Hundreds of carp discovered in Lost Lagoon, prompting investigation

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — It was a bad day for the creatures living in Lost Lagoon, especially the nearly 500 carp found dead on its surface.

The Vancouver Park Board is investigating alongside the Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), but so far, they have no definitive results.

Senior Environment and Sustainability Planner Chad Townsend says they sent fish out for autopsy and necropsy and are awaiting results, but until then, they can’t say for sure what killed the carp.

So uh, what up with this mass carp die off in Lost Lagoon right now @ParkBoard pic.twitter.com/GN8ZMNMAvJ

— Chris Hodgkinson (@IAmPattyJack) September 21, 2021

Still, he says, “It’s almost certainly related to the condition that Lost Lagoon is in.”

It may also have been related to recent weather but what Townsend does know for sure is vehicle pollution isn’t helping.

“A whole lot of rain came after a long dry period, so it could have been related to low oxygen within the lake or stirring up the sediment in the bottom,” said Townsend.

Heavy metals often settle at the bottom of the lagoon, and if they’re kicked up, they can make it “very hard for fish to survive,” added Townsend.

Jeannine Guerette, Senior Marketing and Communications Specialist for the Vancouver Park Board, said in a statement that operational crews removed the dead fish from the water.

“There may be a number of reasons for why this happened, possibly triggered by the heavy rainstorm last week,” Guerette says.

“Beyond this incident, staff have been aware of the ecological issues and challenges at Lost Lagoon for some time, and over the last few years have been exploring various feasible solutions to restore the area.”

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Lost Lagoon was artificially created in the early 1900s, then switched from a tidal ecosystem to a pond when a berm was built for Highway 99.

“Because it’s isolated, infilling and now only approximately a metre deep — with much of the shoreline non-naturalized — it is considered an ecologically poor and low-functioning habitat,” wrote Guerette.

It will take “significant infrastructure, investment, and time” to fix that and restore the area “to the point where ecology is its primary function.”

Townsend agrees that there’s no “easy fix” to the ecological issues in Lost Lagoon.

“It’s a very unfortunate incident, but I hope it does raise awareness for people who don’t know after all this time that Lost Lagoon isn’t a healthy freshwater habitat,” he said.

“It’s unnatural and isolated by Highway 99 and the causeway, so as we look ahead to future projects, there will be significant investment required for Lost Lagoon, to make it a healthy habitat.”

The Vancouver Parks Board is working on the Stanley Park Comprehensive Plan, which is currently being developed in partnership with the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. It will be presented to the board in early 2022.

 

– With files from John Ackermann.