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Hundreds of dead fish found floating in the Rideau Canal are raising a stink as the weather warms up in Ottawa.
For tourists and boaters, the overwhelming odour along the canal on Monday marred what would otherwise have been a perfect summer day.
“All along the canal, a ton of dead fish. All sizes, everything. It stinks,” said one kayaker.
Cyclist Steve Stewart, who loves to ride along the side of the canal downtown, wasn’t sure if it would even be safe to be in the water.
“It looks to me like there’s some kind of deadly pollution in there,” he said. “And now, of course, there’s rotten fish, too.”
Hardiest fish survive
Parks Canada, which is responsible for the canal, said they’ve been receiving plenty of calls from concerned residents inquiring about the number of dead fish. But officials are trying to reassure the public that the occurrence, though strange, is a natural rite of spring.
“It’s got nothing to do with pollution. It’s a normal process,” said Irv Mazurkiewicz, director of canal operations. “When the ice freezes on the top of the surface of the canal in Ottawa, it prevents oxygen from going into the water.”
Only the hardiest fish survive the winter, Mazurkiewicz said.
Parks Canada is now in the summer-long process of rounding up all the dead fish and other debris in the canal.
Copyright © CBC 2011
Full article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/06/06/ott-dead-fish-canal523.html