Will Heavy Snow Increase Odds of Fish Kills? ....News Report
High snowfall creates the concern of a winter fish kill for some local ice-fishing enthusiasts. News 12's Mallory Peebles found out how the weather can contribute negatively and positively to this year's ice fishing season...Fisheries Specialist Scott Mackenthun says, "We're definitely not off to a great start basically... with all the snowfall we got."
That's because thick snow on top of the lakes doesn't allow for sunlight to penetrate the ice... and then plants cannot create oxygen... in turn killing the fish...However last week's brief warm up eased the problem a bit.
Guy Borst says, "It helped that we had this thaw that helped a lot of the snow off the lakes."Less snow helps but the size of a lake is another important factor. Mackenthun says, "Just the capacity of water and every cubic inch of water create oxygen."
News 12's Mallory Peebles says, "This lake is 13 hundred acres and almost 35 feet deep so DNR officials say it's safe from any winter fish kill but just 15 minutes from here some ponds have already experienced dangerous low levels of oxygen."Tony Hiller says, "This pond with a bunch of minnows in it and they were already dying when that happened because they were coming up because there's no oxygen."DNR officials say for shallow lakes and ponds the best way to provide oxygen to the fish is by aeration.
Mackentun says, "There's different types of aerating systems. People that have aquariums... it's the same sort of principal some have diffuser systems like aquariums and bubbles bubble up."
Unfortunately the DNR does not have the funds for aeration machines so they rely on help from local organizations.
Mackenthun says, "And those costs are picked up by those groups and we are thankful for that and cities and things like that because otherwise the cost would just be too great."Budget issues have also prevented the DNR from checking lake oxygen levels as often as they would like. Mackenthun says a few lakes currently have aeration systems on them... such as Loon Lake and Lake Crystal... but he believes others are in good condition despite the record snowfall. DNR officials want people to know that lakes with aeration systems often pose thin ice dangers near those devices so to take extra caution when driving on them...
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