Canada: P.E.I. Fish Kill Much Larger Than Initial Estimates, 'Everything In The Area Is Dead'

CBC News – “A fish kill in Trout River is now being called a complete kill, as scientists have discovered the incident is more severe than initially thought.

‘Everything in the area is dead,’ said Todd Dupuis of the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

The river was also hit with a fish kill last year. Rosanne MacFarlane, a freshwater biologist with the province, said the number of dead fish collected is significantly greater than last year, even though a smaller portion of the river is affected.

On a careful count of the fish collected Sunday night, MacFarlane found 1,459 fish had been collected: 1,317 trout, 20 salmon, and 122 sticklebacks. That did not include a section in Barclay Brook. MacFarlane adds that as the days pass, the chances of finding fish decreases because they are taken by predators and get buried in the mud.

‘For every fish you pick up, you usually miss four or five,’ said Dupuis. ‘So you’re probably looking in the 10,000 fish range.’

Dupuis said this situation is also different because they found dead sticklebacks among the trout and salmon.

‘They can survive in very low oxygen and very hot water temperatures. When you start finding these stickleback dead, you know it was likely a fairly toxic event.’” Read more.