The Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment is following up on a reported incident of fish mortalities at the Cardigan Fish Hatchery.
Spokesperson Art Smith, Director of the Conservation and Management Division, said the hatchery advised the department that a number of arctic charr died following the heavy rainfall Wednesday. The fish, which were in outside holding ponds at the hatchery, were in the range of 1.0 to 1.5 pounds in size.
"It appears that a variety of factors may have contributed to the deaths, but it does not appear to be a toxic event," Mr. Smith said.
The fish involved were being treated for gill parasites and would be under stress from the treatment and, therefore, in a weakened condition. As well, Mr. Smith said, the heavy rainfall caused the water temperature to increase to 16 degrees Celcius, which would be another added stress for Arctic charr.
A third contributing factor may have been siltation of the Cardigan River, which is a water source for the hatchery. However, Mr. Smith noted, the degree of siltation was not as great as that which was associated with an incident of fish mortalities at the hatchery late last month. At that time, an inland sand mining pit at the head of the river was identified as a source of siltation. The contractor has since taken steps to correct the situation. Mr. Smith said investigators checked the area following the heavy rain Wednesday and confirmed there was no runoff from the site.
It does not appear that either the earlier incident or the incident this week caused mortalities of wild fish in the stream beside the hatchery facility.