Being a huge fisherman and outdoorsman myself your fast action stance is very admirable who says one person can't make a difference but if you didn't take action how much longer would have it been till something was done about it new subscriber from the US great upload we definitely need more like you...
Real shame to see this and I hope they prosecute those responsible. A slurry incident happened on my local river a few years ago. A college was responsible and was fined just £50000 despite killing over 1500 fish. The fine wasn't anywhere near high enough
He's a farmer . The authorities seem to treat these people as privileged. They do what they want and you get nowhere when reporting their criminal activities.(speaking from experience)
@@adventurefishinguk You've done a phenomenal job reporting this. I would suggest you send these videos to your local MP, other regional environmental groups, local press, and show them the truth. Whoever is responsible needs to pay a proportionate fine, but also pay to have the waterway restocked and airated (however you spell it) until a point in time it is full of fish and life again, if that takes 1-2 years or more, they pay for it. Simple.
Thanks for the update, sadly it’s a worldwide problem, I kayak fish our local reservoir here in Ontario Canada. There are so many farms that border the shore, by the end of June the smell is unbearable. Ecoli stops kids from swimming, it’s sad, be blessed my friend, Thanks again.
Sadly the people who’ve polluted the rivers and camels are above prosecution. Seems all a bit too convenient that the woodlands are burning and the fish are dying, chickens have bird flu, cows fart too much JUST after the climate lot have met for a conference and want us to eat bugs! We can see through it but that doesn’t matter to them, it’s the teens who swallow this up without question, that’s their intended target.
The oily residue on the surface is a phenomena known as biofilm and it basically occurs when algae and other life (fish/bugs etc.) are dying faster than the resident bacteria can process them, the film is just dead algae waiting to be processed. The dead fish you are seeing are likely to be the ones that sank initially when they succumbed to the lack of oxygen but have since floated back up as they internally decomposed. These deoxygenation events tend to be sudden but relatively short lived, almost everything dies within a few hours but within a few days the oxygen levels start to recover and anything that survived can get back on with its life unless secondary effects such as lack of food lead to their demise
Thanks for keeping us updated. Glad the EA and canal river trust have done something to rescue the remaining fish. Hope they throw the book at whoever is responsible. Your exposure of this tragedy has certainly done a lot mobilise the authorities into doing something about it. So many people think angling is a blood sport they don’t realise how much we care for the life that we should be protecting in our waterways. Tight lines and all the best.
A difficult video to watch and shoot I’m sure George. Well done for exposing this and hopefully at minimum, a crippling fine for the perpetrator of this. The fact this is a repeat offence makes me fume. Thanks for keeping people informed and doing yur part. 👍
Thanks for your reporting on this issue George. I have spent many happy hours dog walking and fishing around the canal there, such a shame. Keep up the excellent work and the many quality videos, much appreciated.
I live in Staffordshire and my local canal the Trent and Mersey was polluted about 20 years ago, found out it was a cyanide leak from an industrial estate. It completely wiped out everything on a 20 mile stretch, I remember the stench of rotting fish it certainly wasn’t pleasant. There was pike up to around 20/25lb found dead along with carp of the same size. All these years later it’s only just starting to recover and there are some beauties in the canal now. The company where this leak was traced back too was only fined £10k which is disgusting, even back then it’s shit.
That’s gutting mate I’m really sorry to hear it. Really heartbreaking. In this day and age it really needs to be clamped down on or there’s going to be nothing left for the next generations
It is an underlying problem inherent to drainage. All liquids behave as water and flow down through the system. Obvious I know, but it means that the only solution is good handling practice for liquids and prevention of ingress to water courses. In other words companies need to spend money to prevent this. They will not. Government will not force them. It has gone on like this for years. A big part of the problems on UK rivers is road salt and general road drainage which is actually very bad for the environment and basically is just drained from the road network into the river system, or in some cases lakes. The metals in that, particularly copper that is contained in brake dust, basically destroys the food web starting from the very bottom. Then large doses of salt through winter. Sad situation.
I live just off the River Trent and used to regularly just tip trash into it following house parties. One day I saw a Swan with a strongbow can stuck in its wing so I've since stopped and now massively into conservation campaigning. We all live and learn 🙌
Those bags of fish is disgusting mate, no fish deserves to end up like that, I'm shocked, I really hope that the person responsible gets caught and charged with this offence but I'm not confident that they will, any comments from the EA or Angling Trust at all mate, you've done a great job of highlighting this issue 👍
Thanks for the update 👍absolutely shocking to see this, the person or person’s responsible for this shouldn’t be just hit with hefty fines in my opinion! You can guarantee any fine given will be less than what it would of cost to dispose of there waist properly in the first place. I sincerely hope as well as big big fines they serve some prison time for the deliberate slaughter of all the wild life involved. So sad and easily avoidable, this breaks my heart. Fingers crossed they make an example for once 🤞keep us posted and well done for getting this out there 👍👍🎣
I live just off the River Trent and used to regularly just tip trash into it following house parties. One day I saw a Swan with a strongbow can stuck in its wing so I've since stopped and now massively into conservation campaigning. We are live and learn 🙌
When you get a heavy downpour it washes the effluent off the fields into the water, unless you stop spreading slurry close to water there'll always be a high risk of this. I had something similar happen to a 50 acre Lough beside me, thousands of bream died.
Very true! I believe safety mesuares can be put in place though like drainage ditches and good weather forecasting. I may be wrong! Unacceptable either way
Well done George sharing this information and letting everyone know what’s going on. I’ve never witnessed anything like that myself and I know from your other videos how passionate you are about your fishing and the wildlife that surrounds it. Real Anglers do care and you are one of those. Let’s hope this time next year you will have a totally different report and let’s hope all the efforts gone into trying to put life back into the canal an ecosystem start to show real soon. All the best to you and yours buddy 👍🏽😀🎣
This is an absolute tragedy! Irrespective of what species of fish have been killed, it breaks my heart! It’s good to see the dead fish removed from the water and that the EA have got aeration of the water in place. What’s needed also is lots of boat movements and lock usage to pull water through the canal, maybe even fresh water diverted into the canal! I hope that whoever is responsible for the pollution, if it was wilfully done, is prosecuted to the full extent of the law!
