Mystery over dead fish found in Wick river
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Poisoning is being suspected following the discovery of a number of dead fish in Wick River this week.
Wick Angling Association president Ian Cormack explained that he had received a report on Thursday morning about the dead fish in the lower reaches of the river, just below Milton.
Pointing out that there was no sign of disease with other healthy fish swimming around near the area, he said: "We can not confirm that it is poisoning, but we are suspecting that."
A Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) spokesperson said: "Our officers are working with local partners to determine the cause of the incident, and current evidence suggests the water poses no risk to the public.
"Anyone who is concerned about a potential pollution incident can report this via www.sepa.org.uk/report ."
Local livery yard proprietor Kirsty Moore was the person who alerted SEPA and the local angling association to the issue after finding around 15 dead salmon along with a number of other smaller fish while out walking her dogs around 10am on Thursday (September 17).
"I was concerned because the dogs were in the river drinking and the cows drink there as well," she said.
"I pulled one out of the water and there were no marks on it. I presumed they had possibly been poisoned – fortunately the dogs were fine."
Kirsty, of Newfield Farm Livery & Training, went on to point out that she saw more dead fish as she walked along the river. She had done the same walk two days before and not noticed any problems.
"It is funny how they all seemed to die at the exact same time," she said. "I have never seen this before and I have been doing this walk for seven years with my dogs."
She posted photos of the dead fish on Facebook and later KWK9 Rescue issued a warning to local dog walkers to keep their pets out of the water until the cause was confirmed.
The angling association president stated that a lot of rivers in the north had found dead fish this year, but nothing had been seen on the Wick River until now. Mr Cormack pointed out that in this instant the dead fish showed no sign of fungus growing on them.
"These fish were pristine," he said.
Local water bailiffs sent samples of the fish for testing, and Mr Cormack stated that judging by the gills the fish had died within 24 hours of being found.
"We have never had any cases of people deliberately poisoning fish for many a year," he said.
"The rest of the river seems to be fine, fish are moving around normally. Thankfully it was in the lower reaches of the river, it would be a lot more serious if it was higher up where the younger fish are."
