ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - Thousands of dead fish are washing up on the shores of some Rockford ponds.
“It smells pretty bad and there’s thousands of them, so I don’t think there’s enough birds to eat them all,” Dale Brown, park visitor said.
Dead fish are causing quite the mess in the ponds around Mercyhealth Sportscore One in Rockford. Employees who maintain the grounds for the Rockford Park District blame the weather.
“When you get thick ice like what we had here recently, we’ve had thirteen plus inches of ice through the winter season and with these shallow ponds, Oxygen depreciation in the ponds get to that point where some of the like game fish, blue gills, crappies, large mouth bass, the oxygen level hits a little bit too low, and you have a naturally occurring fish kill,” Matt Rohrs of the Rockford Park District said.
The dead fish may be a disturbing sight, but Rohrs said the fish kill is not a public health hazard. Anyone who may choose to cast a line in the ponds shouldn’t worry.
“I don’t see an issue of anybody that wants to go out there and fish.. You know I haven’t been out there to take a real look at the pond yet but with what fish might still be there I don’t see any real issue you know if they’re catching some fish out of it. There won’t be be any issue, again I don’t really think there would be a really big issue with the fish that are likely to be left in there.. so in the end there should still be some fish in there for them to catch,” Rohrs said.
The Rockford Park District will be monitoring the status and quantity of dead fish over the coming days. They said that although these events are normal, it’s been almost five years since the Rockford Park District has seen a fish kill of this size.
Copyright 2021 WIFR. All rights reserved.
The Link LonkMarch 13, 2021 at 06:36AM
https://ift.tt/3rKIwcu
Thousands of fish die in Rockford - WIFR
https://ift.tt/35JkYuc
Fish
No comments:
Post a Comment