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State
seeks cause of fish kill
Gary Post-Tribune
- 8/7
State
biologists are being called in to find out what’s causing
fish in Lake George to go belly up.
Hundreds
of dead carp have been floating in the lake for the last two to
three weeks, city officials said.
“I
have lived on the lake 14 years and I never seen dead fish like
this,” City Engineer Steve Truchan said.
“And
the water reeks. It really stinks,” he said.
A
conservation officer from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources
and an investigator from the Indiana Department of Environmental
Management were on the lake Wednesday to assess the situation.
DNR
spokesman Steven Sellers said nothing indicates the fish kill
is caused by pollution.
“It’s
something biological,” said Sellers, adding, “If it
was pollution other varieties of fish, not just carp, would be
involved.”
Truchan
said no eruptions from the city’s sanitary sewer system have
been reported.
“But
somebody is doing something,” he said.
Sellers
said it is not unusual for large numbers of carp to die from bacterial
or viral infections.
Recent
heavy rains may have also displaced the carp from surrounding
tributaries.
City
officials think the dead fish may be floating downstream to the
lake from Turkey Creek.
That
makes sense to Sellers, but it could be weeks before DNR biologists
identify the cause.
Michael
Ferrall, superintendent of Hobart’s city park department,
also worries that whatever is killing the carp is also causing
the wetlands established on the lake near the dam to decay.
He
said the wetland’s green plants have recently started to
turn brown.
“I
want some answers,” said Ferrall, whose park crews pull dead
fish from the lake daily.
Ferrall
hopes the dead fish and accompanying odor won’t interfere
with the city’s annual Lakefront Festival.
The
festival begins next week and includes a fishing derby and a duck
race at the Lake George Dam.
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