Peterborough and District anglers have been left devastated after a pollution outbreak on the Nene’s Goldie Cut claimed huge numbers of coarse fish. Investigations are ongoing, with suspected chemical contamination hitting a key overwintering zone for the river’s roach population.
It comes as a bitter blow for P&DAA, who recently scooped our Club of the Year award for their impressive work on habitat improvement and getting more kids fishing.
“It’s a shocking waste of life,” said club media manager Rob Harris.
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“It just couldn’t have come at a worse time and location,” he told us, explaining that the area is a key place of shelter in the winter, with fish packing in from a wide area.
“The destruction was bank to bank, with fish everywhere, mostly roach but also pike, perch and bream. To put that into context, we received 5,000 fish from the EA this year to boost stocks, but have just lost 100,000! The roach are a key species for our members- they’re often the first fish kids catch. Our coaching pond is literally yards away!”
The club are hoping that early intervention has prevented further spread. The Environment Agency and Anglian Water both involved in on-going tests to find out where the problem started.
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Rob described the sight of all the fish, which appeared to have died instantly, as “heartbreaking”, adding that “some of our long standing volunteers are in tears.”
While the club awaits answers, Fish Legal are already involved and P&DAA say that they will be “doing all that is humanly possible to pursue this in the strongest possible terms.”
In spite of early speculation online, the club also wanted to reassure local anglers that the famous Ferry Meadows fishery has thankfully not been affected.
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