SANDY CREEK, N.Y. -- "I was sitting on my porch last night and a neighbor was walking by and he said ‘you should see all the dead walleye up there,’" said Steve Tillabough, Sandy Pound resident.
Between a 1,000 and 1,500 walleye have been killed along Sandy Creek. Many who live along the creek said they're concerned. They said they haven't seen folks from the DEC investigating, just crews from Canada removing the dead fish.
"I'm angry at the fact that they've tried to cover it up and the fact that it's going to affect a lot of businesses around here that rely on fishing as their livelihood," said Ray Willis, Central Square resident.
So what exactly happened? According to a spokesperson with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the organization began its lampricide treatment on Thursday. The chemical kills the larval sea lamprey parasite. But that evening, there was a problem.
Crews from Canada were out this weekend cleaning up thousands of dead walleye along the Sandy Creek. As our Amy Ohler reports it appears that the chemical lampricide caused the die off.
"At first count there was about 100. Since then, we've conducted a cleanup and we estimate about a 1,000 and 1,500 walleye. Of those fish, fortunately most of them had spawned out and we're finding predominately males in the collection," said Brian Stephens, of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, they've been treating Sandy Creek with lampricide since 1972. The organization said they have treated the creek before during the walleye spawning season and until now, have never had a problem.
"You know, it's not something that we're proud of and it's unfortunate, but you know, we stand by the people in our crew able to so this stuff professionally," said Stephens.
Stephens said they've conducted a thorough cleanup of the area and there is no threat to the public. He said although there were problems this year, they'll still continue doing lamprey control.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada are taking the dead fish to the Volney landfill.
Some people we spoke with said they're concerned about who is going to be held responsible since the lampricide treatment was a joint effort between the U.S. and Canada.