Pollution incident in Moray kills fish and wildlife in River Spey tributary

A pollution incident in Moray has killed a significant number of fish and other wildlife including eels and birds. A chemical, thought to be caustic soda, is understood to have entered the water at the Knockando burn, which flows into the River Spey, in the last few days. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it was investigating the incident, which has affected a more than mile-long (2km) stretch of the burn. Fly fishers say the salmon population at the burn has been wiped out and could take years to recover. Duncan Ferguson, director of the Spey Fishery Board, said it was one of the largest pollution incidents he had seen in 36 years of working on the river. "It's a tragic event," he said. "It's a really bad outcome and it didn't have to happen." A Sepa spokesman said: "We are investigating a potential pollution incident in a tributary of the River Spey and are working to identify the source and impacts." Last month a number of salmon died when white paint was spilled into the Burn of Carron, another tributary of the River Spey. At the time, Spey Fishery Board chairman Peter Graham said: "This is heart-breaking after all the hard work by our staff that has gone into trying to rejuvenate the river, only to see it damaged in this way by what appears to be fly-tipping."