MANY elderly anglers who have fished the River Teifi all their lives may not live to see it restored to its former glory following last week’s major pollution incident along a six-mile stretch near Tregaron.

That is the fear of a national angling and fishery body who say that what is being described as the Teifi’s worst case of pollution since the 1980s highlights the government’s failure to tackle agricultural pollution.

Thousands of trout and salmon are thought to have been killed after the waterway - once one of the premier salmon and sea trout rivers in the UK - was polluted.

Experts say the impact on fish stocks is likely to be very severe for up to a decade, and that thousands of both local and visiting anglers who bring money into the Welsh economy will have their sport destroyed.

“It’s an environmental disaster,” said renowned naturalist Iolo Williams. “And it’ll take decades for the river to fully recover.”

Cheryl Bulman, secretary of Tregaron Anglers Association, said: “What a thing to happen in our centenary year.

“Angling is a big tourism attraction and a lot of people don’t realise just how much money it brings into the county.

“Something like this is bound to have a big, knock-on effect.”

Now Fish Legal, a membership association for angling clubs and fishery owners, is hoping to make a compensation claim for their members.

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