Thousands of fish thought killed by pollution

Thousands of fish are thought to have been killed by pollution in a Cornish river, according to officials.

The Environment Agency said it received reports at 17:45 BST on Thursday of the incident in St Austell River, known locally as the White River.

Steve Marks, the agency's area district manager, said 173 dead fish including trout, eels and brook lamprey had been counted in the river stretching from St Austell down to the coast at Pentewan, but "we sadly think there have been thousands of fish killed".

He said a "robust" investigation was taking place and action would be taken against the polluter which had been identified.

Mr Marks told BBC Radio Cornwall water samples confirmed pollutants had "sufficiently diluted and washed away".

While the source of the pollution had been identified and stopped, he declined to specify whether it was industrial or agricultural, citing legal sensitivities.

"I don't want to prejudice that follow-up regulation activity, but I can reassure people that it has been stopped," he said.

"We will be undertaking a very robust investigation.

"We will hold polluters to account where they impact the environment."

South West Water said: "We are aware of the reports and we are supporting the Environment Agency with its investigation."

Cornwall councillor for the area, James Mustoe, said: "It's the worst I've ever seen.

"You occasionally see one or two dead fish, but they're just everywhere, all the way down the sides of the bank going out to sea. It's really terrible.

"We've done a lot of work over the last eight or nine years in improving the White River area, and we've seen an increase in wildlife.

"It's also really popular trail down to Pentewan from St Austell that's used by locals and visitors."

The environmental impact had gone beyond visible damage, said Mr Marks.

"There's likely to be impacts to the small invertebrates and things we can't see," he said.

The Environment Agency had classified the incident as "high category".

"It is rare to have this number of fish killed, that's why the job of the Environment Agency is so important," he said.

"We've got six people on site right now working their socks off to make sure we realluy understand what has happened here and to prevent it happening again."

The EA earlier lifted a no swim notice at Pentewan beach, saying there were no longer any concerns about the water quality.

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