Im in Essex my local stretch of the river Colne was polluted by a farmer he slaughtered the river killing all the fish in my local stretch.They have re-stocked with small Dace Cub and Roach but it will never recover really.Farmers have a lot to answer to.....
Well done mate keep us updated 👍 unfortunately these events are often let off far too lightly, I wonder if the public interest just isn't there, if it was little cute mammals and birds then I'm sure people would react more
Good update, I passed the marina twice this week on Natbey crossing lane in the car and yes you could quite clearly smell the stench, it's not good, I have fished on the Lankey canal since the late 70s and to be honest the last 20yrs has been the best fishing on there I have seen, with the last 5 yrs being the best, this is a real tragedy that this episode has happened and I for one would like to see a real positive outcome from this with fish re stocked and all paid for by the guilty party , that's if the water environment will sustain a re stocking, probably not for several years yet !!
Thanks James. Hope you enjoyed your trip nonetheless! It was hard to capture on film how black it was, tough to do it justice but it’s quite extreme isn’t it
@@adventurefishinguk Cheers mate had a great time at the marina but gutted I had to travel north to fish,yes it is shocking how bad it is ,pure negligence 👍🏼We have took some pictures but dont know if they show it yet,will put them on fb this weekend 👍🏼
Really sad to see this happening, thanks for highlighting the problem. There is lots of insidious degrading of all our water courses, both canals and rivers, caused by diffuse pollution from farming and water company discharges. It is affecting most of the country. The EA are seriously underfunded and without any teeth to tackle the problems. We need to highlight this with our MPs and deny them our vote until they have a concrete proposal for rectifying the problems.
Great to see the oxygen levels coming back up. Though Is there any information on the Ammonia, and nitrite levels George? The slurry itself would be full of Nitrates also, and possibly the above two mentioned which are deadly toxic to fish and other freshwater species. Good job highlighting this. Thanks.
Good to see the Environmental Agency responding to help the situation who ever is responsible for this will get a fine unfortunately the fines are never massive it won't make a difference to whoever is responsible,nice work George well done buddy,
Maybe once the perpetrators see the consequences of their actions so graphically then maybe this will have a greater impact than a fine? Trying to be optimistic it's so awful! If it is a repeat offender then surely a prison sentence...
@@alison8526 i agree i can't wait for the river to open on the 16th I'm lucky i fish the river wye it's a beautiful place i fish for the mighty barbel and pike barbel the best coarse fish in the uk in my opinion,i also fish for pike and zander love fishing
I am glad it's being delt with. The world is a beautiful place. Its a shame there are idiots who don't appreciate it. Excellent coverage mate. Well done.
Well done for exposing this. This should not be happening in this day and age .I hope the full weight of the law comes down on the culprit .Keep up the good work.
@@adventurefishinguk No it actually is. The laws are there. I want to share something as I saw it at the time. The Somerset levels flood 2013 2014. That flood was caused by sabotage of a sluice. They guy was convicted of doing it. However the media spent almost two years waging a campaign on behalf of "locals" who insisted it was about drainage not being dredged. This was used to replace the anti fracking director of the EA with a more fracking friendly leader. The fracking industry was then free to do what they wanted in effect as the existing regulation would not be enforced. Honestly I feel that if the EA is not "allowed" to pursue something, then chances of action are slim. I am quite old I have seen a lot in this field. I think probably the best leverage to force anything is angling clubs, usually a group of hundreds of people who have a leadership structure and a feel protective about water ways. Plus we all pay the EA/NRW individually. Other waterways users do not. It is pretty much on us.
Living next to the water for many years I would say that pike are very susceptible to storms, every time we have a thunder storm pike die for no reason in clean water when I see no other dead fish. I live in the Netherlands and literally 5 meters from an intricate inland water way system (actually from my house you can navigate on salt free water to the Black sea avoiding the North sea, the English channel, the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea) At my last house also in the Netherlands I has around 60 meters of good fishing along 2 sides of my garden there were many species Carp bream tench roach dace eels all to good weights, but one day there was a problem that resulted in effluent pollution of the stretch by my house - the pike died first, but then in stages all the other fish, they were loading many large wheelie bins with the dead fish from just my small stretch. Simply all the fish in the water died and after a few weeks due to the "nutrients" in the water we got an infestation of chick weed, that simply choked any other life in the water - the surface was completely covered as far as I could see. Trying to get someone to be held responsible - was a nightmare. Eventually the chick weed was so thick that it began to rot and the smell was atrocious . In the end I moved house but my house was devalued due to the state of the water
That's a real shame mate it's heartbreaking when things like that happened. Sounds like a really nice place to have lived though in its prime with some good fishing!
Well done exposing this atrocity George. I'm so angry and sad in equal measure I don't quite know how to react other than to hope that justice prevails.
Well done, great that your being pro-active. Keep on it, hopefully some good news for the future of that venue. Be years before I'd want to spend money and time going there. Sad for the locals and club anglers
Yes lad,, keep er lit and keep up the good work. Keep in the ears of the authorities and obviously use your video footage as evidence in court if it goes that far. The more pressure you put on them the more likely they are to actually get it into court. You'll have probably been in contact with the EA so keep at them as I'm guessing it definitely not went to court yet. Slow process as always. Tight lines lad 😎🎣🎣
Well done lad.me and my wife just watched this.what a good lad you are.so glad to see a young man,playing detective, activist....and giving a shit.ypu really are a good man.very impressed mate,you have restored my faith in humanity. Keep it up,keep fighting for anglers,and wildlife. Bravo young fella!!!!
@@alison8526 thankyou.im 54,and feel so frustrated with the world...and the younger generation. I was wrong,and feel good that I was.whoever the lad in the video is,what a morally great person he will go on to be.perhaps...he's the man I used to be a long time ago....
@@younowhythatis6381 Yes he's my son - he has always loved fish and fishing from being a toddler - he spent many an hour fishing with his Dad who sadly died when George was just 18 - nearly five years ago - and also with my Dad who died 18 months ago both of them would be equally as proud now to see how George is flying the family fishing flag!
Sick of these farmers polluting all the waterways. Well done mate for highlighting it. I was just having a convo the other day about how, as kids, we used to catch sticklebacks and bullheads in the small streams but now there are no fish due to pollutants run off from the fields (mostly). These pesticides have a lot to answer for I am sure but I am no expert on the matter.
im from northern ireland and i know the fines here for farmers polluting riverways are pathetic,hope your more severe in england,good luck with the channel.
