Premium
Report on Fish Destruction in the Niagara River in 1937
Author(s) -
Symons G. E.,
Simpson R. W.
Publication year - 1939
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1938)68[246:rofdit]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , geography , biology
The paper reports on the studies made to determine the possible cause or causes of three epidemics of fish mortality which occurred during November and December, 1937, in the vicinity of Buffalo, New York. Samples of water and dead fish were analyzed to determine the lethal agent responsible for the slaughter. Studies of the sources of pollution implicated a small stream dredged to form part of the Buffalo harbor. The sluggish flow through this harbor received the wastes of several large chemical industries and the domestic sewage from a population of some 75,000 persons. This pollution created an extreme septic condition for the major part of the year. Combination of wind velocity and direction, rainfall, and changes in lake level caused sudden discharges of the polluted waters of this small stream into the Niagara River. At such times fish were frequently observed to die. At the time of the three periods of fish mortality some extremely lethal agent seemed to be present that normally must be absent, because the fish mortality was so much greater than had ever been observed previously. The combination of circumstances of numerous pollution sources, numerous deleterious substances, and the temporary nature of the actual poisoning in the river made it impossible to fix any one effluent as responsible. Investigation disclosed a shortage of available data on the toleration limits of fish, especially under river conditions. Though the destruction of the fish was regrettable and much needless concern was raised over the health of the Niagara River communities, these three episodes did serve to focus attention on the deplorable conditions existing in the Buffalo harbor. Plans and studies are well under way, by the industries involved, to treat their wastes or to discharge a part of them into the city sewers for treatment. It is hoped that within another year at least 90 per cent of this pollution will be removed and that possible future recurrences of such episodes will be forestalled. 1