1000s of dead walleye being found in Lake Erie

TOLEDO, Ohio - Wildlife researchers in northern Ohio want to know what's killing thousands of walleye in Lake Erie.

Many of the dead fish have been washing up on beaches between Toledo and Port Clinton in recent weeks.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources biologist Roger Knight says it looks like the worst might be over.

He thinks the walleye might be dying from the stresses of spawning combined with all of the cold, stormy weather this spring.

www.newsnet5.com...

Add this to the long list of die-offs this year. I am 40 years old and have lived my entire life along the shore of Lake Erie here in NE Ohio. The weather here sucks, and this is not the first cold, stormy spring we have had in these parts. In fact, it's the norm. Walleye survive the cold temperatures of Lake Erie all winter long, so this explanation is ridiculous at best.

reply to post by IamAbeliever


Before an earthquake gases may be released into the water killing the fish. . . hmmm!

xxx

We have definitely had many colder springs than this, so yeah, I don't really buy that excuse. I wonder what is really doing it?
It really sucks 'cause walleye is YUMMY!

reply to post by AnteBellum


If anything it's one of these goddamn disasters waiting to happen they call nuclear power plants that sit along the shoreline.

Call me crazy but several of my friends and I all smelled dead fish when the storms began yesterday evening in W. PA. Yeah, sometimes you smell worms and such after a rain, but this was a different smell and it came immediately with the storms. The storm system came in from the NW, that is straight out of lake Erie to where I am... coincidence? I don't know, but reading about thousands of dead fish after some oddly smelling storms caught my attention.

reply to post by TonyBravada


I think this is caused by lightning strikes.

They 'cook' things in the ground and water if too close.

welland canal connects lake erie to lake ontario.

the pickering nuclear plant leaked some water into lake ontario a couple months ago. the risk to the public was deemed negligable by the canadian nuclear saferty commission, so im sure that means radioactive water is perfectly safe

www.cbc.ca...

reply to post by BlesUTP


Oh, well of course it is. On a related note, the Perry Nuclear Plant, which is 5 miles east of where I am had a radiation leak a few weeks back. They deemed that safe, also. Radiation is like the debt ceiling here in the U.S.. When you reach the threshold, you simply raise the limits. Problem solved.

reply to post by AnteBellum


Well now you inspired me to go look it up. It seems most people attribute the smell of thunderstorms to a number of factors ranging from ozone to bacteria to volatile organic compounds... all basically due to the same process of dry earth being stirred up by the wind and rain and scent molecules riding the extra moisture to enhance the smell. It has been very, very wet without much drying but there was a few days with minimal rain recently. Most of what I just read suggests the typical smells after a rain though... but whatever process caused the smell to ride in front of them storm could have also caused it to smell so different I suppose. It was just an interesting coincidence I think, and I had to go ruin it with science. Good article anyway, I'm sure just like every other large die-off there will be some improbable answers followed by media ditching the story... they get an uptick in radiation found in the Pittsburgh area groundwater and decide there's no longer a need to monitor for it (in early April...)

I'm wondering if they can pinpoint a frequency related to sex of the fish. If so I have a theory based on 25 years of Walleye angling, observing and conservation.

reply to post by IamAbeliever


Now they will say that you are the crazy one, it is normal...

I am so sorry to hear about this, bless those beautiful fellow earthlings.

reply to post by Zippidee


I would be interested in hearing what your theory is.

reply to post by IamAbeliever


yeah, those agencies like to sweep it all under the rug with some new "official" statistic. and it must be true!

i had not heard of the perry leak, but somehow am not surprised.

reply to post by IamAbeliever


I vaguely remember in the 80's being told erie was one of the nastiest lakes anywhere, and to never eat anything from there. with numerous decades of industrial waste in that lake, anything could of took those fish out. though if your a buckeye fan, by all means, DIG IN!!!

Wouldn't be surprised that this happens often; both Canada and the U.S on both sides have dumped garbage in Lake Erie over the years illegally but their the Government so who's gonna stop them?

They dumped whole barges full of garbage. I'm across from Buffalo on The Canadian side of Lake Erie. My uncle works for Water And Waste Water Section of the Regional Government he told me they dumped in Lake Erie.

Just going off what he said.

reply to post by IamAbeliever

Well, in Indiana we had prime conditions for a classic spawn but the weather turned dreadfully awful right at the cusp of the spawn. With this in mind I am wondering if there was a holdover situation where the females did not participate in the spawn at that precise time which could have put their bodies into a strain scenario having a general lack of nutrition to sustain both the egg development and survival as well as the health of the fish. Add to this that if they returned to normal spawning activity when the conditions became suitable again that they would have been compromised stamina wise from malnourishment. Then along comes the males and do their thing (hitting the sides of the females to dislodge the eggs) this could have been the perfect storm when they all get added together. Females traditionally feed voraciously in prespawn but get lockjaw when conditions are favorable for the spawn and during the spawn. She they may have just not been able to recoup. This is only of if the fish in question were predominantly females and I am not a marine biologist so this may be completely stupid but it was just a thought I had.

reply to post by wingsfan

The Great Lakes initiative and the "Clean Water Act" turned the fishery around. It is nothing like it was.

I dont know how far off this might be, but it reminds me of the earth cracking in Michigan www.neatorama.com...

( Which has me wonder) I know they are not close.....BUT what if the area under the earth near the Great Lakes is releasing methane gases???

No matter what, it feels very ominous!

reply to post by Zippidee


Not stupid at all. Sounds like a very plausible theory. Now you have me curious as to whether or not the majority of these fish were females or not.

reply to post by wingsfan


Lake Erie is much cleaner than it was at one time. Even so, we Buckeyes fans are much tougher than "you people up north" and could probably withstand any amount of toxins in the fish we eat.