Ohio authorities: fish kill unrelated to dumping
CANTON, Ohio – Authorities in northeast Ohio have ruled out oil drum dumping as the cause of a reservoir fish kill.
Authorities near Canton says the fish floating ashore at Walborn Reservoir were unrelated to the illegal dumping of a 55-gallon oil drum.
Stark Parks Director Bob Fonte calls it a natural phenomenon, or seasonal fish kill, that happens to certain species during the spring thaw.
In this case, they were gizzard shad – small, and often the most abundant food source for many sport fish in Ohio’s reservoirs.
Fonte tells The (Canton) Repository that as ice melts, changes in oxygen levels affect the shad more than other fish.