CHARLIE WHELAN: Why did SEPA not act quicker after Spey dead fish alert?
I’ve waited more than 20 years to be invited to the legendary Macallan salmon beat on the River Spey and finally an old pal rang last week to see if I wanted to join him.
A few days later another friend rang to tell me that there were dozens of dead salmon and sea trout floating down the river and even more alarmingly there were reports of sick children who had been swimming in the river. Others had reported sick dogs too.
So what do you think that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency did when alerted to this problem by the Spey Fishery Board? Yes, you’ve guessed it, absolutely nothing.
First reports of dead salmon and sea trout came in the weekend before last and by the Monday the count was over 50 dead fish.
Much more worryingly there were reports of a child who went swimming in the Spey at Carron near Aberlour becoming unwell.
The Spey Fishery Board suspected a major pollution incident and so reported it to the SEPA pollution hotline on Monday 11th September.
The SEPA officer on the hotline was unaware of the protocols to be followed for such an incident and there was no one available in Elgin on the Monday to take any action.
The Spey board was eventually informed that the SEPA chemistry department had been told but were so alarmed about the inaction that they contacted all the local political leaders.
Eventually due to this political pressure SEPA acted but far too late to find the cause of the pollution.
They have issued a statement saying that they found no evidence of pollution. Now there is a surprise. If you wait days to act it’s obvious that the cause of this tragedy will have long since disappeared.
By the time I came to fish further down the river all evidence of this incident was well gone though I did see one dead fish float past me but I have to admit that was probably nothing to do with pollution, just natural causes.
Let’s all hope that our politicians sort out the shameful inactivity of our so called environment protection agency sooner rather than later.
• My spies in Insh tell me that they are not too happy with the recent release of wildcats. Apparently one of them savaged some chap’s hens and killed them.
When the wildcat people were contacted they said that it was most unlikely that the cats were to blame and it was more than likely a fox.
What they didn’t realise was the the hens owner had filmed the entire murder on his wildlife camera which showed that the cats were the guilty party.
• Last month I popped into the Nethy Bridge hotel to hear about the plans for introducing the beaver to Badenoch and Strathspey. Anglers like me where assured that their dams would not stop migrating fish.
Many of are sceptical especially those of us who see the catastrophic environmental damage that the man made Spey dam has been responsible for.
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I am willing to accept the introduction of the beaver, though I would like more money to be given to those fighting against evasive species in Strathspey.
For the first time in many years I have detected mink in my mink raft on the River Dulnain and everyone knows the damage the mink does in the river system.
So welcome beavers by all means but let’s get rid of the mink first.
• Charlie Whelan (Labour) is a former spokesman for Gordon Brown when he was Prime Minister.
