew the farmer, and relayed the news to me that there were dead fish in every peg on the length. He also said that the EA were on site testing the water quality and had confirmed low Oxygen levels. Two more EA staff arrived while he was there. H did pass on some good news that fry were swimming about and he had seen a large Pike.
Around lunch time, on Thursday, Warrington Anglers Facebook page had a short clip put out by the EA showing a massive diesel pump being used as an Aerator. The EA Facebook page had a longer clip explaining where they had sited the pump and there aims for its use.
It came clear, as I watched the clip, that the pump was sited on our stretch of the Mersey. At last, a positive development. Our stretch is home to an EA Fish Haven to aid fry survival and when it was created, they also built a boat launch and Dock for EA use. This previous activity had enabled them to deploy the aerator pump directly adjacent to the Mersey. Committee member, Paul Williams, went to the stretch and sent me some photos of the pump in action. He also passed on my contact details to the EA staff as the Cheshire Cheese AC liaison. An EA agent phoned me to explain their plans and to ask our help in achieving them. They intend to run pumps (now two on site) throughout the weekend and monitor Oxygen levels. Oxygen levels had been raised from around 5% to ~20% already.
They require us to postpone any fishing plans we have. To this end our planned fishing match for Sunday is cancelled and probably the one for the Sunday after. We ask members to delay their plans for the same period. A notice has been sited on the top access gate and hopefully we will intercept any members who missed this bulletin.
Going forward we plan to let the EA carry out their work, I will monitor relevant news in the media and pass it on. Sadly, the conspiracy theories are circulating which are not helping the situation.
I won't be ending this blog entry with my customary Tight Lines. Let's hope the EA intervention reaps rewards and all is not as grim as it first feels.
Phil Newton
Hon Sec