Wildlife advocates question stocking of Lake Glacier after last year's fish kill

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife next week will conduct its annual restocking of Lake Glacier with rainbow trout.

For many years, the wildlife division has stocked that lake (and many others in the state) for recreational fishing.

“There are hundreds of people that show up for the opportunity to fish these 10- to 14-inch rainbow trout,” said Steve Avery, MetroParks planning and natural resources director.

Some area wildlife advocates have called into question that practice this year, however, given that the MetroParks experienced a massive fish kill in one of its lakes last summer.

“I know that many people do not put value on the lives of fish. But part of the issue that we had considered was that the stocking of these fish and placing them in potentially deadly waters could have an ugly outcome again,” said Angie McCullough Bradian, a member of advocacy group Save the Wildlife in Mill Creek Park.

“It would not hurt for the park to take a break from the stocking. Watching [fish] suffer and die last year was not a fond memory for many people who are sensitive to the suffering of animals,” she said, adding she also is concerned about the safety of eating fish caught in the lake. “It just doesn’t feel like a responsible move.”

MetroParks officials, however, do not draw a connection between the two events, nor do they believe the 2,500 fish the wildlife division will put in Lake Glacier on Thursday are at great risk of meeting a similar fate to the fish that died in Lake Newport due to insufficient levels of dissolved oxygen in the water.

Read more on the situation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.