Council working with authorities to clean up dead fish

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Council working with authorities to clean up dead fish - Somerset Regional Council


SOMERSET Regional Council is working with authorities to remove fish found dead in the Brisbane River at Lowood this week.

Catfish were found floating along the creek bank at Lowood as early as last Tuesday.

SeqWater and Environment Heritage Protection officers, who are responsible for maintaining the waterway, began investigating the cause of death soon after and have taken water samples for testing.

Somerset Council staff are today (Wednesday) assisting SeqWater rangers with removing hundreds of dead catfish from the river.

Crews began removing dead fish at Twin Bridges, Wivenhoe Pocket and intend to work their way towards Lowood.

It is anticipated Council crews will be assisting in the clean-up again tomorrow due to the large number of dead fish.

Somerset Mayor Graeme Lehmann said Council was helping wherever possible although it was not a Council responsibility.

“We are assisting SeqWater and Environment Heritage Protection officers out of goodwill and to help clean up the river faster,” Cr Lehmann said.

“We also organised a skip and an area for the dead fish to be disposed of.”

It is not yet known what caused the deaths but Cr Lehmann said he hoped the results came back soon.