2000 Salmon Die

[pikehunter]

It was on Hamilton CHCH News at 6 this evening about a large salmon die off in Hamilton Harbour.

 

Spencer and Grindstone Creeks water levels are low and with the warm fall weather we had the harbour's water temperatures were too much for the fish to endure. Seeking colder water the salmon sought refuge in the colder water in the deeper areas. The oxygen levels at these depths is too low to sustain the fish, hence the die off.

 

The low oxygen levels are from decaying sewage laying in the deeper areas of the harbour.

 

There will not be much of a spawn in fall 2011. Several more years of these conditions and that will be it for the salmon run.

 

Just reporting what I heard tonight. I tried to Google a link to the news story but couldn't find one.

[FishFinder]

they die anways. most are stocked so its not that big of a deal

[John Bacon]

I would think that pretty well all of the Chinook would have already spawned by now. Even most of the coho will have spawned by now.

 

Could these have been salmon the washed down from the creeks during the rain? As stated earlier, they do die after they spawn.

 

There are lot things that don't seem right about this story. Even as warm as the fall has been; I doubt the the bay's water temperatures would still be too warm for salmon. Also, at this time of year, the deeper water would not be significantly colder than the surface water; if fact, it is probably warmer. Plus, if fish die in deep water, they will usually stay at the bottom so nobody would know about the die off.

[xrap]

I saw it on the news as well, I took a trip to the creek last week to check it out and I was shocked what I saw. A part of the bay where the fish pass by to enter the creek is now mud, There is no way the fish could pass threw this mud anyways, The creek was even worse no flow and it was super low. It is probally way up with non stop rain yesterday but it is too late for the salmon.

[pikehunter]

Reporting what they had said on the news and it has been played repeatedly on this mornings news. Apparently these are not spawned out. Even though they are planted fish from a hatchery the report has a message, our fishery is in some danger due to low water levels and pollution. I think that is a major point of the report. I don't think the entire die off just happened today, more than likely over the past several weeks when temperatures were higher then what they are today.

[bucktail]

No big deal, they would have died anyway and as far as I know the limited natural reproduction for chinnies is confined to the Credit, Ganny Shelter Vallley and Niagara.

Too bad we didnt get this rain 2 months ago.

[Pigeontroller]

Its a shame they didn't get to "try" to carry out their "spawning". Does it matter? No. They are likely 90-100% stocked fish anyway. If you are concerned about the future of Salmon in Lake Ontario, go help out at the Ringwood fish hatchery, its now completely run by volunteers...Thanks to Galton McSuinty!

[pikehunter]

No I'm not overly concerned about stocked fish dying off. I am concerned about the reason for the die off, low water levels etc. If conditions don't improve then what will be next? Are the salmon dying off an indication as to what could happen in the future?

 

Take the report for what it is worth that is all. Perhaps it is just an interesting news story and probably nothing more.

[fishindevil]

Well even though its a put & take salmon fishery,its still very bad news,as it might happen to trout and other species as well,and not all chinook wont sucessfully spawn,there is some natural reproduction in some creeks and rivers,what about if next spring those 1 year old small fry rainbows do the same thing...its not good news

[KyleM]

Was there not a fella on here that had some actual numbers of the actual fish that naturally spawn?

 

I think it was fairly high, it suprised a lot of people.

[steverowbotham]

90% of the salmon in Lake O are stocked anyways.

If you are concerned, Ringwood Hatchery in Stouffville would love to have volonteers.

The salmon run should be over by now anyways, probably over a month ago.

It sucks, but we cant make it rain, and one creek isnt going to kill the Lake O fishery, there are hundreds.

[POLLIWOGG]

Lots of salmon in West Lake this year, they were still there a couple weeks ago.

 

This is probably something like, we got pictures of dead fish and need a story to go with it. If they had pictures of dead cows it would be aliens except cows don't die off every year and that would be a story.

[Hookset]

"Quote"

The low oxygen levels are from decaying sewage laying in the deeper areas of the harbour.

 

 

I guess whatever is downstream is someone else's problem.

Brutal....

Guess there ain't much sense worrying about Global Warming.

Lack of clean water will kill us way before Global Warming will. (if there was a valid issue to begin with)

 

 

Hookset.

[spanky]

Don't think they spawned in Jordan this year either... was down there mid Oct and water was very low, only a trick if that, no dead salmon on the shore and not enough rain since then.... wonder if, because they're not natural, they'd scoot over to Port D and do their thing?

[davew3]

This is just a start around here. The creek in Hidden Valley comes down through Waterdown. If anyone has been up there on Parkside you can see a new tree nursary there. I don't think you will see much water in that creek anymore. All of the land in Burlington is now houses, all the creeks are toast and it won't be much longer for Bronte to become a trickle. All the water run off that use to be in creeks now goes into storm sewers.

Unless the MNR wakes up we will have no more runs of anything but carp soon.

Regards.

[Burtess]

Grindstone and Spencer Creeks of course don't get any stocking, all the fish that enter these creeks are either strays or naturally reproducing. Both creeks have the potential to naturally produce trout, herefore they can naturally produce salmon. Actually salmon should have an easier time producing in marginal flows (higher summer temps, low summer flows) than trout as the salmon hatch and leave the flow by the end of May the following year.

 

I think they just waited too long in the bay for higher water levels, which we never got. They are already starting to fall apart before they spawn, so whether they spawn or not, they only have so much time. Their time ran out unfortunately....

 

Burt

[Burtess]

Here is an interesting read that discusses natural reproduction in some Lake O tribs....

 

http://www.zoo.utoronto.ca/lakeontario/research.htm

 

Greater than 35% of Lake O chinook were found to be wild...

 

Burt

[ilario11]

90% of the salmon in Lake O are stocked anyways.

If you are concerned, Ringwood Hatchery in Stouffville would love to have volonteers.

The salmon run should be over by now anyways, probably over a month ago.

It sucks, but we cant make it rain, and one creek isnt going to kill the Lake O fishery, there are hundreds.

 

 

Actually, it's beleived that more than half of the salmon in lake O are wild now... many have adapted to the stream cnditions.