Find the culprit first, Take them to court & if found guilty send them to prison for whatever is deemed necessary, years, not months. However, this may just be a case of whatever has been sprayed onto the fields being washed into the canal & I doubt that there is anyway of stopping that. Good job that you have done on this, please keep us all upto date. Thanks.
It’s a lot better than the previous video they took out a lot of the dead fish out and got a good few aerators in too help the situation the oil slicks is abit alarming tho But deffo should keep updated with further progression hopefully a big fine and a Fish restock too help the fish ecosystem out
Good video sir its not just the fishing people don't understand how much most of us care about the environment aswell as the fishing it anglers that report most problems and our money pays for the upkeep of footpaths and other areas
Stuff like this is the reason why I’ve studied Fishery management and currently Marine biology. It’s a great shame to see such loss. This will take a long time (possibly years) to fully recover. At my old college the farm slurry killed off fish in one of the ponds we were doing research on. The EA and Canal and River Trust need more government funding so they can hire more staff to help these on going battles, it’s ridiculous. The UK has one of the lowest biodiversity rates in the world, and this is one of the reasons why 💔
Damn thats terrible. The blackness is what kills everything. We had a dead river after a massive flood. The water had 0% oxygen for 3 straight weeks, so everything was dead...from micro organisms till 2m big catfish. It broke my heart. That takes around 30-40j to get to the same level
I'd like to know what can be put in place to prevent it from ever happening again. Don't get me wrong, those responsible have to be penalised, but that's irrelevant if this can happen again. I'll definitely keep up to date with this.
Regulations must be enforced even if it means random audits of farmers using slurry. I only have one neighbour; until recently, that was a responsible farmer, more or less- he also happened to be the county warden. One year ago he sold his quota and moved to another farm he owns. The new neighbour is a city slicker who fancied themselves a horse rescuer. She was piling her manure over her well. I informed her that was not appropriate, legal, safe, healthy, or neighbourly. she ignored me and continued. I called the appropriate Ministry to report the issue and they tried to convince me it was not an issue; I recited the extant law, the regulations and the dangers as well as the fact I was monitoring my well and any fecal coliforms discovered would result in a law suit, onlt then did that government flake address the issue.
I'd like to know too. I think for one thing, the minimum fine needs to be drastically increased for environmental damage like this and if it's big enough it should be enough of a disincentive to at least reduce it happening in the future
Have the same problem in Sydney. Waste run off and effluent enter the system and cause quite intense fish kills. We had heavy rains last summer, and there were multiple events. Some seemed like bad luck, others unfortunately bore all the hallmarks of someone dumping waste fluids on an industrial scale, presumably using the flooding as camouflage.
Same thing happened in the nene about 30 years ago in Northamptonshire....I saw potentially record fish floating down through Wellingborough.......a certain beer company dumped a load of chemicals and killed everything. ...they were held responsible and fined...that stretch of water hasn't been the same since then
@@adventurefishinguk I'm not sure but it wasn't enough 😕 by the way they probably don't make the world's best lager.....that companies fine probably hardly dented their profits for the year. I had my first wild river carp on the stretch nr Whitworths Mill and that was it.....I was down there all the time stalking them and pulling a few out
I am currently reading George Monbiots latest book called Regenesis and his view is the EPA never prosecute these slurry pollution spills, they just send a letter. However, you do have evidence of fish deaths so that should help. Despite increasing funding of the EPA, this is nearly all for flood defenses. That part of the EPA dealing with river pollution has been cut to the bone to the point where they are useless.
I live on the Mon and Brecon canal, over the past 2 months I’ve seen hundreds of dead fish, dead birds and even rabbits/hares floating. Stories from Poland this week saying hundreds of thousands of dead fish washing up from River Oder. What’s going on ?
The problem is that magistrates do not understand the severity of the impact. The EA can get all the evidence and take the polluter to court, but they don't set the fines. They are set quite often by people who have never fished or never even seen this type of crime, so have no context in which to set the punishment.
Thats not the first time in that area its been polluted. I think its the area where the chequred flag pub is as its been hit there a number of times over the 50 years iv been fishing. Another area of the canal is the glasson dock arm there used to be really good catches of bream and roach years ago.
Slurry like decaying fish will produce ammonia which will burn the fishes gills reducing their ability to use the very limited oxygen in the water , Lack of oxygen will also kill off the nitrifying bacteria which rely on it , the pumps increasing the oxygen will also help nitrifying bacteria to multiply so they can convert the ammonia into nitrites and the bacteria into nitrate which is virtually harmless to the fish but this all does take time . Good video.
Around about 10 years ago I had worked along side the EA at a lake on the Luton hoo grounds where the river lea runs in to the lake and has a weir pool the other end. Some take aways in Luton Town centre we're throwing cooking oil/sewage into the river which made its way to the lake. They had 15 aerators to help put oxygen into the water. In the end peroxide was poured into the lake which really boosted the oxygen. This took over 2 weeks just to make the lake safe for fish. There were 100s of dead fish and some sizeable carp. Such devastation and should never happen we need to look after our wildlife.
Keep seeing reports of 100 or more fish... Which sounds like it's being belittled. It looks like a majority of the life cycle in the canal has been wiped out, but the toothless authorities may have little power to whack this careless farmer where it hurts. Three incidents in only several years shows the culprit couldn't care less about the results of his actions. Other businesses affected by incidents like this should carry more clout than individual outcries. The bill for restocking the canal should be sent to the culprit.
Can't believe this..just come across this channel..saw this.I'm a fisherman and it breaks my heart to see this..wtf is happening about this..I hope they prosecute the people responsible.
We suffered the same problem in Northern Ireland the farmer let the slurry go killing all the fish and devastating the river for up to 10 years and yes he only got a slap on the wrist
Is slurry manure? Manure running off into the water depleting oxygen? Or is it chemical? In USA slurry is cattle or chicken manure spread on pasture as fertilizer.
Once the water result are back to normal …. Start a go fund me, George …. for an amount enough to restock with a few thousand baby fish, the same as the ones that have been lost. Pike, Carp, Bream, etc etc ….. baby fish are pretty cheap in large numbers. Or is that someone that the canal trust will do ?
