Disturbing News for Southern Georgian Bay, Bacteria causing bird die-off

I had heard from some friends in Wasaga that dead birds were starting to wash up on shore recently. This immediately made me think of the botulism outbreak a decade ago... And it turns out to be exactly the same thing. Link to CTV News article:

https://barrie.ctvnews.ca/sickening-and-ups...n-bay-1.5631716

No word on whether or not this impacts of larger fish species - but it probably does, right? Anyways, think twice before keeping any fish from the Bay for the next little while.

If anyone has info on how this toxin builds-up in larger predatory fish please let me know.

Terrible news. If conditions are anything but normal... bad things seem to happen.

As best I remember, there was no concern about large fish the last time this happened.

The birds are getting it because they are feeding on shellfish on the bottom of the lake.

Most of our target species are not bottom feeders.(No politicians out there.)

If I catch a steelhead, they will be introduced to "Mr. Bradley" and some wood smoke.

SDC

10 years ago it was started with whitefish eating zebra muscles and dying. Then birds were eating the whitefish and also dying.

Cooking to an internal temperature of 85C for a few minutes will decontaminate the food.

all freshwater fish need to be well cooked anyway to kill possible parasites.

Here is the answer to your question.I was in wasaga last week and came across this poor sturgeon.

Wow, sad but a nice find.

i'm sorry guys but I don't buy this botulism thing , the sturgeon and many of the migrating northern waterfowl feed heavily on zebra mussels which in turn feed by filtering the water as it passes by so if they ingest any form of toxins that would pass along to those consuming them ..

Think on it , as a long time Wasaga resident I've witnessed many incidents that could cause toxins getting into our great river , go up and down the Nott now , many new huge homes on the river banks , spray their properties for insect pests ,run off in our river and who knows what else as some treat our river as a dumping site...

I'm an licenced exterminator for over 15 yrs and can tell you that number one people hate bugs , along the Nott properties near rivers edge have spider issues ( makes sense , spiders feed where the bugs are )in turn your local pest control spray for them with products that are classed as " HIGHLY TOXIC TO BIRDS AND FISH "

OK ; Toxic product in the water ingested by mussels ..spells " Death " to birds and fish..

Not only pesticides but lawn fertilizers , grub control and on and on ..

As long as we treat our waterways as a dump site be ready yo see more and more of this type of preventable die off ..

This is not a rant guys just a statement of facts , if you wish to discuss further you know my handle

Interesting observation ; go up the Bruce , the pretty,silver, Indian , beaver and all the way up to the sydenham in owen sound .

Have you ever heard of a die off on these lightly populated rivers ..

"NO"

If you are so convinced that we are being lied to, you are free to get some samples on your own and have them tested at an independent lab.

Interesting observation ; go up the Bruce , the pretty,silver, Indian , beaver and all the way up to the sydenham in owen sound .

Have you ever heard of a die off on these lightly populated rivers ..

"NO"

It was covid I tell you, nothing more, last time it was MERS and then SARS, believe or don't what you want.

Obviously all the pesticides and agricultural runoff are bad for the watersheds and negatively impact on the health of birds, fish, and pretty much anything that lives in or near the water. And the Nottawasaga is in much worse shape than most other (all other?) Georgian Bay tribs. Having said that, those types of chemicals do not typically cause acute die-offs. They build up gradually in an animal's system and are worse for larger organisms because the effects are amplified up the food chain. The impacts are usually seen as reproductive issues or genetic defects, not short term mortality. Unless there was some serious chemical spill or point-source contamination, these birds are dying from something else. The die-off event in 2011 was almost certainly caused by botulism - that was proven with lab tests. We'll have to wait and see if the cause of this die-off ends up confirmed as well.

100%. Bioaccumulation is more of a concern for pesticides. Instant die offs are not from regular pesticide usage.

Also botulism is a common factor in all natural settings. What makes it more dangerous is Zebra muscles.
Zebra mussels create a low-oxygen environment where the toxin can grow, then round gobies eat the zebra mussels and the disease works its way up the food chain.
I also read that round gobies can contain much higher levels of botulism before dying than many species which would make them like little time bombs when they are eaten.

Finding mass die offs of birds is a good indicator that a botulism die off has occurred but those bird can easily be tested to confirm that.

Finding one dead sturgeon on the shore I am sure is not a good direct indicator as so many factors can kill a singular fish. If you found many many dead fish fish specially those that target gobies like perch and small mouth bass then I would think that’s a better indication of botulism poisoning.

sdcaller.... I agree with you, no politicians are there.....yet.....lol.

That's where I would put my $$

Time will tell