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a | 18 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 15, 1986 il A ' ; ¥ ' a ' Td ¢ ar FY bs / 5 oo é yr ££ PH 2 aah 0 A Fi ead : Re hi p -y FY AR i 3 Rs Caesarea resident June Stevenson is disgusted by the 200 or so dead fish that have washed up in front of her shoreline. En- tangled in a thick mass of weeds are a wide variety of fish, including large carp, perch, and at least four muskies, one of which weighs in at more than 30 pounds. See story for details. Nobody knows your - GM car better .. Than your General Motors dealer! re --------E EE FUE ALS i Guaranteed Service Guaranteed GM Parts Guaranteed Price SERVICE DEPT. HOURS: Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. | It seems like the dead fish situa- tion in Lake Scugog is worse than reported in last week's Port Perry Star. In a previous story, a Caesarea counted more than 20 fish along his shoreline, apparently dead from a lack of oxygen. | and estimates a figure of well over 200 At least four good-sized muskie, including one that must weigh 30 pickerel, perch and carp. The fish are tangled in a thick mess of weeds, about six or eight feet off her shoreline, about 100 feet long. : "We always pick up dead fish, every year," she says. "But this is too horrendous." She has contacted several local politicians and members of the Department of Fisheries in Oshawa but has received little sympathy and no help. One man, a local councillor, told her neighbour, she'd have to clean up the mess herself but she has no idea how to go about doing it. "The poor woman, there's no way she can do it herself," Mrs. Steven- son said. "And nobody has volunteered to help me clean up our shoreline either. I guess i'll have to get a boat or something." The smell isn't too bad at the mo- ment, with the water near freezing temperatures, but she isn't looking forward to warmer days when the fish start to rot. LAWN SEED at SWAIN SEED Regular Mixes or Mixed to your Specifications. Prices start at 1.35 . And we will refund the sales tax on two or more 55Ib. bags. Call us now to order or drop in! 3 MILES SOUTH OF BLACKSTOCK ON THE OLD SCUGOG ROAD. Call: (416) 986-4331 Are you sure you're getting the biggest tax refund you're entitled to this year? At H&R Block our tax return preparers have been specially trained to find every deduction, exemption and credit that can save you money. In fact, in a recent survey, 2 out of 3 H&R Block customers who got refunds believed they got bigger refunds than if they did their own taxes. Come to H&R Block this year. We can help you save as much of your hard earned money as possible. You could get more than you bargained for at HR BLOCK THE INCOME TAX SPECIALISTS ABOVE THE POST OFFICE QUEEN ST. - PORT PERRY 10 A.M. to 7 P.M. Mon. thru Fri. 9 AM. to 12 Noon Saturday Phone 985-9803 Carol Klaassen of Pine Point Beach also called the Star toreport than last year," she said. a multitude of dead fish on her shore. She estimates thereare25to four weeks ago when they were 30 on her shore. trapped under the ice in a shallow "I don't know if we have a pro- bay, with no oxygen. After publishing a story in last week's issue of the Star about dead fish being found in Lake Scugog, we have had numerous calls from other residents around the lake also finding dead fish. Apparently this phenomenon is not unusual as the ice breaks-up in the Spring the fish die from lack of ox- ygen in the water. In 1960, then conservation officer, Ben Smith, counted over 90,000 dead fish in Lake Scugog during the fourteen days after the ice went out. Following is the story he told reporter Al Wainio of the Ministry of Natural Resources in 1982 about the incident. : 1960 -- A BAD YEAR FOR FISH It was a sight that veteran conservation officer, Ben Smith, will never forget. When he looked across Lake Scugog, just two km from his Prince Albert home, he saw thousands of dead fish floating on the surface. "We took things in our stride," recalls Ben, now 79 years old and 15 years into his retirement from the ministry, "but seeing all those dead fish has to rate as the biggest shock that I had in my 26 years as a conservation officer." : The date was April 22, 1960 -- the day after the lake ice had melted -- and the first Ben heard of the fish massacre was an anguished phone call from a native trapper. He hurried down to the lake, pushed his cedar strip boat through clumps of remnant ice and made for the deepest water where the concentration of dead fish was heaviest. "The wind was drifting them in to shore when I got there," says Ben. "Many of the carp had rotted but the bass looked good enough to eat." Belly-up in the frigid water were huge muskellunge -- some of them 45 pounds or more -- carp, smallmouth bass and perch. Ben theorizes they were all victims of a chronic lack of oxygen. From dawn till dusk for the next 14 days, Ben puttered about the 21 mile lake totting up the dead fish with a 5 square mile push- button counter. Over a area he recorded the following death toll: muskie - 1,535; carp - 90,000; large mouth bass - 400; perch - 200, unidentified - (through decomposition) - 700. But there were survivors. Ben swept nets across the deepest stretch - no more than 15 feet of the shallow, man-made lake and found 28 lively muskies and thousands of catfish, a species capable of surviving with a low oxygen level. As for the "dead 'uns," they "'disappeared in no time" and the lake was heavily restocked with bass and muskellungé that spring. The Lake Scugog "fish kill" as ministry fisheries biologists know the phenomenon, made the newspapers in grand style and remains the largest-known incident of its type in Ontario.. Ben figures that three ice storms so packed and insulated the snow and ice that the fish progressively exhausted the underwater air supply before the April 21 thaw. 'There are usually cracks in the ice, but there weren't any that year," he said. "Such a massive die-off is rare and is undoubtedly connected with the shallowness of Lake Scugog. Fish kills usually occur in ponds." DURHAM AUTOMOTIVE R.R.4Q, Port Perry 9885-8800 (3 miles north of Manchester - West side of Hwy. 12) PRE-SPRING SPECIAL Complete Paint ~ $375. (Dupont Acrylic Enamel) Like New Finish Durham Automotive is conveniently located on Hwy. 12 and features all types of auto body repair, specializing in collision work. We have the newest equipment and measuring systems on the market to repair your late model cars and trucks. During this limited time offer, complete paint work will be done for only $375.00. Body work $22.50 per hour. in addition, we will pay up to $100.00 deductible on insurance claims. We invite you to visit our fully equipped premises for a free estimate. Monday - Friday 8 AM. to 5 P.M. Saturday 8 A.M. to 12 noon. For an evening appointment call Larry .............. 985-3379 The fish probably died three or | Fish situation worse | blem, but there seems to be more caer rots He AH AW vpn bein REBT pg RE a-- JRA, IMME Sg icon I pr a