Fish kill on the River Gryffe – Clyde River Foundation

A fish kill was discovered on the River Gryffe in Renfrewshire over the weekend by Alan Beaton of the Bridge of Weir Angling Club (BoWAC) and Sandy Ritchie of Paisley Abercorn Angling Club. Alan took measurements and photographs of eleven dead adult salmon plus one trout which showed obvious and significant signs of a currently unidentified disease. In excess of 40 of these iconic fish have died since Friday and the occurrence has been reported to the Fish Health Inspectorate (Marine Scotland). An Inspector is on-site today with BoWAC to assess the situation and collect samples from freshly dead fish for further analysis. We are grateful to Marine Scotland for its prompt action. In addition to the Gryffe incident, we received a report of a dead salmon (showing disease) from the River Kelvin in Kelvingrove Park on Sunday. We are anxious to gauge the scale of this problem and we would ask that reports of any diseased or dead fish in the Clyde area be sent to info@clyderiverfoundation.org with a photograph and a note of the location if possible.

The photographs of the two salmon below give an example of the differing degrees of external damage seen on the dead fish.

20150815_125214 — Example 1: Dead Atlantic salmon from the River Gryffe on 16.08.15. Photo credit: Alan Beaton

20150815_125220 — Example 1: Head of the same fish showing significant disease. Photo credit: Alan Beaton

20150815_125229 — Example 1: Dorsal view. Photo credit: Alan Beaton

20150815_105618 — Example 2: Dead Atlantic salmon from the River Gryffe on 16.08.15. Photo credit: Alan Beaton

20150815_105651 — Example 2: Head view. Photo credit: Alan Beaton

20150815_105707 — Example 2: Tail view. Photo credit: Alan Beaton