[Mike]

Another stinky story and I would have to guess some of these reports
have gone unnoticed.
Bridget

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/12001021.htm
Posted on Tue, Jun. 28, 2005

Fish kill a mystery
By Jennfer Thomas

Avid fly fisherman George Kepler spent part of Monday on the banks
of Slab Cabin Run seeking to determine what had killed at least 250
brown trout at some of his favorite fishing haunts.
The trail of dead fish led almost a mile and a half, from Atherton
Street near the Perkins Restaurant, where only one fish was found,
to downstream at the Centre Hills Country Club, where they had
pooled and 60 could be counted.

“Whatever got them was brief,” Kepler said.
While he was on the golf course at the country club Sunday
afternoon, he said there was an odor, but he did not think anything
of it. Now, he thinks it may have been part of this event.
Heavy rains fell on the area about that time and could have washed
chemicals into the stream from a number of sources, Kepler
speculated.

“It’s left a path of destruction. That’s for sure,” he said.
It will likely take several weeks for an investigation by the state
Fish and Boat Commission to be complete, press secretary Dan
Tredinnick said. The department received a call Monday and hadn’t
had a chance to do anything other than confirm the kill had
occurred, he said.

With a conservative estimate of 250 brown trout killed, Tredinnick
said it would be considered a substantial fish kill.
The investigation likely will involve the commission and the state
Department of Environmental Protection, which comes in when water
quality issues are found.

Tredinnick said there are a number of possibilities for the deaths,
including a natural phenomenon or a pollutant getting into the
stream.

“As sort of a general rule, if there’s a pollutant involved you sort
of see a spectrum of species affected,” he said. “Most pollutants
are pretty indiscriminate if they’re going to kill.”
Yet, Kepler’s walk along the waterway showed that only brown trout
were affected. Minnows, suckers and other trout could be found in
the stream, he said.

“I’m happy to see that. It tells me I can still fish,” Kepler said.
At the same time, he is discouraged by what he calls “trophy” trout
floating dead in the water and the effect it will have on fishing in
the region.

“It got them all,” he said. “All sizes from 4-and 5-inch to 15 and
16.”