Ustevatn in Hol municipality is 12.2 square kilometers in size and 90 meters at its deepest. Now it also contains a fishing mystery, which suddenly appeared in the last week. Last Wednesday, someone noticed that fish were behaving abnormally, with their heads above water and gasping for air. – The next day even more were observed, and on Friday we found hundreds of dead whitefish, lying and floating in the water in three different places, says Kjell Mykeltvedt to news. Hundreds of dead fish floated in Ustevatn last week. Photo: Kjell Mykeltvedt – Must be something serious. He is a fisheries biologist and retired environmental protection manager in Hol municipality, and has never seen anything like it. – Some swam aimlessly around the surface, and eventually they stood straight up and down, with their heads above the water and gasping for air. In the end they just lay on the surface of the water. – What did you think when you saw this? – That something serious must have happened. I had not seen anything like this before, so we contacted the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the Veterinary Institute. Jan Egil Grue (Hafslund E-CO), Helge Verpe (land owner), Kjell Mykeltvedt (fishery biologist and retired environmental protection manager Hol municipality), Sofie Ottesen (Food Safety Authority), Olav Arvid Haugen (land owner) and Martin Ekse (Hafslund E-CO) have tried to find out the mystery in Ustevatn. Photo: Rolf Mykeltvedt Will examine samples On Monday, Sofie Ottesen from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was in place to carry out investigations. Landowners and people from Hafslund E-CO were also out in boats, searching with a drone, writes Hallingdølen. These samples will now be examined. – I picked up a couple of dead fish and dissected them, and was particularly interested in the gills, as it looked like they lacked oxygen. – But the gills looked fine, and I didn’t see any coating or anything like that, and I didn’t see anything abnormal in the fish’s entrails either, says Mykeltvedt. Kjell Mykeltvedt checked the fish that was found dead in Ustevatn. Photo: Kjell Myckeltvedt No reported discharge He hopes the Veterinary Institute can solve the fish riddle over the next few days. – There could be something to do with the water quality, but it’s also a bit strange, because it is a very large body of water, says Myckeltvedt. After the discoveries last week, no more dead fish have appeared in recent days. – It could be some toxin, or some form of disease or parasite. We have done some research in the area and no one has noticed any discharge or seen any signs of it. Published 24/07/2024, at 11.40
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The fish fought frantically for their lives, and gasped for air – news Buskerud – Local news, TV and radio
