Winter fish kill

Fish, like other animals, cannot live without oxygen. As a result of low oxygen content in the water or its complete absence in a water body, fish kill can occur.

Fish kill is the mass death of fish due to lack of oxygen (suffocation) in the water. This happens due to natural phenomena (e.g., hot weather and algal blooms in summer or ice cover in winter) or anthropogenic impact.

For the conditions in Belarus, fish kill phenomena are most common in the late winter period. In winter, water bodies and watercourses are covered with a thick layer of ice, which stops the access of atmospheric air to the water, and the oxygen content in the water sharply decreases.

Fish kills are observed both as a result of the cessation of oxygen supply from the air and a sharp limitation of plant life under the ice.

A set of measures aimed at preventing fish kill phenomena in water bodies, according to the methodological recommendations, consists of:

- clearing water bodies of snow, arranging ice holes, and openings;

- creating continuous forest and shrub belts along river banks, preventing the washout of organic and finely dispersed substances;

- clearing tributaries, organizing additional water exchange in water bodies.

- water aeration;

- liming of water bodies.

The Senno District Inspectorate of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection strongly urges amateur anglers, who spend a lot of time in fishing grounds and possess information about the situation there like no one else, to report any cases of fish death, early pre-kill phenomena, or pollution of water bodies that may lead to the death of their inhabitants.