Hundreds of fish die as heat lowers oxygen in Franklin Pond

By Jamie Goldenbaum, New Jersey Herald
from http://www.njherald.com/newss/Hundreds.htm

Herald Staff Writer

FRANKLIN, New Jersey - 7/26/01 -- Borough officials had expected the smell of decaying vegetation after the water level at the Franklin Pond was lowered. They didn't expect the sinus-penetrating stench of dead fish brought on by the scorching heat.

The state Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries started relocating the pond's fish population to Silver Lake, a state-owned wildlife management area in Hardyston, a week ago to prepare for dredging 80,000 cubic yards of zinc- and arsenic-contaminated sediment from the pond and for the construction of a new dam. The state had begun removing the fish by shocking them with electric pulses to stun them to the surface last week, and Bureau Technician Kelly Davis said more than 1,000 fish have been scooped from the pond and let loose in Silver Lake.

The water level was lowered about two feet last week, and an additional six to eight feet of water was drained from the pond through a suction tube to bring the water level down to about four feet, Davis said. Officials expected that pond vegetation exposed to the sun would decay and give off an odor.

But the intense seasonal heat dissolved much of the oxygen in the shallower water, said Spokesman Al Ivany of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife and borough public works Manager Mike Gunderman. Hundreds of sucker fish, which live in the sand at the bottom of the pond and eat the eggs of other fish, died in the suction tube and in the shallow water from a lack of oxygen.

"It's an unforeseeable happening," Gunderman said. "You gotta be positive ... Some things are just a little bit harder than others. We have to put our heads together for a solution."

State technicians put on their wading boots and grabbed nets to scoop the stinking dead fish from the now-shallow Wallkill River, which flows through the pond, and dump them into garbage bags.

Gunderman said he had his entire six-man public works staff working on the recovery effort at the river's edge Wednesday. The contracting company working on the dam, Navka Construction, sent an additional two crewmen to the river site to aid borough and state efforts.

The bags of dead fish were thrown into a garbage truck and later taken to the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority. The price of $65 per ton to dump the dead fish at the county landfill was incidental, Gunderman said, and would be included as part of the state grant-funded pond restoration project.

A pile of garbage bags was donated to the cause by the Franklin Elementary School and additional bags were purchased from Wal-Mart, Gunderman said.

Efforts to secure funding to construct a new dam behind the existing structure and dredge the pond of toxic sediment began more than five years ago with the help of Sen. Robert E. Littell, R-24. In 1997, the borough received $400,000, another $275,000 in 1998, $355,000 in 1999 and another $250,000 last year.

Gunderman and Ivany said complaints from residents were received in both of their offices regarding the smell and the large number of dead fish popping up in the Wallkill River on the other side of the suction tube.

Ivany acknowledged that fish will die when a water body is significantly drained of its main resource and oxygen supply, which is why removing the fish was accounted for in the project's scope of work.

"This tends to happen when you drop a pond," Davis said Wednesday while readying equipment on his boat to be used to shock fish.

High nutrient levels hindered fish retrieval on the first day bureau technicians put their boats in the pond and only about 100 fish, mostly sunnies, were taken from the pond. However, electricity amplification levels were adjusted to compensate for the poor water quality and efforts improved. Davis said they would return to the site today and possibly Friday to continue efforts.

Pugliese and Gunderman marveled at the sizes of some fish taken to Silver Lake. On Tuesday, a seven-pound bass was retrieved, and earlier in the week a five-pound bass was scooped up from the pond, along with a two-foot pickerel and a 15-inch yellow perch.

By the height of Wednesday's mid-afternoon heat, officials were waiting for the forecasted rain accompanied by a cool front to help the situation. Ivany and Davis said cool rain could lower the water temperature, allowing for more oxygen in the pond.

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