LAKE COUNTY — As dead carp continue to be pushed by the wind to the Clear Lake shoreline, the county”s parks department is offering the public two pits in which to dump the fish for burial. The trenches are located at Hammond Park in Nice and at Lakeside County Park near Kelseyville.
Dead animals, including fish, are not allowed at the county landfill because of permitting requirements designed to protect the groundwater, according to Public Services Department Director Kim Clymire.
He said he is reluctant to put dumpsters at county parks because they are often 8 feet high and the bags of dead fish could prove too heavy to lift, and because the dumpsters can easily become illegal dumping sites where trash that should go to the landfill becomes intermingled with the dead fish.
“We”re just going to have to monitor it. If it gets worse and what we”re doing isn”t working, we will have to consider other options,” Clymire said.
Other options might include getting a waiver from the state waste board in Sacramento to allow the dead carp at the landfill, Clymire said, but that would only happen in an emergency.
“We”re not there yet,” Clymire said.
Clymire said his parks maintenance staff have removed approximately 100 dead carp from 500 feet of shoreline at county parks in Nice, Lucerne and Clearlake Oaks during the past two days.
There are no signs marking trenches at Hammond and Lakeside parks where dead carp can be dumped, but both are surrounded by yellow caution tape and a mound of dirt is visible nearby.
The trench at Lakeside County Park sits in field to the left of the main entrance and is approximately 3 feet wide by 20 feet long. The trench at Hammond Park is approximately 7,500 yards from a swing set along a dirt road, and is more of a pit, measuring approximately 10 feet by 20.
Record-Bee Outdoor Columnist Terry Knight said the carp are dying out in the middle of the lake, and their bodies are pushed to shore by the wind.
“Based on the calls I have been getting, Nice and Clearlake Oaks are where even the gentle winds are taking them. Most of them are tangled in weed beds, but as soon as we get a windy day they will break free and be driven up on the beaches,” Knight said.
The National Weather Service weekend forecast for Lakeport includes southwest winds gusting as high as 20 miles per hour on Friday and west-southwest wind gusting as high as 18 miles per hour on Saturday, along with a chance of rain both days.
Department of Fish and Game scientist Jay Rowan said DFG representatives were expected to take samples Wednesday to determine why the fish are dying. Rowan said the department”s pathology lab needs to use live fish that are “on their way out” for testing.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
