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I have out this on the Teifi thread as a reply, but worth putting this here in the open forum section where non-members can view it too.
Dear all,
a truly sad, sickening and heart-breaking event.
I saw the pollution hit the river on Sunday in the Maesycrugiau area - it was so thick that it honestly looked like it was coming in just above. (you may have seen the video I posted reflecting this). After walking upstream for a while it was evident that it was higher up, but upon reporting the event to NRW I was amazed to hear that it was some 20 miles upriver! That's when it really dawned how much of a disaster this really was, because I could only imagine how thick it was at source if what I was seeing downriver was after dilution with numerous tributaries.
Early Monday morning I went to the site to witness the event for myself. I called in at different intervals from Llanybydder bridge up to see where fish kills would first be noticed. From there up I called in at LlAA beat 2 in Cellan, then further up on every bridge I could access. It was not until I got to the Llanfair Clydogau area that I found mass deaths. It was horrific and deeply disturbing. A terrible thing to witness but also a really important thing to witness; you always think it will happen on someone else's river...
Salmon, sewin, brown trout - everything from one inch to salmon in the teens. Dead. It took no prisoners.
I made an effort to spend the day there as it was important to collect as much material as I could; images and video, as rain was forecast for the Monday night, which may have wiped away a lot of the evidence. I walked several miles of the river and will gladly and confidently report that thousands have died due to this event. Also, you are talking about an area of at least 6 miles; I guesstimated 7-8.
At the source; it was not difficult to find, sadly. The little stream was literally 1-2ft wide, yet had a 'tide-line' of effluent 4-5ft up the bank - it must have literally hit like a tsunami. The sad thing is that the Teifi is peculiar in its nature; it is more like a lowland stream in the upper reaches, before it reaches a steeper gradient lower down. As such, the effluent would have slowly meandered through these reaches, rather than flushing through.
Source; it is from a farm in the Tregaron area. The incident took place on Friday night / Saturday morning. I won't go into too much detail (as this may jeopardise the case being built against the perpetrators), but I did meet the neighbouring farmer and was allowed access very close to the site to get images, video etc. and, again, what I witnessed was disturbing to say the least. On that I must note how sad and appalled the neighbouring farmer was - I was further saddened that he would be branded with the same brush as the idiot/s that caused this event. Not all farmers are the same and some really are true custodians of the countryside.
Fish kills; from Pont Llanio bridge (where you may recall Moc Morgan's memorial stone being erected back in the summer) you could easily count 100+ fish by walking around 100 metres up from the bridge, which included a cracking brown trout of nearly 3lbs. As such, extrapolate that over the distance involved and you can see how you easily reach the 'thousands' figure. Indeed, I walked a good mile downstream from here, which is where I found some of the salmon you have seen photographed in the papers etc.
Eggs and redds; sad to say, but the prognosis is not good - they would almost certainly have perished due to the oxygen deprivation but also the poisoning sediment left behind. This is truly tragic, especially when viewed in correlation with the juvenile count report released a few weeks ago.
The future; what I must stress is that local angling clubs (or those that actually care about the welfare and future of the river, which I believe is pretty evident now given recent threads on this forum pertaining to this) need your support more than ever. We need your membership to stay alive, it really is that simple. We also need you to visit, as the rural communities WILL suffer as a result of this, of that I have absolutely no doubt. Indeed, people have asked how they can help and this really is the most positive way you can help see us through this difficult time. Those clubs that are still looking to rape and abuse the river and continue to see it as a resource to be exploited; well, quite frankly, let them suffer the same demise as the fish I witnessed near Tregaron as they have no place on our river. We are custodians not abusers.
The fishing; this will affect us all, no matter what part of the Teifi we call home and fish. The salmon and sea trout that were killed travelled through our waters. However, as the fish kill was confined to the 6-8 mile section near Tregaron and seeing as invertebrate life on the sections I checked downriver look to be intact I would hazard a guess that from Lampeter Bridge downriver should be fairly healthy. As such, it will not be a river devoid of life and not worth visiting. Thankfully a lot of life downriver would have been stored in our tributaries at this time, which, again, would have avoided this pollution. Tregaron Angling would have been worst hit, of course. However, they have wonderful fishing on Teifi Pools and also some fishing above the pollution point, so please do visit them and please do show them your support - a day on Teifi Pools should be on everyone's agenda and if you haven't been there before then you are missing out.
What's happening now? Thankfully the amount of press this has received will make it almost impossible for it to be brushed under the carpet - the public awareness has been fantastic and communities are appalled and are furious - rightly so. It is currently in the hands of NRW and they are building a case against the perpetrators. Beyond that, I have spoken with Angling Trust, Fish Legal, Countryside Alliance, Afonydd Cymru etc. and everyone is acting in our best interests and doing what they can. I have also supplied images and details to numerous papers and sources, along with contacting and chatting with the BBC and Iolo Williams in the first place to raise awareness of the issue and incident. Nothing can be done about this specific incident, but we now have an opportunity of making sure it does not happen again - be it on the Teifi or anywhere else across the UK. Trust me, it can happen on your river.
Anyway, I hope this provides some solid feedback on the event, where we stand and where the future may take us. However, if there is something specific I may have overlooked please let me know and I will answer as best I can.
