See a fishkill ? call 1-800-565-1633

The PEI Government Environmental Emergency Response Team responds to environmental emergencies including oil, pesticide and chemical spills, air quality problems, environmental/wildlife infractions, injured wildlife, and fish kills.

PEI Fish kill Facts

• 50 fishkills over 50 years = 1 fish kill per year on average
• First reported Fishkill was August 4, 1962. Pesticides were recently invented by 1962. It didn't take long for pesticides to find Island waters.
• The earliest time of year for a reported fish kill was June 19, 1971 on the West River.
• The latest time of year for a reported fish kill was September 3rd, 2004 on the Dunk River
• Reported fish kills are most likely to occur between the dates of July 19th to the 25th. During those calendar dates, there have been a total of 18 reported fish kills.
• The worst year for reported fish kills was 1999. There were 8 reported fishkills in 1999. This was repeated in 2002 with another eight reported fish kills. The third worst year for reported fish kills would be 1967 with six.
• The river with the highest number of reported fish kills is the Dunk and Westmoreland Rivers. Both rivers have had five fishkills over the years. The Trout River in Coleman follows with 4 reported fishkills. The Big Pierre Jacques, Orwell and Tyron River are tied with 3 reported fish kills each.
• We have incomplete data on the causes of many of the reported fish kills. In cases where we do have data, the most likely pesticide found associated with a reported fish kill is azinphos methyl. Azinphos methyl was found in 11 reported fish kills. The next likely pesticide found was endosulfan with nine reported fish kills finding that substance. Chlorothalonil rounds out the top three with five fish kills reporting that substance found.
• The worst fish kill would argueably be the Profit's Pond fish kill in 1995. Profit's Pond was a semi-natural pond used for raising salmon during that time and up to 40,000 salmon smolts were lost. The farmer responsible for this fish kill was fined $200. Would you beleive me if I told you that the next year it happened again ? It's true unfortunately. In 1996, another fish kill happened in Long Creek, which feeds Profit's pond. Again, up to 40,000 salmon smolts were lost. Today, Profit's Pond is no longer a semi-natural fish rearing facility.