Thanks for the update 👍.. was watching something on a drug bust of all things where it was a an outbuilding close to a waterway that was being used to make amphetamine, barrels & barrels of acids etc & it was reported that some of this stuff was finding it's way into the water !!Just a thought 🤔.
Maybe in the sea but fishing in the canal is in a really good position in general. Anglers get too much stick I think when in reality it’s pollution decimating fish stocks. Aside from commercial fishing which doesn’t tend to happen much in freshwater in the UK
Well I hope whatever English authority who is looking into enviromental pollutiont puts a darn site more effort in than the NRW (Natural Resources Wales) when they supposedly investegated numerous river pollution incidents mostly due to farm slurry and Welsh Water sewage discharge. There's been just a mere handful of prosecutions. Makes one wonder why these bodies exist....absolutely bloody disgraceful!!
forget farmers, go after companies that make the chemical. The government forces farmers to grow authorized crops that need authorized chemicals and the government will shut down any farmers who do not comply. go after chemical companies and government.
What chemical is that? I have read that the gov is paying farmers to retire/stop growing food....I don't understand but every time I research something like this, the road leads to either one of the top venture capitalists and/or b!ll g4ates at some point every single time!
The fines are never severe enough. If there was a substantial life-changing penalty for crimes like this they would significantly reduce in prevalence.
its a hard timer for the farmers right now, if this is just an error on their part, id be harsh to fine them, if they did it to "Cheap out" on a waste removal method, then yea, fine them
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Being a huge fisherman and outdoorsman myself your fast action stance is very admirable who says one person can't make a difference but if you didn't take action how much longer would have it been till something was done about it new subscriber from the US great upload we definitely need more like you...
Thanks mate I really appreciate the support. It's great to hear you're watching from the US, and thanks for watching!
Real shame to see this and I hope they prosecute those responsible. A slurry incident happened on my local river a few years ago. A college was responsible and was fined just £50000 despite killing over 1500 fish. The fine wasn't anywhere near high enough
I have a feeling this fine will be significantly lower as mainstream media reported this as being "a small number of dead fish"
He's a farmer . The authorities seem to treat these people as privileged. They do what they want and you get nowhere when reporting their criminal activities.(speaking from experience)
@@adventurefishinguk You've done a phenomenal job reporting this. I would suggest you send these videos to your local MP, other regional environmental groups, local press, and show them the truth. Whoever is responsible needs to pay a proportionate fine, but also pay to have the waterway restocked and airated (however you spell it) until a point in time it is full of fish and life again, if that takes 1-2 years or more, they pay for it. Simple.
As an angler this is heart breaking. Much respect for exposing this crime.
Thanks mate, i appreciate the support!
Keep fighting the good fight my friend.
Thank you for taking the time out to to share this terrible story with us.
Really trying my best! Thanks for the support I appreciate the comment 👍
Thanks for the update, sadly it’s a worldwide problem, I kayak fish our local reservoir here in Ontario Canada. There are so many farms that border the shore, by the end of June the smell is unbearable. Ecoli stops kids from swimming, it’s sad, be blessed my friend, Thanks again.
That’s really sad. Breaks my heart that this keeps on happening and all over the world. It’s time to clamp down on it I think, enough is enough
Sadly the people who’ve polluted the rivers and camels are above prosecution. Seems all a bit too convenient that the woodlands are burning and the fish are dying, chickens have bird flu, cows fart too much JUST after the climate lot have met for a conference and want us to eat bugs! We can see through it but that doesn’t matter to them, it’s the teens who swallow this up without question, that’s their intended target.
The oily residue on the surface is a phenomena known as biofilm and it basically occurs when algae and other life (fish/bugs etc.) are dying faster than the resident bacteria can process them, the film is just dead algae waiting to be processed. The dead fish you are seeing are likely to be the ones that sank initially when they succumbed to the lack of oxygen but have since floated back up as they internally decomposed. These deoxygenation events tend to be sudden but relatively short lived, almost everything dies within a few hours but within a few days the oxygen levels start to recover and anything that survived can get back on with its life unless secondary effects such as lack of food lead to their demise
That is both so interesting and upsetting 😳
Well said sir
How very upsetting. I'm glad there's people commenting who understand the mechanisms by which this is all happening though. Thanks for the comment
Thanks for keeping us updated. Glad the EA and canal river trust have done something to rescue the remaining fish. Hope they throw the book at whoever is responsible. Your exposure of this tragedy has certainly done a lot mobilise the authorities into doing something about it. So many people think angling is a blood sport they don’t realise how much we care for the life that we should be protecting in our waterways. Tight lines and all the best.
Great comment!
I really hope so. Thanks for the comment and the support Morgan it's much appreciated
A difficult video to watch and shoot I’m sure George. Well done for exposing this and hopefully at minimum, a crippling fine for the perpetrator of this. The fact this is a repeat offence makes me fume. Thanks for keeping people informed and doing yur part. 👍
Thanks Ian, I really hope there's justice too. Communication back from the EA has been next to non-existent unfortunately 😔
Thanks for your reporting on this issue George. I have spent many happy hours dog walking and fishing around the canal there, such a shame. Keep up the excellent work and the many quality videos, much appreciated.
Thanks paul I appreciate the support!
I live in Staffordshire and my local canal the Trent and Mersey was polluted about 20 years ago, found out it was a cyanide leak from an industrial estate. It completely wiped out everything on a 20 mile stretch, I remember the stench of rotting fish it certainly wasn’t pleasant. There was pike up to around 20/25lb found dead along with carp of the same size.
All these years later it’s only just starting to recover and there are some beauties in the canal now.
The company where this leak was traced back too was only fined £10k which is disgusting, even back then it’s shit.
That’s gutting mate I’m really sorry to hear it. Really heartbreaking. In this day and age it really needs to be clamped down on or there’s going to be nothing left for the next generations
It is an underlying problem inherent to drainage. All liquids behave as water and flow down through the system. Obvious I know, but it means that the only solution is good handling practice for liquids and prevention of ingress to water courses. In other words companies need to spend money to prevent this. They will not. Government will not force them. It has gone on like this for years. A big part of the problems on UK rivers is road salt and general road drainage which is actually very bad for the environment and basically is just drained from the road network into the river system, or in some cases lakes. The metals in that, particularly copper that is contained in brake dust, basically destroys the food web starting from the very bottom. Then large doses of salt through winter. Sad situation.
