Souris River, Northgate Dam suffers another fish kill
By KIM FUNDINGSLAND, Staff Writer, kfundingsland@minotdailynews.comArticle Photos
It appears Minot's Souris River has suffered another fish kill similar to one that occurred beneath the ice earlier this year.
Dead fish have been seen floating in recent weeks in several sections of the river within the city. A check by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in late July, shortly after the first dead fish were reported, pointed to a lack of dissolved oxygen as the likely cause.
"Basically what I found up there using the dissolved oxygen meter is that the dissolved oxygen levels were really low," said Jason Lee, North Central District fisheries supervisor. "The levels were found to be only 0.5 parts per million. This was similar to the readings when I checked last winter."
Lee did his most recent testing in the area of the coffer dam located near the west entrance to Roosevelt Park. Dead fish noted by Lee included yellow perch, black bullhead and white suckers. This past winter Lee took dissolved oxygen readings near the dam on the east side of the park where walleyes and northern pike also suffered a die-off. Fish usually require a minimum of 3 to 5 parts per million of dissolved oxygen in order to survive.
"There's a fair amount of aquatic vegetation using up that dissolved oxygen," said Lee. "The good news is that several lakes in the district are doing well as far as water quality goes."
Flows in the Souris River have been non-existent since the gates were closed at Lake Darling this past spring. The only exception has been some rainfall runoff within the city that temporarily boosted water levels above coffer dams which act as individual holding cells during times of low water.
A major fish die-off has been reported in the Northwest District, where trout and walleyes were discovered floating at Northgate Dam in Burke County. Northgate suffered a die-off last summer, primarily trout, but it included some walleyes as well.
"In that kill the crappies and bluegills seemed to be okay," said Fred Ryckman, Northwest District fisheries supervisor. "There was some 26- to 32-inch walleyes that died, but not many small ones."
Ryckman is not sure of the extent of the most recent fish kill at Northgate, but is not surprised that trout have suffered.
"We know some of these waters are warmer than they should be for trout habitat. We're pushing the issue a bit because they are not real trout waters," said Ryckman. "These are the dog days of summer, August conditions that lead to fish kills, especially trout."
Ryckman called the situation at Northgate Dam unfortunate because his office has not received any other reports this year of fish kills in the northwest or anywhere else in the state. According to Ryckman, an effort is under way to secure funding for the purpose of improving the quality of the watershed, mainly limiting nutrient runoff, at Northgate and Short Creek Dam, also in Burke County. Excess nutrients that fuel plant and algae growth are known to severely reduce the levels of dissolved oxygen in otherwise healthy impoundments.
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mgrnmare1496
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08-21-08 1:34 PM
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Is it possible to reduce the number of vegatation that is using up the oxygen? This could be a simple way of solving this problem. It is not to say all vegetation be removed...just reduce the amount of vegatation.
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