Fish Kill - Lake Parker - Lakeland FL - Feb 2009

Around the 7th of February I started noticing dead fish in Lake Parker, in Lakeland Florida. Today, the 10th, I made a video of what had become a progressively worse situation. Upon investigating the matter online, I found an article in the Lakeland Ledger dealing with the issue. Below is my short take and part of the article:

Ray Watson, a fisheries biologist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission looks at a dead fish that was part of a large fish kill at Lake Parker in Lakeland on Monday, February 9, 2009. (As reported by the Lakeland Ledger)

Ron Thorndike, with the City of Lakeland Lakes and Stormwater Division, uses a net to haul dead fish from the lake. You'll see a video of the dumpster that the fish were being hauled to in a moment. Doug Gleckler, the city's lakes manager, said the fish kill was the result of a combination of recent cold weather and high winds, which affected algae growth, and seriously reduced the polluted lake's dissolved oxygen concentrations.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Wildlife conservation
• Fish kill
• Central Florida
• Causality
• Pollution
• Lake Parker
• Lakeland Florida

[dossen2620]

I just spelled algae wrong, that is all. I think we have nearly 500 lakes here in Lakeland. Did any other lakes that you know of suffer such a great loss? It seems other lakes would have had the same prob but on a smaller scale. I found this story interesting and wanted to futher understand. Thanks

[unseenstrings]

I passed by a few of the other lakes, and I've talked to others who lived near or frequented some of the other lakes. I did hear of some fish dying in the other lakes. But I know of no problem equivalent to what was suffered at Parker but on a smaller scale. I have noticed this year Parker wasn't "drained" in preparation of hurricane season, as I was told it had been the year of the problem. But I can see where the high water level causes erosion. Lake management can sometimes be a Catch 22.

[dossen2620]

high winds cause allegy growth? seems like it would grow way more allegy in the summer. hard to believe, sounds fishy lol

[unseenstrings]

@dossen2620, high winds supposedly removed the oxygen from the water that resulted in the "algae" boom. Nearly all algae have photosynthetic machinery ultimately derived from the Cyanobacteria, and so produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. The algae boom would have been indicative of particular conditions within the water.

Now when you wrote "allegy" instead of algae, I don't know if it was a typo or intentional. Were you trying to make a pun and meant allergy? What does allegy mean?

[stickguyx]

what is that on the bottom left of the screen at 1:41 ?

[unseenstrings]

@stickguyx, that was my red headed companion whom I call Rosy. She is an AKC Registered Chihuahua. She weighed around 3 1/2 pounds for the first 6 years of her life. Then she started getting the middle-age spread. Now she is up to around 4 1/2 pounds. She could hear my voice and was wagging her tail as she walked. There was a dark spot on the parking lot exactly at 1:41; then she came into view. And I realized she is probably what you saw. Taz is getting petted in the background later on.

[unseenstrings]

@Flatzout, the "Fish Kill" involved more than just trash fish. But remember, this video was made two years ago. I may have taken some pictures. I'll check to see if I can find them if I did. Also, no doubt some agency took steps to restock some of the gamefish after the die-off. And some of the fish could have come from the lakes behind the main power plant that didn't suffer the fish-kill like parker.

I'm unsure you can see some of the bass in the dumpster. It was truly a sad sight to see.

[PhantomLyric]

I mean, it IS right next to a power plant. lol Haven't the simpsons tought us nothing. I'd also be surprised if the same thing wasn't happening at sattle creek because it's on the other side of the power plant pretty much. Just down the road from my old house.

[Roofuss12345]

i useta fish in some of those old phosphate pits there were all numberd like pit 1 2 3 and so on. some fish were ok to eat other werent a good idea. the banks are weird too you can walk like 4 feet in the water then theres a 15 foot drop