@@adventurefishinguk couldn’t agree more
Exactly what happened 30 odd years ago on the Rochdale canal, cyanide was leaked into the canal. It took years to get back to normal, very sad.
I live just off the River Trent and used to regularly just tip trash into it following house parties. One day I saw a Swan with a strongbow can stuck in its wing so I've since stopped and now massively into conservation campaigning. We all live and learn 🙌
Those bags of fish is disgusting mate, no fish deserves to end up like that, I'm shocked, I really hope that the person responsible gets caught and charged with this offence but I'm not confident that they will, any comments from the EA or Angling Trust at all mate, you've done a great job of highlighting this issue 👍
Really heartbreaking isnt it 😔 whoever is responsible better be held accountible. Thanks for the support
Thanks for the update George,sad to see all those dead fish
No problem Alan, thanks for the support
Thanks for the update 👍absolutely shocking to see this, the person or person’s responsible for this shouldn’t be just hit with hefty fines in my opinion! You can guarantee any fine given will be less than what it would of cost to dispose of there waist properly in the first place. I sincerely hope as well as big big fines they serve some prison time for the deliberate slaughter of all the wild life involved. So sad and easily avoidable, this breaks my heart. Fingers crossed they make an example for once 🤞keep us posted and well done for getting this out there 👍👍🎣
No problem! Thanks for the support, we will have to wait for the outcome and I’ll make another video. Then we will know for sure.
I live just off the River Trent and used to regularly just tip trash into it following house parties. One day I saw a Swan with a strongbow can stuck in its wing so I've since stopped and now massively into conservation campaigning. We are live and learn 🙌
When you get a heavy downpour it washes the effluent off the fields into the water, unless you stop spreading slurry close to water there'll always be a high risk of this. I had something similar happen to a 50 acre Lough beside me, thousands of bream died.
Very true! I believe safety mesuares can be put in place though like drainage ditches and good weather forecasting. I may be wrong! Unacceptable either way
Well done George sharing this information and letting everyone know what’s going on. I’ve never witnessed anything like that myself and I know from your other videos how passionate you are about your fishing and the wildlife that surrounds it. Real Anglers do care and you are one of those. Let’s hope this time next year you will have a totally different report and let’s hope all the efforts gone into trying to put life back into the canal an ecosystem start to show real soon. All the best to you and yours buddy 👍🏽😀🎣
lovely comment 🙏🏻
@@alison8526 thank you 😀
Thanks for the kind words John, it really is heartbreaking whats happened. Hopefully whoever is responsble gets what's coming to them!
Couldn't care less about those dirty fish.
@@clegsmegson2627 "massively into conservation campaigning" are you Cleg?
Well done for highlighting this terrible environmental disaster
Thank you!
This is an absolute tragedy! Irrespective of what species of fish have been killed, it breaks my heart! It’s good to see the dead fish removed from the water and that the EA have got aeration of the water in place. What’s needed also is lots of boat movements and lock usage to pull water through the canal, maybe even fresh water diverted into the canal! I hope that whoever is responsible for the pollution, if it was wilfully done, is prosecuted to the full extent of the law!
I really hope theres a sizeable fine. Thanks for watching and thanks for the support
Im in Essex my local stretch of the river Colne was polluted by a farmer he slaughtered the river killing all the fish in my local stretch.They have re-stocked with small Dace Cub and Roach but it will never recover really.Farmers have a lot to answer to.....
Happens quite often it seems by reading these comments. It's heartbreaking
Thanks for the update George, can't wait to see the culprit pay the price for all this, but bet he gets away lightly. Shared 😎
Thanks for the support Mick and I appreciate the share!
Well done mate keep us updated 👍 unfortunately these events are often let off far too lightly, I wonder if the public interest just isn't there, if it was little cute mammals and birds then I'm sure people would react more
I agree, heartbreaking isn't it. Time things changed!
Good update, I passed the marina twice this week on Natbey crossing lane in the car and yes you could quite clearly smell the stench, it's not good, I have fished on the Lankey canal since the late 70s and to be honest the last 20yrs has been the best fishing on there I have seen, with the last 5 yrs being the best, this is a real tragedy that this episode has happened and I for one would like to see a real positive outcome from this with fish re stocked and all paid for by the guilty party , that's if the water environment will sustain a re stocking, probably not for several years yet !!
It's a massive shame isn't it. The Lancaster cansal is becoming a very prolific fishery, won't be for long though if this keeps happening
Well put together George,we ended up staying there,I cannot believe how bad it is,the water is so black it looks eerie.
Thanks James. Hope you enjoyed your trip nonetheless! It was hard to capture on film how black it was, tough to do it justice but it’s quite extreme isn’t it
@@adventurefishinguk Cheers mate had a great time at the marina but gutted I had to travel north to fish,yes it is shocking how bad it is ,pure negligence 👍🏼We have took some pictures but dont know if they show it yet,will put them on fb this weekend 👍🏼
Really sad to see this happening, thanks for highlighting the problem. There is lots of insidious degrading of all our water courses, both canals and rivers, caused by diffuse pollution from farming and water company discharges. It is affecting most of the country. The EA are seriously underfunded and without any teeth to tackle the problems. We need to highlight this with our MPs and deny them our vote until they have a concrete proposal for rectifying the problems.
well said 👏🏻
I agree, it's heartbreaking whats going on. If we don't see real change soon then there will be nothing left to protect
Great to see the oxygen levels coming back up. Though Is there any information on the Ammonia, and nitrite levels George?
The slurry itself would be full of Nitrates also, and possibly the above two mentioned which are deadly toxic to fish and other freshwater species.
Good job highlighting this. Thanks.
Still under investigation apparently!
Good to see the Environmental Agency responding to help the situation who ever is responsible for this will get a fine unfortunately the fines are never massive it won't make a difference to whoever is responsible,nice work George well done buddy,
Maybe once the perpetrators see the consequences of their actions so graphically then maybe this will have a greater impact than a fine? Trying to be optimistic it's so awful! If it is a repeat offender then surely a prison sentence...
@@alison8526 i agree i can't wait for the river to open on the 16th I'm lucky i fish the river wye it's a beautiful place i fish for the mighty barbel and pike barbel the best coarse fish in the uk in my opinion,i also fish for pike and zander love fishing
Thanks for the comment and the support mate, i really appreciate it. With a bit of luck there will be a sizeable fine
I am glad it's being delt with. The world is a beautiful place. Its a shame there are idiots who don't appreciate it. Excellent coverage mate. Well done.
