(Photo: Eric Bruce Hewey/Facebook)
All testing on dead herring that washed ashore in Southwestern Nova Scotia has come back negative.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans confirming today that any human related cause such as pollution has been ruled out.
DFO Regional General Director Doug Wentzell says various test results were examined.
“It does not appear to be caused by any human related activities, or contaminants, or any food related issues based on the testing that we’ve got back ourselves and from our partners.”
Regional Director of Science Alain Vezina says they will try to pinpoint a probable cause, but even that won’t be easy.
“At some point, we will either identify a most probable cause, or we’ll say we don’t have any more data to help us identify a most probable cause, at which point we’ll have to stop investigating.”
Vezina says they found out from local fishermen that larger than normal amounts of herring have been seen in the area, and they know there was a sharp temperature drop and rise around mid-December.
Meanwhile, DFO says no new major fish kills have been found along beaches from Tusket to the Annapolis Valley.
Few new wash-ups of herring have been identified and not to the extent reported in earlier pic.twitter.com/z1C5hg8Sn6
— DFO Maritimes (@DFO_MAR) January 3, 2017
Thousands of dead herring, along with clams, lobster, starfish and other species were found on beaches of St. Mary’s Bay on Boxing Day.
DFO Area Chief of Conservation and Protection Chris Sperry says no other wash-ups of invertebrates have been found.
For more information on fish and other species washing ashore in Nova Scotia: https://t.co/RqQ8mr5h2p
— DFO Maritimes (@DFO_MAR) January 5, 2017
