Thousands of Dead Fish Rotting on 40-km Stretch of Lake Erie

Sep 05, 2012

Mysterious Fish Deaths in Lake Erie Raises Questions

The picturesque shoreline along the Coast of Lake Erie has been marred by the smell of rotting fish and scenes of dead fish washing up on shore by the thousands. The dead fish stretch from west of the fishing village of Port Stanley in Elgin County to the village of Morpeth in Chatham-Kent or just east of Rondeau.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Environment said Tuesday the dead fish was reported on the weekend. So far it appears the fish may have died from the affects of a naturally occurring lake inversion rather than an environmental spill, but the investigation is continuing.

Lake inversion, also sometimes referred to as the “lake rolling over” is a phenomenon in which the surface layer of water cools rapidly and sinks down, displacing cold, low oxygenated water from the bottom, which rises upwards. In this situation, the fish are deprived of oxygen and die as a result. While no official cause has been released, there were no visible signs of a toxic spill or other environmental hazards.

“At this time of the years it is common to get lake turnover or lake inversion and you usually do get a few fish killed … but this smell smelled like a sewer … and on top of the water there was a brown kind of milky film that was at the water’s edge,” said Neville Knowles, of London, Ont. and cottager at Rondeau Provincial Park for more than 50 years.

Some residents are suspicious, suggesting that run-off from a large pig operation along the stretch may have caused the fish to die, said Knowles, who quickly added there is nothing to support that position.

No matter the cause, there is now a huge clean-up effort required to restore the shoreline and reduce the smell of decaying fish.

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