What’s Killing Fish In Buckeye Lake?
Published: February 12, 2009
Updated: February 12, 2009
BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio —Thousands of dead fish are floating in a popular Central Ohio lake.
Area resident Matt Conroy wrote to NBC 4 after discovering the fish, saying, “They are littered all along the rocks and frozen all over the ice. It looks horrible. I wanted to know if maybe with construction on the docks if something spilled in the water or is this normal?“
Conroy, an avid boater, was checking out a dock on Buckeye Lake at about noon Wednesday when he noticed hundreds of gizzard shad dead.
“It looked like, basically, if you would electrocute the water, all the fish came up, numerous dead fish everywhere,“ Conroy said.
Wildlife officials said the situation isn’t out of the ordinary, adding that the fish on Buckeye Lake died of temperature shock, NBC 4‘s Matt Alvarez reported.
The fish died after a major thaw of the lake occurred in the last few days. For weeks prior, the lake was frozen solid.
According to fisheries biologist Nick Radabaugh with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources these fish will not be picked up. They will sink to the bottom of the lake and decompose.
Radabaugh said the gizzard shad species is a warm water species, not made for frigid water and ice. He also said there are still more fish in the lake—approximately 20 species more—that are still alive and well.
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Reader Reactions
I just found out from a wildlife expert at OSU that these fish are native to the area, that they are in all of the local lakes and rivers, and that they are at the very northern part of their territories, so that when we get a very cold winter like this one they always die out. Also, the dead fish are a salad bar for many other animals.
Gizzard shad are used for bait, maybe some where released into the water. It is ok, the catfish will eat them. They like dead decaying fish.
So who put the gizzard shad species into the lake, and why would anyone do that in a climate where they are bound to die?
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