HEAVY rainfall could have caused the deaths of dozens of eels who were washed up on a Furness beach.

Shocking images showing the mass stranding of dead eels on Askam beach were captured by walker Helen Hammond recently.

And according to Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Senior Marine Conservation Officer, Emily Baxter, high levels of rainfall could be the ‘main contributing factor’ for the deaths.

She explained that flood water travelling downstream carrying pollutants and debris at a critical time for eel migration- who are classed as critically endangered-could explain the distressing scene.

“It's always really difficult to know the cause of such mass strandings without further investigation,” she said.

“But I suspect that the extremely high rainfall that we have had over the past week or so is the main contributing factor to the eels' early demise.”

She explained the journey European eels make on their annual migration from the continent.

“Each autumn, European eels leave our rivers and travel across the Atlantic Ocean to breed once in the Sargasso Sea and then, then die,” she said.

“Tiny glass eels then take two to three years travelling across the ocean back to our coasts and migrate back up river. Adult eels have been shown to begin their migration down our rivers between August and December before heading across the Atlantic.

“I suspect that the extremely high volumes of flood water travelling downstream (carrying debris and high levels of run off/pollutants such as nitrates), and over a number of manmade barriers, at a critical time on their migration journey could explain why they are washing up dead on the beach.

“Unfortunately, European eels are classed as critically endangered and face many threats on their migration, including damage from human barriers, disease and parasites, exploitation, habitat loss, pollutants, and predation and these eels may have been caught out by the weather events.”