Well said buddy
Thanks mate I appreciate the support! I’m really glad to hear progress too
Saddening this makes my blood boil i hope this is not just swept under the rug.
Me too Dave i really hope we get justice
Well done documenting this tragic event. I will await your final report . Many thanks .atb
Thanks for the support mate I appreciate it!
Well done for exposing this. This should not be happening in this day and age .I hope the full weight of the law comes down on the culprit .Keep up the good work.
Law in the UK is a complete mess though. Limit your expectations accordingly. Flip that coin though.
I agree, unfortunately the law isn't really on the side of the environment as much as it could be
@@adventurefishinguk No it actually is. The laws are there. I want to share something as I saw it at the time. The Somerset levels flood 2013 2014. That flood was caused by sabotage of a sluice. They guy was convicted of doing it. However the media spent almost two years waging a campaign on behalf of "locals" who insisted it was about drainage not being dredged. This was used to replace the anti fracking director of the EA with a more fracking friendly leader. The fracking industry was then free to do what they wanted in effect as the existing regulation would not be enforced. Honestly I feel that if the EA is not "allowed" to pursue something, then chances of action are slim. I am quite old I have seen a lot in this field. I think probably the best leverage to force anything is angling clubs, usually a group of hundreds of people who have a leadership structure and a feel protective about water ways. Plus we all pay the EA/NRW individually. Other waterways users do not. It is pretty much on us.
Can’t see a part 3, any news on the court case ?
Well done to you for your efforts 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Still under investigation apparently!
Thanks for the updates.
No problem, thanks for watching
Thanks for letting people know what is happening.
Trying my best to ensure this isn't just swept under the rug!
Living next to the water for many years I would say that pike are very susceptible to storms, every time we have a thunder storm pike die for no reason in clean water when I see no other dead fish. I live in the Netherlands and literally 5 meters from an intricate inland water way system (actually from my house you can navigate on salt free water to the Black sea avoiding the North sea, the English channel, the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea)
At my last house also in the Netherlands I has around 60 meters of good fishing along 2 sides of my garden there were many species Carp bream tench roach dace eels all to good weights, but one day there was a problem that resulted in effluent pollution of the stretch by my house - the pike died first, but then in stages all the other fish, they were loading many large wheelie bins with the dead fish from just my small stretch. Simply all the fish in the water died and after a few weeks due to the "nutrients" in the water we got an infestation of chick weed, that simply choked any other life in the water - the surface was completely covered as far as I could see. Trying to get someone to be held responsible - was a nightmare. Eventually the chick weed was so thick that it began to rot and the smell was atrocious . In the end I moved house but my house was devalued due to the state of the water
That's a real shame mate it's heartbreaking when things like that happened. Sounds like a really nice place to have lived though in its prime with some good fishing!
Good to see an update glad to see its improving slightly. Hope there is a massive fine as a minimum for this so it stops it happening again.
Thanks mate, I really hope so too
Well done exposing this atrocity George. I'm so angry and sad in equal measure I don't quite know how to react other than to hope that justice prevails.
Thank you! I really hope we get some justice too!
happened on Leigh stretch of Leeds/Liverpool few years back.Decimated the place but its holding more fish now than it originally did!
Glad it's recovered!
just out of curiosity where do the boat house toilets go to?
I think they have a seperate toilet block
Well done, great that your being pro-active. Keep on it, hopefully some good news for the future of that venue. Be years before I'd want to spend money and time going there. Sad for the locals and club anglers
Thanks mate, really trying my best to have some sort of impact
Yes lad,, keep er lit and keep up the good work. Keep in the ears of the authorities and obviously use your video footage as evidence in court if it goes that far. The more pressure you put on them the more likely they are to actually get it into court. You'll have probably been in contact with the EA so keep at them as I'm guessing it definitely not went to court yet. Slow process as always.
Tight lines lad 😎🎣🎣
Still under investigation apparently! Thanks for watching
Hats of to you , it's great to see someone taking a stand , keep it up.
Thanks mate I appreciate that!
Well done lad.me and my wife just watched this.what a good lad you are.so glad to see a young man,playing detective, activist....and giving a shit.ypu really are a good man.very impressed mate,you have restored my faith in humanity. Keep it up,keep fighting for anglers,and wildlife. Bravo young fella!!!!
What a lovely comment ❤
@@alison8526 thankyou.im 54,and feel so frustrated with the world...and the younger generation. I was wrong,and feel good that I was.whoever the lad in the video is,what a morally great person he will go on to be.perhaps...he's the man I used to be a long time ago....
@@younowhythatis6381 Thank you for sharing....I'm so proud to say that George is my son 😊
@@alison8526 are you bieng serious?and I ask that with absolute respect.
@@younowhythatis6381 Yes he's my son - he has always loved fish and fishing from being a toddler - he spent many an hour fishing with his Dad who sadly died when George was just 18 - nearly five years ago - and also with my Dad who died 18 months ago both of them would be equally as proud now to see how George is flying the family fishing flag!
Gutting to see mate but you are clearly making a diffrance keep at it! We need more people like you doing this.
I really hope so! Thanks for the support mate, I appreciate it!
That thing at 4:30 looks alot like what I ment in a comment last time🤔 pretty nice and I hope this water becomes healthy very fast
I hope so too mate thanks for watching and ther support!
Sick of these farmers polluting all the waterways. Well done mate for highlighting it. I was just having a convo the other day about how, as kids, we used to catch sticklebacks and bullheads in the small streams but now there are no fish due to pollutants run off from the fields (mostly). These pesticides have a lot to answer for I am sure but I am no expert on the matter.
Horrible to see isn't it, 9 months on and it's still under investigation apparently!
@@adventurefishinguk No surprises there, out of touch Government and council, all about contacts and contracts
was there another follow up after this please?
Still under investigation apparently!
im from northern ireland and i know the fines here for farmers polluting riverways are pathetic,hope your more severe in england,good luck with the channel.
Still under investigation apparently!
Find the culprit first, Take them to court & if found guilty send them to prison for whatever is deemed necessary, years, not months.
