Gale
07-09-2010, 09:08 AM
How can the oxygen be depleted from this 108 acres of water? What the heck!
Columbus, N.D. - The devastation from heavy rains and winds continues near the town of Columbus in Burke County.
A local fishing hole has been hit hard by the heavy rains.
The aftermath of the storm is mysteriously killing the animals in the water.
“Hundreds of thousands of dead fish,” says Shannon Burau of the Columbus Sportsman’s Club. “Just unbelievable.”
What was a fishing hotbed a week ago is now a fish death bed.
You cannot go farther than a few feet on the shore without seeing the shimmer of dead fish.
Out on the water more fish float to the surface belly up, no longer alive.
“I haven`t seen any live fish over the weekend,” Burau says.
The fish are dying as a result of heavy rains that fell at the end of June.
Members of the Sportsman’s Club first noticed dead fish late last week.
Local anglers are not sure if it`s high temperatures caused by the slow flow of shallow water into the lake or runoff from storm debris, farms, or oil fields.
But one way or another there`s almost no oxygen in the water according to a preliminary Game and Fish Department study conducted on Friday.
Fish Dying in Lake Near Columbus (http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=41338)
COLUMBUS - Normally the Fourth of July weekend at Short Creek Dam is a joyous and festive occassion. It wasn't this year.
When local Columbus Sportsmen's Club member Shannon Burau went to Short Creek last Friday morning to mow the campground in preparation for the big weekend, he discovered what he described as a sickening scene.
\"It just made me ill. The whole shoreline was pretty much solid with dead fish and it was stinking like a lagoon,\" said Burau. \"It was just a disaster, a disaster. I've never seen anything like it.\"
Short Creek Dam Recreation Area is located approximately seven miles north of Columbus. The reservoir covers 108 acres and entertains everything from fishermen to jet skiers. That wasn't the case over the Fourth.
\"Nobody went swimming. Nobody,\" said Burau. \"We had 30 to 40 campers out here, and tents, and everybody stayed on shore. The water was the color of tea on Friday and now (Wednesday) is like black, black coffee and getting darker every day.\"
Deadly downpour at Columbus (http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/540894.html)
Columbus, N.D. - The devastation from heavy rains and winds continues near the town of Columbus in Burke County.
A local fishing hole has been hit hard by the heavy rains.
The aftermath of the storm is mysteriously killing the animals in the water.
“Hundreds of thousands of dead fish,” says Shannon Burau of the Columbus Sportsman’s Club. “Just unbelievable.”
What was a fishing hotbed a week ago is now a fish death bed.
You cannot go farther than a few feet on the shore without seeing the shimmer of dead fish.
Out on the water more fish float to the surface belly up, no longer alive.
“I haven`t seen any live fish over the weekend,” Burau says.
The fish are dying as a result of heavy rains that fell at the end of June.
Members of the Sportsman’s Club first noticed dead fish late last week.
Local anglers are not sure if it`s high temperatures caused by the slow flow of shallow water into the lake or runoff from storm debris, farms, or oil fields.
But one way or another there`s almost no oxygen in the water according to a preliminary Game and Fish Department study conducted on Friday.
Fish Dying in Lake Near Columbus (http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=41338)
COLUMBUS - Normally the Fourth of July weekend at Short Creek Dam is a joyous and festive occassion. It wasn't this year.
When local Columbus Sportsmen's Club member Shannon Burau went to Short Creek last Friday morning to mow the campground in preparation for the big weekend, he discovered what he described as a sickening scene.
\"It just made me ill. The whole shoreline was pretty much solid with dead fish and it was stinking like a lagoon,\" said Burau. \"It was just a disaster, a disaster. I've never seen anything like it.\"
Short Creek Dam Recreation Area is located approximately seven miles north of Columbus. The reservoir covers 108 acres and entertains everything from fishermen to jet skiers. That wasn't the case over the Fourth.
\"Nobody went swimming. Nobody,\" said Burau. \"We had 30 to 40 campers out here, and tents, and everybody stayed on shore. The water was the color of tea on Friday and now (Wednesday) is like black, black coffee and getting darker every day.\"
Deadly downpour at Columbus (http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/540894.html)