A massive die-off of fish in Shoal Lake, in western Manitoba, has raised the spectre of a huge cleanup ahead.

by Larry Powell

Countless dead fish litter the shores. 

The magnitude of the die-off has emerged over the past few days, with spring breakup in full swing. The receding ice is revealing a shocking scene - thousands of fish carcasses piled up along the shorelines. Many more can be seen beneath the ice that hasn't melted yet. 

Gulls feast on the remains. (Eagles have also been seen doing the same.)

The Mayor of the local government involved - Mervin Starzyk of the RM of Yellowhead  - tells PinP, he's waiting for more information from the province on what has happened. He says the Manitoba department of Sustainable Development (SD) has told him it may have been "winter kill." (That's usually a process involving a serious depletion of oxygen in the water.) 

The lake shares its name with a town
of some 700 people at its north end.
(Google map.)

Starzyk says any attempt to clean up will be both expensive and - without outside help - beyond the ability of the RM to carry out. 

Besides, he says, it's not really a local government responsibility anyway, since it's the province that's in charge of water resources. 

He says sewage from the Town of Shoal Lake's treatment plant drains into the lake. So phosphorous levels there are high and so is plant growth. These conditions can contribute to a process known as eutrophication, depleting oxygen and suffocating aquatic life. 

The Mayor says - if lack of oxygen is the problem - raising the lake level might help. But that would not be easy, since Oak River, which runs into the lake from the north, sometimes dries up.  Besides, controlling water levels is also the province's responsibility and not within his local government's jurisdiction. 

The Mayor adds, the RM is looking to purchase some marshland property east of town with lots of cattails, plants that are efficient at further cleansing treated sewage. If the deal can be completed, the town's sewage, rather than flowing into the lake, would be piped there, instead. But that plan, he notes, could prove expensive, as well - perhaps a million dollars. 

Starzyk says its depressing this has happened since many of the fish are scattered along the shore, right next to the golf course and clubhouse. It's a popular spot for locals and tourists alike, for both golfing and dining. It's feared the decomposing fish are almost certain to create an odour problem as the weather warms up. 

Some 2 years ago, hundreds of fish shown here,
struggle to get over a dam to spawn, just upstream
from Shoal lake on the Oak River. All photos by PinP.

The lake is home to walleye, northern pike and perch. Another species, considered less desirable to anglers - the sucker - has also been abundant in the waterway for some time. 

A Federal Judge Just Nixed Trump’s Attempt to Drill the Arctic and Atlantic

EARTHJUSTICE

The Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo by Diego Delso.

In a ruling issued from Alaska, a U.S. District Court has determined that President Trump overstepped his constitutional authority and violated federal law. More here.

How To Talk About Climate Change So People Will Listen

by Katharine Hayhoe CHATELAINE

Railway tracks damaged by severe flooding in
High River, Alberta, 2013. Photo by Resolute.

As a climate scientist, I've been called everything from a charlatan to the handmaiden of the Antichrist. Here's how I handle the tough conversations. 

"We Love the Earth" A star-studded new video In recognition of Earth Day.

Corn-farming fouls the air to fatal effect

Nature - Agriculture

Harvesting corn in Canada. A PinP photo.

The dominant US crop plant has a voracious appetite for fertilizer, which leads to air pollution and health problems. More here.

Climate change made the Arctic greener. Now parts of it are turning brown.

ScienceNews

A green Arctic meadow - Baffin Island, CA.
Photo by Mike Beauregard.

Warming trends bring more insects, extreme weather and wildfires that wipe out plants. More here.

Yukon temperatures are the highest in 13,600 years

CLIMATE&CAPITALISM

Photo by Diego Delso.
Warming of over 2 degrees Celsius is above the global average and well above the average of the rest of the Arctic region.More here.

The Trump Administration Has Thrown Out Protections for Migratory Birds

truthout

A great egret. One of the many birds that migrate between Canada and the U.S.
A PinP photo.

Under Republican and Democratic presidents from Nixon through Obama, killing migratory birds, even inadvertently, was a crime, with fines for violations ranging from $250 to $100 million. The power to prosecute created a deterrent that protected birds and enabled government to hold companies to account for environmental disasters. But in part due to President Donald Trump’s interior secretary nominee…more here.

RELATED: 

New Studies Show Farm Chemicals Are Affecting More Than Bees. Bird Populations are Declining, Too. Is modern agriculture's hold on nature becoming a death grip?

Rising global shipping traffic could lead to surge in invasive species

Science Daily

Ship traffic in the Suez Canal - 1957. Photo by Buonasera

Maritime trade is likely to far outweigh climate change as the driver of bio-invasions over the next 30 years, study finds.

Even Canada's beloved grey jay is not immune from the ravages of manmade climate change.

Decades of Canadian research, just released, finds "strong evidence" that increasing "freeze-thaw" cycles are destroying food the birds store away in the fall. This, in turn is damaging their ability to reproduce and likely playing a role in a severe population decline in at least one region.
by Larry Powell

 The grey jay,  AKA as Canada jay or "Whiskey-Jack."
Photo by Steve Phillips, via Canadian Geographic magazine.

It's been known for some time that our changing climate is leading to reductions, even entire removal of many species from certain areas (a process called "extirpation"). This new research by the University of Guelph, sheds more light on just how that happens.  Using 40 years of breeding data, scientists studied grey jays (scientific name perisoreus canadensis) at the southern edge of their range in Algonquin Park, Ontario. (The birds can be found in all Canadian provinces and territories.)  Like many species, they hide or "cache" significant amounts of food away which they'll need later on when it is more scarce - mainly the breeding season late in the following winter. In past years, when winters were more consistently cold, this would allow them to retrieve it, intact. But with "freeze-thaw" cycles becoming more frequent, that food is either rotting or greatly degrading in nutrient value. As a result, the jays are having fewer young and those young are less healthy than before.  Alex Sutton, PhD candidate, Dept. of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph. The spokesperson for the study, Alex Sutton (above), tells PinP, "The population in Algonquin has declined by over 50% since the 1980s. So we do believe that climate change is currently affecting this population. While work is ongoing about the actual cause of the decline, it is likely that changes to reproductive performance do contribute to the decline." The birds eat a variety of things, some which you might expect, like insects, berries and mushrooms, and some you might not - like nestling birds they catch themselves and game meat that has been shot or trapped by humans. (It's the meat, berries and fungi which are most vulnerable to spoilage.) The birds often hide it away in tree forks, behind flakes of bark or in conifer needles.  It is this instinctive practise that seems to be coming back to haunt them now. To quote the study, "Our results suggest that freeze-thaw events have a significant detrimental impact on the quality and/or quantity of cached food available to Canada jays. Future increases in such events, caused by climate change, could pose a serious threat to Canada jays and other food-caching species that store perishable foods for long periods of time."  Anyone who has visited or camped in our boreal forests has likely seen them. They don't shy away from begging food from people, or stealing it from your picnic table when you're not watching! They've become an iconic and well-loved symbol in our country.  The research findings have just been published in the proceedings of The Royal Society in the UK. -30-

The Insect Apocalypse Is Coming: Here are Five Lessons we Must Learn

truthout

A PinP photo.

In a new report, scientists warn of a precipitous drop in the world’s insect population. We need to pay close attention, as over time, this could be just as catastrophic to humans as it is to insects. Special attention must be paid to the principal drivers of this insect decline, because while climate change is adding to the problem, food production is a much larger contributor. Story here.