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10 Stouffville Sun-Tribune | Thursday, June 9, 2016 | For Stouffville Citizen of the Year nominations Send to: jmason@yrmg.com LAST CALL! STAFF PHOTO/STEVE SOMERVILLE Sunday, June 12 3:00 p.m. Musselman's Lake, on the Ninth Line north of Stouffville, was peaceful Tuesday morning. Residents reported a large number of fish deaths. Experts say the event is natural. Massive fish deaths at lake `natural' By Ali Raza yorkregion.com WHITCHURCH-STOUFFVILLE PRAYER BREAKFAST Our 14th Annual Prayer Breakfast has been Celebrated and enjoyed by all who attended PURPOSE STATEMENT: To affirm the strong Christian roots and heritage of the Town of Whitchurch Stouffville and to be a voice of the community, along with many other voices that say we still hold true to this heritage and faith today. And further to demonstrate that the Christian Faith is real and valid and that the community is stronger and better because of the faith of its residents. The Whitchurch-Stouffville Prayer Breakfast offers an opportunity, at least yearly, for all members of the community, including those who may not worship regularly, to give thanks and worship our Lord and to pray for His guidance to all our politicians and political decisions at the Federal, Provincial and local level and to pray for our Emergency Services and others who help to keep our community strong, safe and loving. aliraza@yrmg.com Thanks to Our 2016 Sponsors Please Support Them When You Can Anderson Haulage Baxter Kitchens Inc. Budget Towing Candlelight & Memories Century Mill Lumber Chapel Ridge Funeral Home Design Attitude Hugh W. Dodd CFP Investments & Insurance Moller Insurance Norton McMullen & Company Chartered Accountants Residents reported "thousands" of dead fish littered across Musselman's Lake, but the Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry (MNRF) and Musselman's Lake Residents Association (MLRA) stress there is no cause for concern as the process is "natural." The Ninth Line lake isWhitchurchStouffville's largest and is home to several residents who live along the waterfront. One resident who refused to give his full name told The Sun-Tribune that he'd "never seen this many dead fish up here". The resident, Ken, lives at Musselman's Lake and doesn't know why it's happening. "On Wednesday there were a couple, Thursday a couple hundred, by Friday there were thousands all around the shore," he said. "The air smells so bad up here right now, it's terrible." Ken called a representative from the provincial ministry to assess the situation. MNRF resource manage- Pace Credit Union Rouge River Farms Corn on Cob WHITCHURCH-STOUFFVILLE SOCCER CLUB WSSC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (including elections) SCS Consulting Group Land Development Engineers Jane Philpott, M.P. Ken Prentice Financial ­ Hollis Wealth Kisko Products KP&D Signs Stouffville Toyota Stouffville Sun Tribune WS Prayer Breakfast Media Sponsor Monday, June 20, 2016 @ 7:30 pm SoccerCity (45 Innovator Ave., 2nd Floor, Stouffville) Tim Hortons Uxbridge-Stouffville ALL MEMBERS WELCOME Elections for numerous Director Positions will be held Members may submit nominations in writing up to 7 days prior to meeting. ment technician Wil Wegman surveyed the lake on Monday. "There are several potential causes for fish die-offs," Wegman said, "including winter kill and stress factors associated with major weather changes, especially during the spring spawning period." Wegman stressed in agreement with MLRA that "there is no real health hazard associated with most fish die-offs." There was no evidence of a spill causing the deaths. Musselman's Lake Residents Association on Tuesday released an article on its website further explaining the rise in dead fish in the lake is a "natural occurrence." In the article, MLRA explains the last die-off occurred in 2009. They offer studies made by Hutchinson Environmental Sciences available for download. "This year we have seen very little algae so far, but a much greater bounty of weeds coming to the surface," the MLRA article says. "We have found that on years where the ice comes off early and the weeds can get established that we do not get an early algae bloom." As fish eat algae, the lack of a bloom indicates a lack of food. The article explains most of the fish are of breeding size and that unusual warm weather before mating season makes the fish susceptible to bacterial infections. "This is a completely natural occurrence and no cause for alarm," the article states. Ninety-five per cent of the fish were black crappie, a common native species in Ontario but not a native species in Musselman's Lake. MNRF and MLRA ask landowners around the lake to clean up dead fish that wash up onshore by either burying them or double-bagging for municipal garbage pick-up. The MLRA article and attached reports can be seen at: http://www.musselmanslake.ca/ natural-occurrence-and-no-cause-for-alarm/ Prayer Breakfast will continue to be hosted on the Thursday before the May 24 long weekend in 2017 NEWS ONLINE?