Dead fish raising concerns

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September 2, 2009

By JEFF MEYERS The Press Republican Wed Sep 02, 2009, 10:12 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — Tom Conley headed out early one morning last week for a walk along the shore near his Cumberland Head home.

What he found there both shocked and angered the longtime lakefront resident.

“I counted 91 bass washed up on shore between Rocky Point Beach and the State Park beach,” Conley said of the discovery. “They were all fresh kills, and they were all trophy-sized bass.”

Conley collected 32 bass from Rocky Point Beach when he initially discovered the kill.

“The city came and picked them up, and I thought that would be all there was to it. But the next morning, I decided to walk a little farther and found a lot more both north and south of the beach.”

Conley fears those fish are a result of a recent bass tournament hosted by the City of Plattsburgh for the ESPN Bassmaster series.

CONSERVATION CRUCIAL

Bassmaster spokesman Doug Grassian said tourney organizers are looking into the issue to determine what might have happened.

“We have a huge commitment to conservation,” he said, noting that Bassmaster introduced the catch-and-release process to competitive bass fishing in 1972.

“It’s a huge priority to us. Without bass, there would be no sport and no industry.”

Professional anglers catch both smallmouth and largemouth bass throughout the lake and then weigh them in for results at Plattsburgh Boat Basin near the Naked Turtle.

The fish are then released back into the lake off the northern tip of Crab Island.

BEATING

“I think the battering they take in those boats is too much for the fish,” Conley said. “They’re driving 90 miles an hour to race from one place to another. They’re taking an awful beating.”

He also fears the change in water temperature from lake to boat to holding tanks is detrimental to the fish.

Rick Perry, building inspector for the City of Plattsburgh, said steps are being taken to determine if these fish came from the Bassmaster tourney and what might have happened to cause the die-off.

“We received a call from (the Department of Environmental Conservation) informing us that there were 30 dead fish on the shore at Cumberland Head,” Perry said. “It’s our obligation to follow up on those kinds of issues.”

Perry contacted Bassmaster officials, who told him they would immediately begin an investigation to determine what might have gone wrong.

“Every effort is taken to preserve the health of the fish,” Perry said. “The water they use (in holding tanks) is taken directly from the lake, and it is oxygenated and treated to help regenerate the slime coating on fish that prevents bacterial and spiral infection.”

TEMPERATURES

Perry said it would be speculation to guess what might have happened, but Fisheries Biologist Richard Preall from the Department of Environmental Conservation noted that smallmouth bass are especially susceptible to temperature changes in the water now.

“At this time of year, smallmouth bass are caught in 30 to 40 feet of water. Down there, water temperatures are in the 50s, and the temperature of the water in the live wells is not what the fish are used to.”

DEC did investigate a similar fish kill a few years ago following a tourney, in which several hundred smallmouth were estimated lying on the shores of Cumberland Head, he added.

Back then, DEC contacted tourney organizers to discuss steps that could be taken to prevent such a kill from reoccurring.

THOUSANDS CAUGHT

“In every tournament, you’re going to lose some fish,” Preall said. “But the anglers do the best job they can to keep the bass alive for weigh-in. Most of the time, those fish are released without a problem.”

Lake Champlain has a tremendous population of smallmouth bass, Preall noted. More than 8,000 bass were caught and released during the last two weekends of bass tourneys, Perry said.

Still, Bassmaster is not pleased with the fish kill, Grassian said.

“We hold ourselves to the highest standards. Putting a blame on what happened is tough to say. Perhaps the environmental conditions weren’t ideal for a bass tourney, but we will determine in the coming months what we’ll have to do prevent this from happening again.”

ECONOMIC BOOST

Kristy Kennedy, group-marketing specialist for the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber is conducting an economic-impact study on the series of tourneys held on Lake Champlain each year.

“I think anytime you see a large influx of people coming into the area, you are going to see a boost to the area’s economy,” she said.

“They’re filing up the hotels. They’re making local purchases. The tourneys themselves are providing national publicity, which draws recreational anglers back into the area.”

Anglers have also been appreciative of North Country hospitality and have worked hard to interact with community members, she added.

Next year’s schedule for tourneys has not yet been finalized, but Kennedy said she is already working with organizers to set dates for the next bass season.

E-mail Jeff Meyers at:

jmeyers@pressrepublican.com