Cyanide & Sewage
Another bloody disaster hits an upper section of the River Trent and as the polluted water passes downstream, reports may yet spell out disaster for further sections after the Stoke-on-Trent to Yoxall section currently in the news. While the Environment Agency (EA) try their best to mitigate the effects of the cyanide and raw sewage pollution incident, by pumping hydrogen peroxide, their efforts will not bring back the thousands of fish already dead, or indeed all the other dead and dying creatures that make up a complex ecosystem.
Right now, people such as myself, feel both anger and frustration that the whole fishery is going to be wrecked. Invertebrates, birds, mammals, several generations of fish will all be hit. Nature may bounce back quickly but not I suspect without a great deal of help. The good people at Calverton Fish Farm no doubt will be called upon for restocking depending on the fishery's ability to sustain a new population of fish, while other niches in the system can only be filled by natural migration and new generations.
In the long term our focus will be upon government, both local and national, their actions and those of the various representative bodies that look to protect our natural heritage. The EA, Anglers Trust and Fish Legal will be most prominent in taking necessary actions.
This is just a footnote, but it occurs to me now that my recent hopes of spotting an otter (as they've begun repopulating UK waterways) will probably remain fruitless for a while longer.
