Arrowe Park Lake

[Tincaman]

Does anybody know what actually killed the fish in Arrowe Park a few years ago? At the time there were rumours that farm slurry leaked into the Arrowe Brook which runs into the lake but I never heard anything afterwards from AWAC or the EA. I learnt to fish as a teenager many years ago at Arrowe Park and it saddened me what happened and the fact there has been no re-stocking. It was a brilliant water once you sussed it out and I had many a good day there.

[DaveE]

My understanding (from WBC) is that it was slurry spread on farmland upstream of the lake some of which leaked into the stream which runs into the lake. This resulted in a rapid de-oxygenation of the water and subsequent fish deaths. (I wrote a report about it at the time as I went for a look and spoke to a couple of AWAC lads who were manning an aerator and removing dead fish)
However, the farmer had rented the fields concerned to a third party and I never heard if blame was ever proven.
There has been complete silence from AWAC, WBC, EA and all concerned ever since.

To my knowledge AWAC has restricted its' restocking to Birkenhead Park in recent years.
   

[DaveE]

Here's what I posted on another forum a couple of years ago:-

27 Sep 2009, 15:32

This may be old news to some of you.
I received a phone call today from a non-angling friend telling me that lots of fish were dead at Arrowe Park Lake.
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the lake was formed more than a hundred years ago by damming a stream where it ran through a small, steep-sided valley. It is the only deep park lake on Wirral.
Apprently last week a farmer spread a thick layer of slurry on a field, some of which found its' way into the stream and thereby into the lake.
I went to have a look this afternoon.
Council workers were running four aerators and told me that the aerators had been been supplied by the EA and had been going since Thursday.
Hundreds of dead small roach, perch, bream were floating about along with a few bigger fish.
Dozens of bigger fish were on the banks. I saw common carp to around 9 lb, bream to 6 lb and pike to 6 lb.
It's a great shame to lose any fish from public waters but especially so the bream. They were big, dark, old fish.
Bearing in mind that we have had no rain for the last ten days and the slurry still managed to get into the stream, I suspect that when rain does fall the pollution will begin again.

I've no idea how many fish or what species have survived but I would suggest that this water is not worth fishing until it is restocked and that may not be until next year.

DaveE

[Tincaman]

Thanks for the info Dave, that's just what I thought. It sounds like a complete white wash with no investigation and no one brought to book. It's very sad when local anglers lose a water like that. I will do some digging with the EA to find out more. It makes me wonder what are we paying our licence fees for?

[Tincaman]

I had many big bags of them dark bream, its sickening to be honest. Thanks once again.

[fish41]

Talking to a couple of anglers today whilst fishing a small pond close to Arrowe they said they had fished it recently and had done ok so hopefully still some fish in it

[DaveE]

I walked the dog around Arrowe Park a few days ago and spoke to the sole angler fishing the lake. He was pole fishing and had caught a few roach. He said he had been fishing it regularly this summer to try to establish what was still in there following the pollution. He concluded that there was not a lot! I saw a very light coloured carp of around 5 lb cruising about and the angler confirmed that he had also seen it. He said that there had been few anglers this summer but still a few idiots.
Someone had set fire to the base of a large tree and it had recently fallen into the lake. Still a fair amount of litter lying around.