“The analyzes demonstrated the presence of sucrose in the water. But the investigations have not yet made it possible to establish where it comes from,” indicated the secretary general of the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, Sébastien Lime, referring to the pollution of the canal between Souppes-sur- Loing and Bagneaux-sur-Loing.
Since then, the services of the French Office for Biodiversity and the Inspection of Classified Facilities have reviewed “all nearby industrial installations”, according to Sébastien Lime. But “the various administrative inspections have not yet made it possible to identify the source” of the pollution, he stressed.
Tons of dead fish
According to the website of the Bureau for the Analysis of Industrial Risks and Pollution (BARPI), “pollution of a watercourse by a sugar factory” was referenced in November 2019 in Seine-et-Marne, further north, at Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne. At the time, this pollution came from “a sugar factory located upstream”, “following a crack in a dike in the skimming basin”. “An investigation is underway,” only confirmed the Fontainebleau prosecutor’s office, which did not wish to communicate further.
The mayor of Bagneaux-sur-Loing, Claude Jamet, 82, explained that he gave the alert “on the morning of Friday October 25”, after seeing “large fish seeking to oxygenate and dead fish the surface”. “And now, we count dead fish in tons, including carp over 20 years old and weighing over 20 kilos, which we will never see again in the canal,” insists the councilor, who says he suspects “a industrial pollution” and intends to file a complaint against X.
A complaint soon to be filed
From October 26, operations were carried out to remove dead fish from the canal bed and preserve the fish still alive. Now, a gradual emptying of the reaches (parts of the canal between two locks) concerned is underway, which must be spread over 25 days, according to the prefecture.
“Carp, perch, pike, eels, catfish, roach, catfish… A very large quantity of fish have died,” notes the president of the Seine-et-Marne federation for fishing and the protection of the aquatic environment, Philippe Gavelle. Picked up by association volunteers, fishermen or local residents, they were placed in skips. But the federation prefers to wait before assessing the extent of this mortality because “a certain quantity of dead fish remains at the bottom”.
