Over 9,000 Pounds Of Fish Dead, Washing Up To Shore At Citizens Lake In Monmouth, IL kwqc/story/25123039/over-9000-pounds-of-fish-dead-washing-up-to-shore-at-citizens-lake-in-monmouth-il Its a fish kill so massive that Citizens Lake hasnt seen something like this in over 35 years. You can already see and smell the decay and as temperatures start warming up they say its about to get a lot worse. Over 9,000 pounds of fish suffocated underneath thick ice after this harsh winter. Ken Russell is a fisheries biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources whos been taking care of this lake for over 50 years. He said this is a tragic year for the fish and anglers, but what you see now is only a fraction of the amount of fish thatll be rising to the surface, belly up. As the water warms the fish carcasses that are on the bottom will gradually bloat, said Russell. Some of them will never come to the surface. But itll be several week and it wont be a pleasant sight, which it obviously isnt a pleasant sight now. Russell said logistically itll be very difficult to remove the tons upon tons of rotting fish. But city officials are worried about the stench because a campground sits right across from the lake. For now, theyre not sure if theyll have the manpower to remove all the fish carcasses and they may have to let most of the decompose The word was wow. I cant believe this, said Monmouth City Clerk Susan Trevor. Its amazing to see and its also very sad. Susan Trevor said she hopes citizens and campers will be patient as theyre trying to figure out a clean-up plan. Ken Russell said there isnt a health hazard with the dead fish because the lake isnt used for swimming or drinking water. He said by summertime all the dead fish should be gone and theyll be busy restocking. You just let the carcasses decompose and the nutrients then go back into the food chain, said Russell. Hopefully this wont happen again for many, many years. IL-DNR said itll take about 2 years to repopulate Citizens Lake, meaning fisherman and anglers alike wont be able to fish here for quite a while.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:26:17 +0000
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