Visser Edwin van Egmond – who fishes commercially on this piece – is especially angry about poor communication from the water board. “I have to adhere to a lot of rules to keep the fish stock in order. According to the protocol, Rijnland must inform us quickly, so that we can see if we can do anything, and that did not happen.”
Also in terms of safety, he finds it bad that the area knew nothing for a few days. “What if someone goes fishing there and takes a fish with you to eat or children go swimming?”
Taken measurements directly
Sportvisserij Midwest Nederland does think that the Water Board has responded quickly. “We have drawn up a protocol with all the water boards and last week for these situations. If possible, we go there with a fish ambulance to move the fish, but because it could be a discharge into the water, we do not do that now. Transferring is not just because you do not know what is in the water,” says a spokesperson.
The Rijnland Water Board informs NH on Thursday that it has received the first report and had taken measurements directly on Friday. “Later it turned out that dead fish had already been found on Monday, we did not mention this,” said a spokesperson.
Because the measurements showed that the oxygen content in the water is much too low, they are currently flushing through the water. Why this content is so low is unclear. “It is not always possible to determine a cause. It has rained in the past period, so that measurements are not entirely representative at the moment.” Waste processing company Meerlanden has been engaged to clean up the dead fish.