The Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment received reports of three incidents of fish mortalities over the weekend, bringing the number of investigations to five.
The department received reports Friday evening of dead fish in the Wilmot River in Wilmot Valley and a tributary of the Clyde River in the Kingston area. A call Sunday night alerted the department to dead fish in a tributary of the Trout River in the O'Leary area.
Spokesperson Bruce Raymond, of the department's Water Resources Division, said the incident in the Wilmot River affected a four-kilometre area east of Cairns Road through Marchbank's Pond in Wilmot Valley.
"Approximately 6,100 fish were collected over the weekend. That includes mostly brook trout and a small number of rainbow trout and sticklebacks," he said.
The second incident reported Friday night involved a tributary of the Clyde River in the Kingston area. Raymond said approximately 300 fish were collected at that site, with roughly an equal number of sticklebacks and brook trout.
In both incidents reported Friday, Raymond said water temperature and dissolved oxygen did not appear to be factors in the fish mortalities.
"Water and sediment samples and dead fish were collected at each site and sent to the Environment Canada laboratory in Moncton for analysis. Until we receive those results, we cannot make any further determination as to the cause of death."
The incident reported Sunday night involved a three-kilometre area in a tributary of the Trout River above Leard's Pond. Raymond said the fish were quite decomposed, indicating that they most likely died last week.
"Because of the condition of the fish and the time that has elapsed, it is impossible to get an accurate count or to collect samples for analysis," he added.
The cleanup is continuing at the site of the three weekend incidents.
Updating the status of earlier incidents of fish mortalities, Raymond said the initial cleanup of the North River was completed over the weekend. The incident there was reported Friday morning. The area affected is a 3.5-kilometre section of the stream north of Route 2 in Milton. Raymond said approximately 1,400 fish were collected, mostly brook trout and sticklebacks.
Raymond said the department hopes to receive results later this week of laboratory analysis of water, sediment and fish tissue samples from an earlier incident of fish mortalities in the Wilmot River. That event, reported July 10, involved a five-kilometre stretch in the upper end of the river above Miller's Pond. Approximately 4,500 dead fish were collected at that time.
Raymond said results of analysis from samples taken at the three incidents reported Friday are expected to take two to three weeks.