Hi All,
I noticed on the email threads that not everyone on the LMAA executive was included so I have made sure that all are included in this email.
As a quick summary ( for those that might be unaware) I was crossing the lake on July 4th from my place in eagles nest to my parents. The lake was flat and as I crossed I counted 10 whitefish roughly 18-22 inches in length belly up. I found it strange so I sent out an email. What followed were other accounts (hence the email thread) of seeing the same thing in different parts of the lake. In all I think it is safe to say that a couple hundred whitefish were counted.
Marian Lochead contacted the MNR and my mother forwarded her email to me which I will share below:
I have been collecting more information on this dead fish situation. I thought I would pass it along. There continues to be some dead fish floating in Sandfield bay as of yesterday at least. It is mostly Whitefish and from what I have seen they are usually good sized - I haven't seen any small ones, for instance.
I called the Conservation Officer, he mentioned to me that this is also happening on other lakes on the Island including Lake Mindemoya. He provided me with a phone number within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to report dead fish. They have a special program - Fish Die Off Program. The Conservation Officer gave me an MNRF number in Peterborough - 1-800-667-1940. I called today and spoke to someone who asked me to fill out a questionnaire over the phone including such things as where I saw the dead fish, how many, state of the fish (bloated, decomposed...), weather etc. He said my report would be passed to the Sudbury office. He provided me with the Sudbury office phone number and suggested further reports could be made there 705-564-7823.
I would suggest that as many people as are willing should call and make a report. It seems to me this would be one way to make our concerns heard and funnel our observations to the MNRF in a manner that seems to fit within their protocol.
So I did call the numbers listed above and left a message summarizing my observations on July 4th. Today I got a call from Wayne Selinger from the Sudbury office of the MNR responding to the message I had left.
He told me that they have three good samples from the lake that have been sent for testing. He expects the results to be back in the next 2-3 weeks at which time he said he would gladly share the results.
He suspects however that with the winter that was had, coupled with the cold spring....and then the rapid warming of the surface waters with the recent hot weather that it is a thermal issue that put the fish in a stressful state causing them to die. Even though whitefish are a deep water fish he said that they were like feeding on mayflies on the surface.
He suggested that we keep a look out for the following over the next couple of weeks and contact the MNR if any of the following are seen:
1) if we continue to see fish washing up over the next couple of weeks.
2) if other species of fish are involved in significant numbers over the same time period.
3) If any fish are seen to have lesions or signs of disease
Anyway sorry for the lengthy email but everyone on the executive should be in the loop now. If others have more to add please do!
Sorry I can't make the AGM, I am sure it will go well.
Michael R Costigan