STEPS are being taken to stop a mystery virus, which has killed hundreds of fish, spreading into the North West.

Five separate cases of coarse fish deaths around the country were reported to the Environment Agency earlier this year.

Samples were taken where the fish died and tests confirmed the presence of a new virus.

Investigations by the agency and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food revealed that all the affected fisheries had recently been stocked with fish from Lough, Northern Ireland.

Now the agency has banned the introduction of fish from there to inland waters in England and Wales.

The agency's North West fisheries ecology recreation manager Mark Diamond, said: "This precaution will remain in place until further information is available on the identity and the environmental impact of the virus, and the Environment Agency is completely satisfied that there is no possibility of the virus entering any further inland waters."

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