''Destructive' Risca canal work kills hundreds of fish

The maintenance work used an industrial thresher to clean the canal bed, leaving mangled fish buried within pulp on the banks of the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal.

Concerned residents believe that the work on the Pontymister stretch was 'irresponsible' and will have a lasting affect on the canal’s ecology.

Graham Read, 68, of Severn Close, noticed the fish while walking his dogs on Wednesday and slammed contractors who have 'butchered' the wildlife.

He said: “They will not leave this canal alone and they are cutting the weeds for no reason at all.

“The machine they have used has been particularly aggressive and although they claim they do it for ‘health and safety’ I think it’s a load of rubbish.”

Margaret Read, 63, is a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and believes the lack of fish will affect the food supply of herons.

She said: “These fish have suffered and in the past contractors have left the grass to dry and the fish have started to rot.”

Sue Hodson, 66, of Manor Road, helped throw fish back into the river and said “it was awful that the fish had been left to die.”

She said: “I go down the canal everyday and the contractors were not bothered that they had left fish there.

“It all seems to be a procedure to them and they don’t think of the impact it will cause.”

Caerphilly County Borough Council employs external specialist contractors in waterway, reed bed and wetland management to undertake canal work.

A council spokeswoman said: “The contractors are one which the council has used over a number of years, and over this time we have experienced no issues of this nature.

“Our initial findings suggest this is a localised incident, which we will of course investigate further in order to establish the root cause”.

Mike West, 51, of Pontymister, added: “There should have been someone behind them to make sure that there was something in the water.

“They have just barged in like a bull in a china shop.”