Hundreds of fish die at Piedmont Park’s Lake Clara Meer (Update)
August 9, 2009 at 5:43 pm by Thomas Wheatley in News
It was an eerie and stinky scene at Piedmont Park today as hundreds of dead fish floated on the surface and washed up on the shores of Lake Clara Meer.
Parkgoers were baffled by the event, which a Georgia Department of Natural Resources official interviewed by the AJC said was most likely caused by algae bloom. When the algae die off, the water’s oxygen can dissolve. If that was what caused today’s die-off, then the fish essentially suffocated to death.
Underneath dead fish washed ashore, you could spot schools swimming below nipping at the flies landing on the bodies. A spokesman for the Piedmont Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that helps maintain the public park, say it’s likely those fish will also die.
The AJC notes that these events are a common occurrence during the summer in the Southeast. Park officials expect more information to become available in the coming days. Additional DNR officials are scheduled to evaluate the situation on Monday.
After the jump, a statement from the conservancy’s president and CEO and more photos of dead fish.
From Yvette Bowden, Piedmont Park Conservancy president and CEO:
Issue Statement On Dead Fish At Lake Clara Meer
On Sunday, August 9, 2009 a major fish kill occurred in Lake Clara Meer at Piedmont Park. The Department of Natural Resources investigated and is attributing the incident to a naturally occurring oxygen crash in the lake, fueled by an algae bloom, which is an issue that has occurred at other bodies of water across the state this summer.
The Conservancy will continue working with our partners, the City of Atlanta and Department of Natural Resources, on this investigation. At this time, we are focusing on working removing the dead fish, stabilizing the oxygen levels and eventually restocking the lake.
(Photos by Thomas Wheatley)
August 9th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Before anyone even starts to suggest it, a big fish kill in Piedmont Park and taking care of the lake is NOT the responsibility of the Piedmont Park Conservancy. The Board and management of the Conservancy need to focus on revenue opportunities and special events like the Paul McCartney concert. Large deaths among urban fish populations do just happen.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Damn…All that good eating gone to waste. Coulda fed a whole lot of homeless people.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
good eating for the homeless? most of them are too lazy to fish and beg for my hard-earned money. they also hang out in the gazebo overlooking the lake. we need to have those security guards kicking out the homeless so that people actually paying their taxes can enjoy it.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
So should someone from another state not be able to go to the park either? What a jackass. If they are not panhandling, they are doing nothing wrong. They have to be somewhere and have just as much of right to be there as you do.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
The media is lying when they say nothing could have been done to prevent this. A simple fountain, recirculating and aeration of the water, would have done the trick. This is how most other cities handle this issue. Unfortunately, the City of Atlanta, under whose jurisdiction this park falls under, is too incompetent to do much of anything other than riding around in their stupid security golf carts harassing people. Your tax dollars at work.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Hi
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We propose the use of Diatom Algae to increase oxygen level of water and to provide food for fish.
best regards
Bhaskar
http://www.kadambari.net
August 10th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
“Before anyone even starts to suggest it, a big fish kill in Piedmont Park and taking care of the lake is NOT the responsibility of the Piedmont Park Conservancy. The Board and management of the Conservancy need to focus on revenue opportunities and special events like the Paul McCartney concert. Large deaths among urban fish populations do just happen.”
If the Conservancy fertilized the park grounds in anticipation of the Wings’ bassist coming to town, then the Conservancy might indeed be “responsible” for the unsustainable algae levels and subsequent fish kill. I’m not saying. I’m just saying.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Ripped from the headlines:
http://www.nuvo.net/news/article/unsafe-waters-indianapolis
August 10th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Ya’ll need to stop pissing in the pond.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Dash: I hope you aren’t suggesting that the Piedmont Park Conservancy should be responsible for environmental matters in Piedmont Park. The Conservancy’s revenues must be way down, and they must be focusing on events like the Paul McCartney that generate a lot of money for the Conservancy. Amenities like the health of the fish and water quality in the lake will have to wait. I assume the Piedmont Park Conservancy will begin thinking about public safety when they start rolling in the dough again. Saturday’s stabbing at the lake and last month’s murder in Piedmont Park are probably just anomalies that probably will not distract the Conservancy from its revenues goals.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Beth – I agree the Conservancy should focus 100% on protecting the dealers, hookers, johns, pimps, addicts, drunks and predators that come into the park to commit crime at 3:30 in the morning.
