Spokane7
49°
July 13, 2010 in Idaho
Long Lake dead fish creating quite a stink
Suspected causes include low oxygen levels, thermal shock
Nine Mile Falls resident Eric Staggs rounded up dead carp on Long Lake just before the Fourth of July.
(Full-size photo)
At Long Lake, hundreds of dead carp are washing up on beaches, collecting under docks and creating a stink for residents living along the 24-mile reservoir.
“If you’re water-skiing on the lake, you see them constantly,” said Jeff Braviroff, a Suncrest resident who started noticing the dead fish about a week ago. “There’s so many of them. … It’s going to be nasty when they really start to decay.”
The die-off puzzles officials at Avista Corp., who wonder if a virus is to blame. Carp is the primary fish species that appears to be affected, said Hugh Imhof, a spokesman for Avista, the owner of Long Lake Dam, which creates the reservoir on the Spokane River.
“We don’t think it’s a water quality issue,” Imhof said. “We haven’t spotted any algae blooms on the lake this year.”
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife sent out an officer to investigate the fish kill over the weekend. Officer Bob Weaver said he spotted dead aquatic plants as well as dead carp, which could indicate low oxygen levels. He forwarded the information to the agency’s fish management division, whose Spokane office was closed Monday as part of a statewide furlough.
Bottom-dwelling carp are abundant in Long Lake, where they reach weights of up to 15 pounds or greater. They spawn in June, creating roiling patches in the water.
The carp are easy prey during spawning season. Hunters are allowed to harpoon the carp or take them with a bow and arrow. Avista initially received reports of about 60 speared carcasses dumped into the middle of the lake, Imhof said.
Later, more dead carp were spotted, and the carcasses didn’t show evidence of hunting, he said. Now, residents said they’ve seen hundreds of dead carp in the reservoir. The carcasses are tangled up in patches of aquatic weeds.
Alycia Staggs and her husband, Eric, collected a bucketful of bloated carp from the beach of their Nine Mile Falls residence.
“It’s really a horrible smell – something between dead fish and rotting flesh,” Alycia Staggs said.
The couple lives near a slow-moving stretch of the reservoir that grows lily pads. In addition to the dead carp, Alycia Stagg said she spotted a handful of other dead fish, including bass, crappie and perch.
Debbie Novak, another Nine Mile Falls resident, said she has about 30 dead carp floating off her beach. “We need to know what to do with them,” she said. “I feel sorry for the neighbors. Their daughter’s getting married in their yard later this month.”
In Idaho, reports of dead fish have also turned up at Spirit Lake and Blanchard Lake. In those areas, fluctuating water temperatures are the culprit, said Jim Fredericks, regional fishery manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
May and June are stressful months for warm-water fish, such as bullheads, perch, bass, crappie and sunfish, he said. The fish are spawning, which requires lots of energy, and they’re sensitive to rapid changes in water temperature.
Cooler-than-normal temperatures in May and June, with a few hot days mixed in, resulted in thermal shock in some fish, he said.
Several dozen dead fish were spotted near the shorelines, but “it’s not what I’d call a major die-off,” Fredericks said.
Miners to return to Lucky Friday 
MrNatural on July 13 at 9:26 a.m.
It’s interesting that the state agencies that have involvement with this incident were closed due to furlough that day. I’m curious about the effect this had on the incident response and to those who called with concerns that had to wait till next day. Good thing this was not of a more critical nature.
Well written story Ms. Kramer
kennyhuston on July 13 at 3:49 p.m.
Oooohh … . . and now I feel bad for blaming my brother’s girlfriend as the source of the smell - my bad!
SuncrestResident on July 14 at 3:31 p.m.
I live a stones throw from the water and indeed the smell is horrible. It is odd that no one has mentioned this occurance which also happened last year. Last year when an algaecide was sprayed to kill off the algae and aquatic vegetation during August, the carp and other species died. It was on a smaller scale and maybe that is why there were no reports in 2009.
This year the algae spray was done earlier in the season but seemed to be much heavier. Many decaying weeds are floating on the surface with the decaying carp wrapped up in the weeds. Funny that people cant see they go hand in hand. Carp are vegetarians and eat the poisoned weeds. The weeds also have a very strong odor when they deteriorate. It is my understanding that as weeds decay they also cause oxygen levels to fall. The combiantion of the low oxygen and poison make me 1000% certain this is the cause.
There were warning signs posted all over the lake during the application of the algaecide this spring. The signs said to stay out of the water! I believe the signs mentioned that the poison would not harm the fish. Hmmmm?
In my opinion that is false advertising. We need to leave the lake alone. I cant use my ski boat, the kids cant swim and the environment has been harmed. Who is to blame and who will pay for the clean up? Only God knows and it is my guess nobody will admit to anything.
Boilermaker on July 16 at 4:03 p.m.
The above suncrest resident is right, just before this happened I had a note on my dock about the weed poisoning Should’nt they take the responsibility for this mess. Kind of ironic to kill the weeds and the weed eaters, as these carp help control the weeds. I wish someone would step up and take responsibility. The least they could do is collect these fish and dispose of them. The smell is horrible. Thermal shock is a crock . Just the weed eaters were affected. I have several bass and perch living under my dock and show no signs of being affected. The truth is known, Please clean up your mess!
Realist2 on July 20 at 10:46 a.m.
I’ve lived on Long Lake for over 30 years. I’ve seen years where hundreds of carp die and I see years when they don’t. I’ve known many bow fisherman that have killed carp by the hundreds and hauled them away in multiple garbage cans. What do you think happens when kids go out with their bow and arrows and kill hundreds of carp? Do you think they are responsible enough to haul them away? I’ve had a grand total of two fish on my beach only because our friends yellow lab retrieved them to my beach. They were too decomposed to see if they had arrow holes in them. I simply dug a hole and burried them so the neighbors wouldn’t complain about their stink. Carp are the easiest things in the world to shoot. They are often right on the surface. I wonder how many of your motor boats kill them like the motor boats in Florida kill the Manatees. It amazes me how the first thing people think is that it has to be polutants and they can’t even admit to the fact that when they drive off in their boats and jet skis that many of these fish get run over and die like deer die from cars in a servere winter. It just flat out amazes me how people can’t think outside of their little worlds. Believe what you want to believe. Here is another thought for you environmental bimbos. Are fish eternal. Everything dies and rots. When conditions are severe, the weak die. This was a weird year and I’m sure that the fish are trying to adjust just like your vegetable gardens were struggling to adjust. How many people had to replant their gardens this year? Oh I forgot that environmentalist buy their garden vegetables from a store and then complain about the chemicals. By the way, I’ve read that these carp (trash fish) aren’t even native fish. They were planted here by our government after the turn of the century as a feed source so that people with an IQ of under 100 wouldn’t starve. Another government boondogle. Of course lazy people won’t eat them but they can now cash their wlfare, foodstamps and unemployment checks. Pesticide and herbicide hating environmentalists can all take their idealogies back to Seatlle, California or wherever they brought them from. I wonder how many of these people would eat an apple or cherry that has a worm in it? These same people expect the government to go into their back yards and pick up their dead fish so they can all live in their picture perfect world. As far as I am concerned, the government can stay the hell off of my lot.
Realist2
PS Before anyone ever sprayed for Herbicides, I’ve seen years where I literally had to haul trailers loads of aquatic weeds away that floated onto my beach. That is all part of living on a shallow, warm water lake. Some years there are more weeds than others. Maybe people should consider moving up to Priest or the other Idaho deep mountain lakes where aquatic weeds are minimal. The water there is nice and warm (not) and really enjoyable for swimming and water skiing. Besides that, it is probably carp free!