Last year cottagers in the Kawartha Lakes area of southern Ontario, particularly Shamong Lake, started finding 100’s of dead carp rotting on their shoreline.   

This year cottagers on Rice Lake and Lake Simcoe are also starting to find the dead carcases dotting their shoreline.

Between 12,000 to 24,000 carp have died, at least 1,200 of them were found on Rice Lake and the canal between Trent University and Little Lake.

The virus, one of the factors being attributed to their death, is called the koi herpes virus.  The koi virus, new to Ontario, is believed to have been introduced to the water when hobby fish for backyard ponds, such as carp or koi fish imported from Asia, were thrown into the lakes according to a spokesperson from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The virus is weakening the fishes’ immune system, leaving them more susceptible to bacteria.  Spawning and higher water temperatures are also putting the fish under increased stress.

While the virus poses no threat to human health, continually bagging and removing the dead fish carcuses has angered cottagers in the Peterborough area to the point where they have staged a protest at the Ministry of Natural Resources local office. 

If you have a cottage that is connected to the Trent Severn Waterway system and are starting to notice dead carp washing up on your shoreline, you’re asked to to call 1-866-929-0884.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 10:14 am and is filed under Environment, Fix It. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.