100,000 fish die in northern Nevada marina after mysterious drop in oxygen levels
State wildlife officials are trying to figure out why all the fish have died in
a northern Nevada marina where the stocked fishery has flourished since the
man-made lake was created nearly 15 years ago.
An estimated 100,000 trout, bass and catfish
have died over the past month in the Sparks Marina along U.S. Interstate 80 east
of Reno, apparently the result of a dramatic, unexplained drop in dissolved
oxygen levels,
The Sparks Marina opened in 2000, with a 2-mile walking and bike trail, beaches,
playgrounds, picnic areas and a fishing pier. The former aggregate pit operated
by Helms Construction Co. had been found to be contaminated in 1988 by
pollutants leaking from an adjacent tank farm, but state environmental officials
said all the pollution had been cleaned up before a 1997 New Year's Day flood
sent Truckee River waters into the pit.
Wow!
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