A fish kill on a stretch of the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River is under investigation thanks to local anglers.
“This stream is my happy place,” said angler Tina Ritchey. “It’s where I can go and get lost.”
On Monday, Ritchey was checking the river’s condition, a week after she said something caused a mass killing of fish.
Ritchey was relieved to see a crawfish — a sign the damage was not severe enough to kill off the invertebrates that a river needs for fish life.
Ritchey said she was supposed to go fishing last week so she stopped by her favorite spot along the river near the Frankstown Elementary School on Tuesday. That’s when she saw the dead fish.
It was the smell she noticed first, she said. It wasn’t a rotting fish smell, but something worse and indescribable. She checked a few more locations on the river off Monastery and River roads and found more dead fish.
So she called Creg Strock, owner of Aquatic Imitations in the Mielnik Shopping Village along Route 22 in Hollidaysburg, along with the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Ritchey said she was told by Fish & Boat officials that the fish deaths were likely caused by the water being too warm due to low water levels and hot summer temperatures.
She said that would have made more sense if there hadn’t been such a large number of dead fish and had they not been warm-water fish, such as carp and bluegill.
On Thursday, after seeing the photos of the fish kill, Strock composed a Facebook post about the situation.
“People I didn’t even know sent me pictures,” Strock said Monday. “One guy sent a video by Monastery Road with dead fish everywhere.”
Strock said from all the information coming in, it seems the fish kill covered a 3-mile stretch of the river — from about where a discharge pipe from the Appvion paper mill in Roaring Spring dispenses treated water into the river.
Appvion did not respond to a request for a statement Monday.
Ritchey said to their credit, the company has regularly monitored the quality of the water below the discharge pipe.
“I have personally seen Appvion testing the water down there so I do know they test the water regularly,” Ritchey said.
Strock said that it will take some time for the river to bounce back along that section and it’s a promising sign that invertebrate life seems to have survived.
DEP spokesman John Repetz said Monday that the department responded to a complaint of dead fish near the elementary school, and a few dozen dead fish were seen there and at multiple locations upstream. He said the fish were in an advanced state of decomposition and at the time of the response river conditions appeared normal. He said the DEP is continuing to investigate.
Mike Parker, director of communications for Fish & Boat, said it was unknown at this time if pollution caused the fish kill but the commission and DEP were investigating. If it is found that fish were killed by a pollutant, steps will be taken to hold the party accountable.
Parker said with the hot weather and low water levels, the fish could have been affected by aquatic vegetation depleting oxygen levels, too.
Strock said he hopes that if the fish kill was due to a discharge and something that testing missed, changes will be made to ensure it doesn’t happen again. He said he has been in contact with state Sen. Judy Ward’s office about the issue, as well.
Ritchey said it is upsetting that something could come close to destroying a river that not only anglers enjoy, but also kayakers and canoers.
“It’s not just about fishing, it’s about enjoying what this area has to offer,” she said.
Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7458.
The Link LonkSeptember 01, 2020 at 11:08AM
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