However, this may just be a case of whatever has been sprayed onto the fields being washed into the canal & I doubt that there is anyway of stopping that.
Good job that you have done on this, please keep us all upto date. Thanks.
Thanks for the comment Barry I appreciate the support, hopefully i'll have better news next time
Great work mate hopefully they come down on the culprits hard. And any money from fines goes back into regenerating this stretch if water. 👍🏻
I hope so too!
Fantastic work , thankyou mate
Thanks for the support Peter it's much appreciated!
Has the Angling Trust got involved, they seem to get good results when they take polluters to court
I've not heard just yet but I will chase it up
Thanks for the update and top man for getting to the bottom of what is everybody's problem.
Still under investigation apparently!
It’s a lot better than the previous video they took out a lot of the dead fish out and got a good few aerators in too help the situation the oil slicks is abit alarming tho
But deffo should keep updated with further progression hopefully a big fine and a Fish restock too help the fish ecosystem out
I really hope there's a big fine too. It's about time a harder stance was taken on this
Same thing is happening in the West Midlands saw a beautiful sized bream the other day sad to see it dead
Terrible to hear Jamie 😔
Good video sir its not just the fishing people don't understand how much most of us care about the environment aswell as the fishing it anglers that report most problems and our money pays for the upkeep of footpaths and other areas
well said!
Very true, we don't get the credit we deserve!
This is pretty sick. Kinda strange boat owners are not upset. Perhaps they are.
I was wondering about that too....
I think they are really upset mate the smell is awful
Stuff like this is the reason why I’ve studied Fishery management and currently Marine biology. It’s a great shame to see such loss. This will take a long time (possibly years) to fully recover. At my old college the farm slurry killed off fish in one of the ponds we were doing research on. The EA and Canal and River Trust need more government funding so they can hire more staff to help these on going battles, it’s ridiculous. The UK has one of the lowest biodiversity rates in the world, and this is one of the reasons why 💔
Horrible to see isn't it, 9 months on and it's still under investigation apparently!
@@adventurefishinguk that’s disgusting, thanks for letting me know.
Would they have done anything about this if you hadn't publicized it? What do you think?
I think so mate but a lot of people commenting don’t
Damn thats terrible. The blackness is what kills everything.
We had a dead river after a massive flood.
The water had 0% oxygen for 3 straight weeks, so everything was dead...from micro organisms till 2m big catfish.
It broke my heart. That takes around 30-40j to get to the same level
It's really heartbreaking isn't it!
@@adventurefishinguk and nothing you can do... that is the worst part of it all... if i could do anything i would have done it
I'd like to know what can be put in place to prevent it from ever happening again.
Don't get me wrong, those responsible have to be penalised, but that's irrelevant if this can happen again.
I'll definitely keep up to date with this.
Regulations must be enforced even if it means random audits of farmers using slurry. I only have one neighbour; until recently, that was a responsible farmer, more or less- he also happened to be the county warden. One year ago he sold his quota and moved to another farm he owns. The new neighbour is a city slicker who fancied themselves a horse rescuer. She was piling her manure over her well. I informed her that was not appropriate, legal, safe, healthy, or neighbourly. she ignored me and continued. I called the appropriate Ministry to report the issue and they tried to convince me it was not an issue; I recited the extant law, the regulations and the dangers as well as the fact I was monitoring my well and any fecal coliforms discovered would result in a law suit, onlt then did that government flake address the issue.
I'd like to know too. I think for one thing, the minimum fine needs to be drastically increased for environmental damage like this and if it's big enough it should be enough of a disincentive to at least reduce it happening in the future
Has the rest of canal been spared this terrible event?
Fortunately north of Lancaster it’s fine. Everywhere south though is at risk and it’s spreading down the canal still
@@adventurefishinguk thats terrible all these fish so sad
Have the same problem in Sydney. Waste run off and effluent enter the system and cause quite intense fish kills. We had heavy rains last summer, and there were multiple events. Some seemed like bad luck, others unfortunately bore all the hallmarks of someone dumping waste fluids on an industrial scale, presumably using the flooding as camouflage.
Horrible to hear, this one is Still under investigation apparently!
Same thing happened in the nene about 30 years ago in Northamptonshire....I saw potentially record fish floating down through Wellingborough.......a certain beer company dumped a load of chemicals and killed everything. ...they were held responsible and fined...that stretch of water hasn't been the same since then
That's a real shame, do you know how much they were fined?
@@adventurefishinguk I'm not sure but it wasn't enough 😕 by the way they probably don't make the world's best lager.....that companies fine probably hardly dented their profits for the year. I had my first wild river carp on the stretch nr Whitworths Mill and that was it.....I was down there all the time stalking them and pulling a few out
@@shaynefrancis5318 terrible isn’t it!
@@adventurefishinguk yep and their beers crap as well 🤣🤣
@@adventurefishinguk I just been watching you doing a spot of pollack fishing
I am currently reading George Monbiots latest book called Regenesis and his view is the EPA never prosecute these slurry pollution spills, they just send a letter. However, you do have evidence of fish deaths so that should help. Despite increasing funding of the EPA, this is nearly all for flood defenses. That part of the EPA dealing with river pollution has been cut to the bone to the point where they are useless.
Horrible to see isn't it, 9 months on and it's still under investigation apparently!
Thanks for the update.I hope those responsible get their cumuppence.
I hope so too 👍
@@adventurefishinguk I'd make em swim the full length of the canal
And the Government talks about the Environment, FFS 😤
I know! Actions speak louder than words
Very sad but nice to see that there's people who realy care about these regular pollution spills and show it to others aswell
Horrible to see isn't it, 9 months on and it's still under investigation apparently!
I live on the Mon and Brecon canal, over the past 2 months I’ve seen hundreds of dead fish, dead birds and even rabbits/hares floating. Stories from Poland this week saying hundreds of thousands of dead fish washing up from River Oder. What’s going on ?
Horrible to see isn't it, 9 months on and it's still under investigation apparently!
Whoever has done this should be slapped with a hefty fine. ✌🏼
I couldn’t agree more!
The problem is that magistrates do not understand the severity of the impact. The EA can get all the evidence and take the polluter to court, but they don't set the fines. They are set quite often by people who have never fished or never even seen this type of crime, so have no context in which to set the punishment.
Keep up the good work
Thanks Peter i appreciate that!
