Thank you to all who have shared their findings of multiple dead sunfish throughout the lake. We've reached out to several of our contacts at NH Lakes Association, NH Fish & Game, NH DES, and our water testing team at UNH Cooperative Extension. All parties have provided us with feedback that ties this rise in sunfish casualties to "spawning stress". Our NH Fish & Game contact provided us with the following explanation:
"This is most likely the result of “spawning stress” which is not atypical this time of year in lakes with abundant sunfish populations. Spawning is a stressful event and fish with weakened immune systems become more susceptive to a bacterial infection which leads to their demise."
Below is a fact sheet regarding this phenomenon borrowed from the State of Connecticut’s website that NH Fish & Game Officer shared with us. Please read it to help better understand the issue at hand.
https://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/fishing/general_information/spawning_related_fish_kill_fact_sheet.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2W86VhMiV6spIoHUJqNcvKRHyKyArewDlPENvjWdto6V0J8O2gMrdC_-U
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