Pesticide used in attempt to eradicate invasive fish species in Nova Scotia lake
Global News
The eradication project follows another at Piper Lake in the province's Pictou County that was carried out in October 2020.
Nova Scotia’s Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture is attempting to chemically eradicate invasive smallmouth bass in a lake in the eastern part of the province.
Jason LeBlanc, the department’s director of its inland fisheries division, says the pesticide rotenone was used in Dobsons Lake near Canso, N.S., this past weekend.
The eradication project follows another at Piper Lake in the province’s Pictou County that was carried out in October 2020.
LeBlanc says the measure of last resort in the 52-hectare lake is aimed at preserving native brook trout in the Cole Harbour watershed.
He says it was determined that smallmouth bass were illegally transferred to Dobsons Lake in the spring of 2020.
Before resorting to rotenone, LeBlanc says the lake’s outflow was blocked off and unsuccessful attempts were made to remove the invasive species through targeted angling and electrofishing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2022.
