Fish Rescued from Pond
11 July 2011 by Paul Rhoades
Earlier today, following great anticipation from Anglers and local residents alike, two contractors working on behalf of the Environment Agency turned up at the leaking Concrete Pond off Olive Drive in Ashby to begin the evacuation.
Regular readers will be aware of the level of interest in this story as news started breaking over a week ago when local residents concerned about the swiftly dropping water levels rang the Environment Agency. Several people have got in touch with us and expressed their concern over the lack of action by the authorities to do something about this. By Tuesday of last week it had become clear that there was a very serious problem as dozens of fish had started to wash up dead.
Finally, on Wednesday the authorities responded, promising to clear the pond of fish on the Friday, and dispatching the local Fire Brigade to the pond to top up the water level's in order to keep the remaining fish alive.
The fire brigade began pumping water from the beck in the afternoon, and continued to do so through out Thursday. By the time they had finished, water levels were significantly higher, and the fish faced at least a temporary reprieve.
There have been several theories as to why the water level fell so rapidly, some people suggested that it
was due to hot weather and lack of rain, some that the concrete structure had finally fractured while others claimed that it was due to the feed to the pond being cut off by the nearby housing development.
Clarity was also sought from the council (who own the pond) as to what the future of the site may be. It was revealed on Visit Scunthorpe that the area of land where the pond is, has been included on the Local Development Framework for redevelopment for new housing.
We received an email from a source at the council which disputes there being a drainage feed in to the pond, and reads
"The concrete pond is man made not natural, is not part of any drainage system & will always be affected by adverse weather .I am also surprised that the concrete has withstood the elements as long as it has and in my view its only a matter of time before it fails structurally.Fishing is catered for in the big lake."
The email also goes on to conclude that the future existence of the concrete pond may well be short lived:
"It was confirmed that the site should go forward for development which would of course necessitate the removal of the pond."
However - A word of caution, as far as the LDF goes, this is a forward plan which earmarks housing availability for the next 25 years. The Evening Telegraph embarrassed them selves greatly just before the election claiming the council was going to eminently build on playing fields at Quibel park, as land there was highlighted as being of possible future use for housing.
At present we are un aware of any plans in the short term to remove the pond, however recent events may speed this idea up.
Having said that, there are lots of suggestions from other areas both in the council and also the Environment Agency that the pond should be repaired and restocked. The council's view seems to be that "fishing is catered for in the large lake", this view gives little consideration to the dwindling number of open green spaces allowing people other than anglers to enjoy just the simple site of a small pond with some birds on it.
Today however thankfully, the E A arrived and began taking out the fish.
The Environment agency sent two contractors to the site armed with a small boat, a large net and some "Electo Fishing" equipment. The agents carrying out the work claimed that around 95% of the fish would be removed using this method, and that they would be held under quarantine at Haxy while health checks are carried out.
While emptying the pond, the contractors did notice that some of the fish were suffering from a parasite infection which can cause the fish to swim closer to the surface and be more likely to be picked off by Gulls.
The fishermen also pointed out that the roach seemed to have a vivid blue coloring on the underneath of their bellies which was probably a genetic twist specific to this particular pond.
Many thanks to Hamst and GaffyDuck for taking the time to get photos of this and to also send them in to Visit Scunthorpe allowing us to use them. Thanks also to all the other members of the public who have emailed and tweeted in with updates, and passed on information they have gained from the council and the Environment Agency.
An excellent community effort coming to the aid of some needy wild life.
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Comments
Walked my dogs last night and had a close look at the pond... The water level is nearly back at the very low level it was when i first kicked up a fuss and there is definatly one or two carp and lots of fair size silver fish still left. All clearly visible if you go look, It needs doing again very shortly to avoid more dead fish around the banks causing a stink to locals and offcourse welfare of the remaining fish.
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