I would wish you a Merry Christmas, but not too impressed with the present we have received in this instance...
TT.
Dear all,
a truly sad, sickening and heart-breaking event.
I saw the pollution hit the river on Sunday in the Maesycrugiau area - it was so thick that it honestly looked like it was coming in just above. (you may have seen the video I posted reflecting this). After walking upstream for a while it was evident that it was higher up, but upon reporting the event to NRW I was amazed to hear that it was some 20 miles upriver! That's when it really dawned how much of a disaster this really was, because I could only imagine how thick it was at source if what I was seeing downriver was after dilution with numerous tributaries.
Early Monday morning I went to the site to witness the event for myself. I called in at different intervals from Llanybydder bridge up to see where fish kills would first be noticed. From there up I called in at LlAA beat 2 in Cellan, then further up on every bridge I could access. It was not until I got to the Llanfair Clydogau area that I found mass deaths. It was horrific and deeply disturbing. A terrible thing to witness but also a really important thing to witness; you always think it will happen on someone else's river...
Salmon, sewin, brown trout - everything from one inch to salmon in the teens. Dead. It took no prisoners.
I made an effort to spend the day there as it was important to collect as much material as I could; images and video, as rain was forecast for the Monday night, which may have wiped away a lot of the evidence. I walked several miles of the river and will gladly and confidently report that thousands have died due to this event. Also, you are talking about an area of at least 6 miles; I guesstimated 7-8.
At the source; it was not difficult to find, sadly. The little stream was literally 1-2ft wide, yet had a 'tide-line' of effluent 4-5ft up the bank - it must have literally hit like a tsunami. The sad thing is that the Teifi is peculiar in its nature; it is more like a lowland stream in the upper reaches, before it reaches a steeper gradient lower down. As such, the effluent would have slowly meandered through these reaches, rather than flushing through.
Source; it is from a farm in the Tregaron area. The incident took place on Friday night / Saturday morning. I won't go into too much detail (as this may jeopardise the case being built against the perpetrators), but I did meet the neighbouring farmer and was allowed access very close to the site to get images, video etc. and, again, what I witnessed was disturbing to say the least. On that I must note how sad and appalled the neighbouring farmer was - I was further saddened that he would be branded with the same brush as the idiot/s that caused this event. Not all farmers are the same and some really are true custodians of the countryside.
Fish kills; from Pont Llanio bridge (where you may recall Moc Morgan's memorial stone being erected back in the summer) you could easily count 100+ fish by walking around 100 metres up from the bridge, which included a cracking brown trout of nearly 3lbs. As such, extrapolate that over the distance involved and you can see how you easily reach the 'thousands' figure. Indeed, I walked a good mile downstream from here, which is where I found some of the salmon you have seen photographed in the papers etc.
Eggs and redds; sad to say, but the prognosis is not good - they would almost certainly have perished due to the oxygen deprivation but also the poisoning sediment left behind. This is truly tragic, especially when viewed in correlation with the juvenile count report released a few weeks ago.
The future; what I must stress is that local angling clubs (or those that actually care about the welfare and future of the river, which I believe is pretty evident now given recent threads on this forum pertaining to this) need your support more than ever. We need your membership to stay alive, it really is that simple. We also need you to visit, as the rural communities WILL suffer as a result of this, of that I have absolutely no doubt. Indeed, people have asked how they can help and this really is the most positive way you can help see us through this difficult time. Those clubs that are still looking to rape and abuse the river and continue to see it as a resource to be exploited; well, quite frankly, let them suffer the same demise as the fish I witnessed near Tregaron as they have no place on our river. We are custodians not abusers.
The fishing; this will affect us all, no matter what part of the Teifi we call home and fish. The salmon and sea trout that were killed travelled through our waters. However, as the fish kill was confined to the 6-8 mile section near Tregaron and seeing as invertebrate life on the sections I checked downriver look to be intact I would hazard a guess that from Lampeter Bridge downriver should be fairly healthy. As such, it will not be a river devoid of life and not worth visiting. Thankfully a lot of life downriver would have been stored in our tributaries at this time, which, again, would have avoided this pollution. Tregaron Angling would have been worst hit, of course. However, they have wonderful fishing on Teifi Pools and also some fishing above the pollution point, so please do visit them and please do show them your support - a day on Teifi Pools should be on everyone's agenda and if you haven't been there before then you are missing out.
What's happening now? Thankfully the amount of press this has received will make it almost impossible for it to be brushed under the carpet - the public awareness has been fantastic and communities are appalled and are furious - rightly so. It is currently in the hands of NRW and they are building a case against the perpetrators. Beyond that, I have spoken with Angling Trust, Fish Legal, Countryside Alliance, Afonydd Cymru etc. and everyone is acting in our best interests and doing what they can. I have also supplied images and details to numerous papers and sources, along with contacting and chatting with the BBC and Iolo Williams in the first place to raise awareness of the issue and incident. Nothing can be done about this specific incident, but we now have an opportunity of making sure it does not happen again - be it on the Teifi or anywhere else across the UK. Trust me, it can happen on your river.
Anyway, I hope this provides some solid feedback on the event, where we stand and where the future may take us. However, if there is something specific I may have overlooked please let me know and I will answer as best I can.
I would wish you a Merry Christmas, but not too impressed with the present we have received in this instance...
TT.
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