Hundreds of dead fish

[Frisk]

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-170935-1-.htm#170935

Any idea on why this happened?

[jetty1965]

With the summer we are having they probably froze to death.

[Fancy]

It's happened before. Sad that so many perish.

http://www.lakecountrymuseum.com/collec ... s-mystery/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_kill ... _depletion

[mxfamily5]

It's not the first time...same thing happened in 2009 and in 2012. In 2012 it was reported close to a thousand found near Peachland and hundreds out towards Vernon.
No real clues but they suspected may be linked to a major wind event causing a turn over in lake water. But could not say for certain.

[Xorply]

My son and I went on a boat ride today and we saw hundreds of them, all the same size roughly 1/2 to one pound, from Crescent Beach just north of Summerland all the way to Rattlesnake Island. When weather got a little rough we turned around and went to Trout Creek and Sunoka Beach. We didn't see any south of Crescent Beach. The only real river or stream coming out in that vicinity is Antler's Beach. I suspect some kind of toxin from the river did this and it only seems to effect Kokanee, the only kind of dead fish we saw.

[entertained]

we have to stop thinking we are smarter then mother nature. They screwed up Mission creek years ago changing the flow of it....now they are doing it again Ever since then Kokanee have not recovered. I was raised along mission creek and at one time that creek was red with spawning fish. Leave it alone people...just because you have some degree doesn't mean you know more then mother nature. I hope they find out why these fish are dying.

[Dwjack]

Lots of lightning lately, lightning strike on the lake? Years ago saw lightning strike a small body of water and hundreds of dead salamanders and frogs lining the shores the next morning. Not sure if it works the same given the water volume of the Oakanagan....

[KL3-Something]

we have to stop thinking we are smarter then mother nature. They screwed up Mission creek years ago changing the flow of it....now they are doing it again Ever since then Kokanee have not recovered. I was raised along mission creek and at one time that creek was red with spawning fish. Leave it alone people...just because you have some degree doesn't mean you know more then mother nature. I hope they find out why these fish are dying.

While the channelization of Mission Creek was a contributing factor, the biggest reason for the crash of Kokanee on Okanagan Lake was the introduction of mysis shrimp in the 1970's.

[LoneWolf_53]

Lots of lightning lately, lightning strike on the lake? Years ago saw lightning strike a small body of water and hundreds of dead salamanders and frogs lining the shores the next morning. Not sure if it works the same given the water volume of the Oakanagan....

Good point, I hadn't thought of that. We've certainly had a lot of lightning lately.

[KL3-Something]

I think it will be found to have been hypoxia from unseasonal lake turnover.

[Ken7]

The only thing that came to my mind was "Schools out for summer".

Seriously, I do hope they find the cause of this. Sad to see as our lake is to me so very important.

[monroe]

I heard, years ago from one of the diving dynamics guys (i think) that abruptly changing thermocline could effect this kind of thing.

Not sure how much those guys know but there it is...

[Nasturtium]

Older homes are known to have drains for their pools containing vast amounts of chlorine that run straight down their curb/street to the first sewage drain which flows freely into the lake. Pools are opened in the spring and closed in the fall. It is illegal in Kelowna to use these drains, but more often than not, people do without first treating their chlorinated water.

[dontrump]

Older homes are known to have drains for their pools containing vast amounts of chlorine that run straight down their curb/street to the first sewage drain which flows freely into the lake. Pools are opened in the spring and closed in the fall. It is illegal in Kelowna to use these drains, but more often than not, people do without first treating their chlorinated water.

maybe maybe not as to how many do it and how that min amount of water would ever polute a lake water as large as Ok lake I feel is impossible.that miniscule of chlorine would cause zero harm.Heck I had a 8 inch bull frog living in mine and he was fine and its salt water to boot
The fish die off as others have mentioned has happened a few times and it seems to be attributed to when we have heavy winds and storms its somehow causes a O2 starvation to the fish

[Rwede]

I think it will be found to have been hypoxia from unseasonal lake turnover.

^^^ This is the correct answer.

As much as people want to throw some green eco-agenda at it and guiltily hold themselves or others culpable, the deaths will come back to a natural event from storms churning the water, causing sudden changes in temperature and oxygen levels, that kills the fragile kokanee.

With only one age class affected, it's bona fide proof of such an event - if there were toxins, it would affect more than one age class and more than one species.

It's sad to see, and always a blow to the important fishery. But it's a natural event that people have zero control over.