Sea pool reopens after fish influx

A sea pool has reopened after it was flooded by an influx of small fish.

Thousands of whitebait and sand eels were stranded in Westward Ho! Rock Sea Pool in north Devon on Wednesday.

It is believed they were chased in by a predator such as a shoal of mackerel, Torridge Council said.

The authority confirmed on Monday that the pool had been drained and it was open for swimming again.

The council had said on Friday that the pool had been closed and a valve opened "to flush out the fish that remained".

A spokesperson said: "Some were saved by the actions of council officers but the majority rescued were mainly due to the actions of residents.

"However, a large proportion of the fish unfortunately perished... which was unavoidable despite rescue efforts."

They added that the incident was a natural but "not very frequent" occurance.

Contactors flushed the remaining fish debris out and the pool was reopened following an inspection on Sunday afternoon, the council said.

A spokesperson from the Marine Biological Association said whitebait were sometimes chased by predators and die due to the temperature and salinity increases in the sea pool.

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