BTW, “fish kills” in hot weather are pretty common, especially in bodies of water that don’t have a very high flow rate.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Jill is correct that, in many cases, some form of aeration will help, but it often goes far beyond a “simple fountain”.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
“Dash: I hope you aren’t suggesting that the Piedmont Park Conservancy should be responsible for environmental matters in Piedmont Park.”
Only the environmental matters the Conservancy affects negatively by its actions. That’s just common sense.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
i never understood how/why people ate fish from this pond anyway.
or swim, for that matter, which my pops swears he has seen people attempt.
a fountain would help aerate the water but is no cure-all. get on it, piedmont park conservancy – earn that money that paul mccartney is handing u.
August 10th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
And be careful with that chicken manure you’re spreading.
http://www.ajc.com/hotjobs/content/business/stories/2008/07/03/chicken_manure_fertilizer.html
http://green-law.org/net/content/page.aspx?s=19644.0.101.19069
Just because fish kills happen naturally doesn’t mean this one was necessarily inevitable. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe someone from WGCL will ask the Tough Questions.™
August 10th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
DaleC: I know the Piedmont Park Conservancy is responsible for basic security in the Park. But they have been hit hard with high expenses and low revenues. The Conservancy needs to focus on ways they can use Piedmont Park to make money. Once they do that, they can turn their attention to other matters, like public safety and a healthy lake. It’s unfortunate, but what else can the Piedmont Park Conservancy be expected to do?
August 10th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Y’all are too funny! Do you really think this group cares a flip about the wellbeing of the Park??? The PPC has long since forgotten their “roots” in preserving the Park. They couldn’t care less about the health of the Park. Their only goal is to sell off parts of the Park to the highest bidder. I can’t wait to be strolling though the Park with my kids and be told we can’t come into part of our Park because the PPC has rented our land to a private party for a special event to line their pockets. Oh wait…that is already happening this next weekend! Poor fish. They just weren’t paying enough to the PPC or the City to warrant protection…sad.
August 10th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Beth – I may have misunderstood you, if so I apologize. Tone and expression are lost on blogs and I am used to people being very negative toward the PCC around here. I don’t know you well enough to tell if you are being sarcastic or not.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Not only is the AJC loosing readers, their online commenters seem to be blathering about here as well!
I wouldn’t be surprised if these clowns blamed the PPC if a plane were to crash in the park.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:46 am
It’s “losing,” not “loosing.” It’s not your fault you can’t spell. I blame the PPC.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I sent an email at least a week before this happened, warning them of the dangerous patterns appearing. The vice president of the conservancy basically went into “defensive” mode and basically told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. I sent that in depth email to them hoping they would take some of it into consideration, but they didn’t. Now everything is ruined.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
The Park is owned by the City of Atlanta. The PPC’s Mission and Goals, per its website, are:
Mission
To enhance and preserve Piedmont Park as a vital urban green space and as a cultural and recreational resource that enhances the quality of life for all Atlantans.
Goals
• Improve accessibility to and within the Park;
• Restore and protect the Park’s natural environment
and historic character;
• Enhance conditions for the safe enjoyment of the Park;
• Provide education and recreation programs for
Park goers;
• Host volunteer activities in the Park.
Clearly, they have natural resource preservation as part of their mission and goals. Algal blooms are not a “natural” phenomenon in the southeast. They’re results of over-fertilization and poor resource management. I would venture a guess that in preparation for the Sir Paul concert, the PPC over-fertilized to make sure things were green, and then much or most of it was washed into the lake. That causes the algae to reproduce at exponential rates, and then they use up all the extra nutrients, die and decompose, and the dissolved oxygen is consumed by the organisms that aid algal decomposition.
The PPC CERTAINLY is responsible for the stewardship of the natural resources in the park. This fish kill was a direct result of PPC “management” of the park, or more accurately, lack thereof.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
If you read their newsletter from last fall, the PPC is totally stoked about their “organic” (chicken litter) fertilizer. Again, it’s at least possible that the PPC failed to consider that what promotes turf growth also promotes algae growth if it ends up in the lake. If so, the story still doesn’t have legs because, as I understand it, it was the PPC that stocked the lake in the first place. Another reason the story doesn’t have legs is because, well, neither do fish. The “cute” factor is absent here.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
“DNR spokesperson Robin Hill said the agency was told by workers from the conservancy and lake management group on-site that the lake was sprayed Aug. 6; however, it’s unknown what might have been sprayed and for what reason.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/clean-up-mostly-completed-at-lake-clara-meer-114288.html
August 28th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
It is very much disappointing to hear all those things.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
never heard of a “fish kill” as a common occurrence. It looks like someone through a hair dryer in the lake.