Environment Agency officers called to fish deaths in drain near Boston
Environment Agency officials have been called out to the Maud Foster Drain outside Boston after reports of dead fish seen in the waterway.
In a statement put out yesterday (Wednesday) via social media, the Environment Agency said its officers attended the scene and found a number of dead and dying fish as well as high ammonia and low dissolved oxygen levels.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “They used chemical aeration to raise oxygen levels and took water samples for further testing.
“We are very grateful to members of the public that reported this incident.”
They said: “We have monitored and investigated any possible source of pollution. We have mitigated the impacts of low dissolved oxygen and the high ammonia levels. Dissolved oxygen levels have returned to normal. We did not locate any source of pollution.
“It’s important that members of the public to report any environmental impacts to us on 0800 807060”.
Darren Snow plays at Boston Golf Club and was among those who have reported the matter to the Environment Agency in the last couple of days having noticed dead fish in the Maud Foster and West Fen drains.
He said: “I noticed fish dying about a week ago – a few here and there, but now there are thousands.
"Overnight it seems to have spread to the Sibsey Trader.
"There are carp, bream, roach and pike – quite substantial in size that take years to grow to that size. God knows what it has done to the snails and invertebrates.”
He added that he was also concerned about the amount of plastic waste that has flowed down and accumulated around the sluice gates on the Maud Foster near the golf club over the past six months.
"It’s a disgrace,” he said. When you see birds nesting on rafts of plastic with chicks surrounded by plastic I just don’t get it.”