Man's horror at '˜hundreds' of dead fish in Chesterfield canal

A Brimington man who found himself surrounded by '˜hundreds' of dead fish as he sailed down Chesterfield canal has compared the grim encounter to a '˜scene from a horror film.'
Sam Benamara snapped this pic as he sailed down Chesterfield canal.Sam Benamara snapped this pic as he sailed down Chesterfield canal.
Sam Benamara snapped this pic as he sailed down Chesterfield canal.

Sam Benamara was taking his canal boat for a leisurely sail between Brimington and Hollingwood on Tuesday, July 17 when he realised there was something fishy afoot.

He said: “I saw 10, then 20, then 30 dead fish and I looked up and they just stretched on for ages, all different sizes and colours.

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“I live in the area and sail here regularly and I’ve never seen anything like it.

“There’s about a mile between the two villages and the fish were dotted along all the way. It was like a scene from a horror film.

“It’s a really concerning issue. I spoke to a few locals who were woried that there’s not enough oxygen in the water to sustain the fish.”

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “This week we have been investigating reports of dead fish in Chesterfield Canal at Brimington. Our officers have been on site, and our initial estimates are that more than 100 fish have died from low oxygen levels due to hot weather.

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Derbyshire County Council have helped us respond to the incident by opening some lock gates to increase water flows, and a local business provided a pump to help with aeration.

Our monitoring has shown that water quality has now improved. Anyone who sees any fish in distress are urged to report it to our incident hotline on 0800 807060 so we can investigate.”