HUNDREDS of fish, crabs and eels died in a pool of effluent, spouting from two outfalls in the Leven Estuary.

The dead and dying sealife was found around the edge of the water by Ulverston fisherman Norman Parker, who lives at Canal Foot by the Bay Horse Inn.

Mr Parker, who is chairman of the Morecambe Bay Fisherman's Association, said he had never seen anything like it in the ten years he had lived there.

"There were dead fish everywhere, several hundred, being washed up and all along the edge were dead crabs and other dying crabs and eels trying to struggle out of the water.

"The next day there were lots more dead fish, and shrimp."

The creatures were killed because discharges of processed pharmaceutical effluent and domestic sewage from the nearby Glaxo Wellcome plant and fine-screened raw sewage from a nearby North West Water sewage works did not disperse properly.

Environmental protection officer John Kidger, who is investigating the incident, said the problem occurred because the Leven channel, which runs down to Ulverston from the River Leven, had switched positions and now ran right across on the other side of the estuary.

This meant that at low water, discharges were not properly flushed away.

Mr Kidger said that at 6.7 metres, last weekend's tide was the lowest in months.

"When I observed the discharges I saw the effluents were not flowing out of the estuary and out to sea," he said.

Mr Kidger took samples of dead fish and water and readings of oxygen levels in pools left at low tide.

"The oxygen was very, very low, which is a stress for eels, crabs and flounders.

Conditions were very unpleasant for the life that was in there," he said.

But, he added, the samples showed that neither Glaxo nor North West Water had discharged at the wrong time or at a level outside the legal limits set by the Environment Agency.

Since last weekend Glaxo Wellcome had "instituted short-term changes in the management of discharges," said spokesperson Christine Webster.

She added: "As explained by the Environment Agency, the situation appears to have resulted from a change in the location of the River Leven channel, combined with small high tides that have contributed to poor dispersion."

She said all releases of aqueous waste from the plant were well within legal discharge limits.

And spokesperson John Carberry, of North West Water, said checks had proved its discharges complied with EA requirements but they were happy to work with the EA investigation.

NWW was temporarily using an alternative outfall at Carter Pool, which enters the bay further down the estuary, he said.

This week Mr Kidger said oxygen readings were already higher and temperatures lower in the estuary.

He added that the Environment Agency was considering changing the two companies' discharging arrangements, given that the channel had moved, but tides were starting to get bigger, which would help alleviate the problem.