Wildlife officials are investigating the mysterious deaths of thousands of fish found floating in the Spokane River earlier this month.
“I have no idea why this happened,” Jules Schultz, Spokane River Administrator’s water supply clerk, told The Spokesman-Review. “What we do know is that this appears to have been a very large-scale event.”
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The fish was discovered on February 7th at Long Lake Dam in Spokane, Washington. Tom McClellan, a former Long Lake Dam employee, came across the scene while walking his dog and reported it to the Spokane Tribal Fisheries and Water Resources Division.
”[I] I looked down the hill and there were literally thousands of fish along the shore there,” McClellan told KXYL News.
Most of the fish affected were walleye and perch, as well as salmonid species such as whitefish and trout. Local wildlife conservation officials had no immediate explanation for this mysterious mass death.
On February 7th, thousands of dead fish were found floating in the Spokane River. (Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket, Getty Images)
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”[It] In the 10 years I’ve worked as a Spokane River manager, that has never happened,” Schultz told KXYL News.
Chris Donley, Eastern Regional Fish Program Manager for the Fish and Wildlife Service, told the Spokesman-Review that the agency has ruled out low dissolved oxygen levels, a common factor in fish die-offs, and is not concerned about disease or illness. He said he was waiting for test results to see if he had anything. Pollutants are behind death.
Wildlife officials are investigating mysterious fish deaths at Long Lake Dam in Spokane, Washington. (Bob Rowan/Corbis via Getty Images)
Biologists with the Spokane Tribe’s Fisheries Division sent samples to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory for testing.
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Schultz said the region’s continued efforts to reintroduce salmon to the Spokane River make the high death toll even more concerning.
“There are a lot of fish, but this is unusual,” he told KXLY News. “If that indicates there is a problem with our rivers, we need to track it down and figure it out.”
