Holy carp! Hundreds of invasive fish dead in Wascana Lake

Residents around Wascana Lake may have noticed something fishy in the air.

Hundreds of common carp lay dead in the lake. According to the Provincial Capital Commission (PCC), this is due to a very cold winter which resulted in lower levels of oxygen in the water.

Wascana Lake is home to northern pike, common white sucker and the common carp. The PCC said the fish kill happens every year, but that carp are the ones most often found to have died as they cannot live in the lower levels of dissolved oxygen in the water.

Carp are an invasive species and ecologists say their death isn’t a bad thing.

"We do have a couple pike and a couple suckers as well but common carp are an invasive species,” PCC ecologist Sarah Romuld said. “So we don’t ideally want them in the lake, not that we want a fish kill but the fact that we’re seeing them is not all terrible,"

Crews are working daily to clean the fish up.

Most of the fish that have died are common carp. Wascana Centre Authority says they’re an invasive species so it’s not upsetting that they have died. Common carp can’t handle low levels of oxygen which is why many have died. #Yqr #Sask pic.twitter.com/E92X6HFsZJ

— Cally Stephanow (@CTVCally) April 9, 2019

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