|
EUROPEAN CETACEAN BYCATCH CAMPAIGN |
|
Clean-up after dead fish found |
|
BBC NEWS |
|
There are a number of salmon farms in the area |
|
|
|
A clean up operation in a sea loch in the Western Isles has recovered 200 dead fish. |
|
It had been feared that hundreds of thousands of fish had died in Loch Erisort on the Isle of Lewis. |
|
The reports of a huge mass of dead fish half a mile long had baffled marine experts. |
|
However, it emerged that the salmon had been lost during a clean up after thousands of farmed fish were killed by stinging jellyfish earlier this month. |
|
About 120,000 fish had been rounded up by fish farms around the loch. |
|
However, Sepa said that a "significant number" were released when two nets split. |
|
"Action was taken at the time to recover the released dead fish from the immediate area around the farm," said a Sepa spokeswoman. |
|
"The farm operator has been monitoring around the cages for dead fish and collecting these on a regular basis since the incident, but a number of fish appear to have drifted further out into the loch than had been anticipated. |
|
"Due to decomposition these fish have now floated to the surface and been recovered for appropriate disposal." |
|
|
|
|
