AN investigation has been launched by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) after what appears to be blood was seen flowing into a river.
A video posted on social media on Sunday appeared to show red-stained water flowing into the River Lochy by the Lochyside flood defences in Fort William, with locals saying that it "looked like fish blood".
The now deleted post soon attracted the attention of anti-fish farm campaigners, who speculated that the incident may have been related to the nearby fish processing facility owned by Mowi.
A spokesperson for Sepa said: “Sepa officers are investigating a potential pollution incident at River Lochy, near Fort William.
“We would like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone that is concerned about a potential pollution incident to contact our 24-hour pollution reporting line as soon as possible.
“This can be done through our online form at www.sepa.org.uk/report."
Photographs of what campaigners state are fish scales in the River Lochy have also been posted to social media.
However, Mowi has now denied any involvement in the incident.
A spokesperson for Mowi said: “Mowi has undertaken its own investigation into the incident at the River Lochy where local people reported a red discharge.
“Mowi is confident that the discharge did not come from its facility at the Blar Mhor Industrial Estate.
“Mowi has checked all its operating procedures as well as the effluent system and CCTV.
“The effluent is cleaned onsite by a water treatment process that removes contaminants from water.
“Following this process, the effluent is only discharged to the Scottish Water treatment works at Caol Point.
“Mowi is not the only business which processes this type of material on the Blar Mhor Industrial Estate but is the only one regulated by Sepa under IPPC regulations.
“Mowi will continue to work with Sepa and Scottish Water as they look to identify the source of the discharge incident.”
Sepa’s investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