Thats not the first time in that area its been polluted. I think its the area where the chequred flag pub is as its been hit there a number of times over the 50 years iv been fishing. Another area of the canal is the glasson dock arm there used to be really good catches of bream and roach years ago.
I've heard it's happened about 3 times in the last 10 years. Really heartbreaking isn't it
Slurry like decaying fish will produce ammonia which will burn the fishes gills reducing their ability to use the very limited oxygen in the water , Lack of oxygen will also kill off the nitrifying bacteria which rely on it , the pumps increasing the oxygen will also help nitrifying bacteria to multiply so they can convert the ammonia into nitrites and the bacteria into nitrate which is virtually harmless to the fish but this all does take time . Good video.
Still under investigation apparently!
Take it further .Fish Legal,the Law side of Angling trust will look at prosecution AND compensation
I believe the environment agency are prosecuting. I’m not sure if fish legal can too if they already have. What do you think?
Around about 10 years ago I had worked along side the EA at a lake on the Luton hoo grounds where the river lea runs in to the lake and has a weir pool the other end. Some take aways in Luton Town centre we're throwing cooking oil/sewage into the river which made its way to the lake. They had 15 aerators to help put oxygen into the water. In the end peroxide was poured into the lake which really boosted the oxygen. This took over 2 weeks just to make the lake safe for fish. There were 100s of dead fish and some sizeable carp. Such devastation and should never happen we need to look after our wildlife.
We absolutely need to do more!
The black water might be caused by the extra water agitation lifting silt off the bottom.
Could be!
did the rivers agency get involved
The EA have been yes, not sure about the CRT
The wyre is also another area of pollution its has been polluted quite a few times from farm slurry over the years
That's upsetting to hear, I fish the wyre quite a lot. What a shame
EA are toothless. Good luck and I hope any fine goes back into that canal 👍
Thank you, i really hope so too
Keep seeing reports of 100 or more fish...
Which sounds like it's being belittled. It looks like a majority of the life cycle in the canal has been wiped out, but the toothless authorities may have little power to whack this careless farmer where it hurts. Three incidents in only several years shows the culprit couldn't care less about the results of his actions. Other businesses affected by incidents like this should carry more clout than individual outcries.
The bill for restocking the canal should be sent to the culprit.
It's infuriating. Lancashire telegraph reported "a small number of dead fish", while the BBC said "dozens of dead fish". both huge understatements
There are so many boats that it would be hard to get alot of natural surface agitation from the wind.
At least they got the pumps in 👍
what happened? silage?
Still under investigation apparently!
Can't believe this..just come across this channel..saw this.I'm a fisherman and it breaks my heart to see this..wtf is happening about this..I hope they prosecute the people responsible.
Still under investigation apparently!
That's some improvement at least. The punnishment needs to be very severe to stop the culprit doing it again!
Couldn't agree more!
We suffered the same problem in Northern Ireland the farmer let the slurry go killing all the fish and devastating the river for up to 10 years and yes he only got a slap on the wrist
That sounds really heartbreaking. Things need to change!
Well done 👏
Thanks mate!
Is slurry manure? Manure running off into the water depleting oxygen? Or is it chemical? In USA slurry is cattle or chicken manure spread on pasture as fertilizer.
Yes i believe it is, containing a nitrate that takes oxygen from water. From a dairy farm allegedly
Great reporting, keep it up please.
Doing my best mate thanks for the support!
Once the water result are back to normal …. Start a go fund me, George …. for an amount enough to restock with a few thousand baby fish, the same as the ones that have been lost. Pike, Carp, Bream, etc etc ….. baby fish are pretty cheap in large numbers.
Or is that someone that the canal trust will do ?
That's a great idea mate. I may just do that thanks for the suggestion!
Very very sad , human’s will never learn . 😡
Real shame isn't it. it's time things changed
Thanks for the update 👍.. was watching something on a drug bust of all things where it was a an outbuilding close to a waterway that was being used to make amphetamine, barrels & barrels of acids etc & it was reported that some of this stuff was finding it's way into the water !!Just a thought 🤔.
Thanks for watching! No doubt that happens in some cases yes but i believe the water samples outlined slurry from a farm as being the cause
Sadly over fishing has depleted the amount of fish,so something like this decimates what's left
Maybe in the sea but fishing in the canal is in a really good position in general. Anglers get too much stick I think when in reality it’s pollution decimating fish stocks. Aside from commercial fishing which doesn’t tend to happen much in freshwater in the UK
Well I hope whatever English authority who is looking into enviromental pollutiont puts a darn site more effort in than the NRW (Natural Resources Wales) when they supposedly investegated numerous river pollution incidents mostly due to farm slurry and Welsh Water sewage discharge. There's been just a mere handful of prosecutions. Makes one wonder why these bodies exist....absolutely bloody disgraceful!!
I hope so too. FIngers crossed it isn't just forgotten about
forget farmers, go after companies that make the chemical.
The government forces farmers to grow authorized crops that need authorized chemicals and the government will shut down any farmers who do not comply.
go after chemical companies and government.
What chemical is that? I have read that the gov is paying farmers to retire/stop growing food....I don't understand but every time I research something like this, the road leads to either one of the top venture capitalists and/or b!ll g4ates at some point every single time!
I think that could be a bit above my pay grade, but let's see what the outcome of the prosecution is and we will go from there
The water was grey in the water pump
Yes it looked awful didn't it 😕
Terrible isn’t it!
Be interesting to visit again and see if the fish population has increased since?
Planning a trip back there soon mate!
That farmer needs to pay for new fish and jailed
Substantial fines are needed in my opinion
I'm wondering if it is good news that there is hardly any dead fish now . Could it be because there is no fish or hardly any fish left ?
All the dead fish had been taken out unfortunately, wont be many left
Like all the privatisations in the UK, total disaster for the users of Rivers and Canals, they are clueless.
Heartbreaking isn't it!
Missed a healthy turtle at 1:44
Not much looked healthy in that canal mate but I didn’t notice a turtle at the time!
The fines are never severe enough. If there was a substantial life-changing penalty for crimes like this they would significantly reduce in prevalence.
Couldn't agree more
its a hard timer for the farmers right now, if this is just an error on their part, id be harsh to fine them, if they did it to "Cheap out" on a waste removal method, then yea, fine them
Quite a big error