WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – Plenty of people have been asking why fish were dying this week at Belleville Lake.
It is a frigid Sunday on Belleville Lake, yet Justin Atkins and his wife are here checking it out.
“Because we are going to take our boat out here next weekend,” said Atkins.
They also couldn't miss all of the dead perch that line the shore, and people want to know why.
“We’re going for perch. If they are sick, we won’t want it,” said Atkins.
The Department of Natural Rescources also wants to know what killed the fish. They sent investigators out all last week to find out.
Their conclusions found that the fish were not poisoned, but it was a combination of the weather and the perch being stressed from not eating much during the winter. They went into spawning season and weren't robust enough to survive.
The perch likely floated down from Ford Lake, and it's believed there is low oxygen in the water near the dam there.
The fish were collected for further testing, and investigators did not find any spills or sheen on the water that would indicate a chemical killed the fish.