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UTRCA Removes Over 600 Dead Fish from Pittock Lake

Thursday, 3 June 2021 05:27

Photo Credit: Upper Thames River Conservation Authority

The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority found over 600 dead large carp while cleaning Pittock Lake yesterday.

WOODSTOCK - The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority spent Wednesday cleaning dead fish from Pittock Lake in Woodstock.

They found over 600 dead large carp during the cleanup. The fish died in unusually large numbers this year after a May heat wave. 

Aquatic Biologist at the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority Michelle Fletcher explains. 

"Water temperatures went up quite quickly, around 16 degrees over 2 weeks and the carp are spawning right now and it is a huge use of energy for them to do that. So those two stressors combined have made some of them more vulnerable." 

The carp die off every year when they are spawning, however the numbers are higher this year because of the weather. 

Fletcher says, they are not alarmed because it is only one species of fish. 

"If it was some kind of a spill, then it would be every size class of every species out there. Because it is just the large adult and just the carp, and they are spawning right now, they have been for a little bit now in the lake, that is what the cause is." 

Many people had noticed the dead fish in the lake during the month of May and it was obvious eye sore.  

(Photo Credit: Upper Thames River Conservation Authority)

(Photo Credit: Upper Thames River Conservation Authority)

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