Crews are focusing on the area of the creek within Muskoseepi Park (Photo: Shaun Penner / EverythingGP staff)

By Shaun Penner

Columnaris believed to be the cause

City, AEP removing dead fish from Bear Creek

Jun 16, 2021 | 6:14 PM

The city says it is working with Alberta Environment & Parks to remove a quantity of dead fish from Bear Creek.

This comes after city crews were given the green light Wednesday from the province to remove the fish, which they believe were killed recently by a bacteria known as Columnaris.

Environmental Services Manager with the city Michelle Gairdner says the bacteria, which is not dangerous to humans, led to an increase in water temperature which made it difficult for the fish to breathe.

“The water temperature was quite high for a while, and that sort of exacerbated it and made for stressful conditions for the fish.”

She adds the fish that succumbed to the disease were typically in slower moving water where the water level was low.

Gairdner says these fatalities are unrelated to the swath of dead fish found in the creek earlier this year, which died from a phenomenon known as winterkill.

READ MORE: Winterkill deemed cause of death for mass of fish from Bear Lake

While they believe Columnaris is the cause of death for these fish, which she says has happened at least twice before in the creek, AEP is conducting tests to make that official.

“But based on evidence, and that this has occurred previously, it looks very similar.”

Following that testing, Gairdner says they will be working with AEP to identify anything that they might be able to do to mitigate such occurrences from happening again.

“(Ask them) why? What can we do? Sometimes it’s nature, and there is nothing we can do, but it will be something we will explore with Alberta Environment and Parks.”

She adds while there is no danger to the public from these dead fish, other than the unpleasant odour they create, the public is asked to avoid any areas where crews may be working to remove the fish.

Crews will mostly be working in the Muskoseepi Park area but may also move down the creek.