The City of Burnaby is draining water from Central Park's lower pond to help provincial government staff catch an invasive snakehead fish believed to be on the loose.
"We are lowering the level to concentrate fish in smaller areas to assist in the fish-catch operation by (the Environment Ministry) and to study the infiltration and evaporation levels in the pond," said Dave Ellenwood, the City of Burnaby's director of parks, recreation and cultural services. Ellenwood said government staff would be at the pond Friday.
"Provincial conservation officers will be on hand to identify invasives (species), and these will be removed for disposal," he said.
On May 13, a Burnaby resident filmed a fish that appeared to be a snakehead and posted the video online, sparking a media frenzy and a hunt for the fish.
Ten days later, the provincial government and city staff dragged nets through the pond looking for the snakehead, but they came up empty handed. Another Burnaby resident has since spotted and filmed the so-called "frankenfish."
Snakeheads are an invasive species that eat other fish, frogs and the occasional small mammal. They can breathe air and wriggle on land, travelling from one body of water to another. Because they are not native to the B.C., they have no natural predators to keep them in check. They are sold as pets and as food, so it's likely someone dumped the snakehead in the pond.
Most of the fish in Central Park - koi and carp, for instance - are also invasive species, and the red-eared slider turtles seen there are dumped pets. The pond's fish will likely be killed.
"What (provincial government staff) are concerned with is finding the snakehead. If they find the snakehead, they will remove and dispose of the snakehead. If they find other species of priority concern, they will do that as well," Ellenwood said.
The Environment Ministry's Suntanu Dalal said provincial staff will be using a variety of nets to remove all non-native aquatic species from the pond in order to catch the snakehead.
"The City of Burnaby hopes to restock the pond afterwards with native species, so they have asked provincial staff to remove all non-native species that are caught," he said in an email to the NOW. "We will take them off site, keep some for analysis and humanely euthanize the rest according to animal care protocols."
The pond's red-eared slider turtles will also be removed and euthanized by a veterinarian, Dalal added.
Ellenwood said the city started lowering the water on May 23. There also are two new nets in the water to help keep the fish concentrated in smaller areas.
On Friday, the NOW paid a visit to the park and found three men fishing for the snakehead.
"If I get him, he's coming on shore," said Burnaby resident Ken Renkema. "Unless he's got a really full belly from eating all the koi, he should be biting."
Renkema, an avid fisherman, said draining the pond was the worst thing the city could do.
"They are going to destroy the habitat if they drain it - for the fish, the turtles and birds," he said.
Renkema said he had permission from the City of Burnaby to fish in the public park, but Ellenwood said Renkema was likely given the wrong information, as the city doesn't want people fishing there.
"What we would do is ask people who are fishing to stop. It's contrary to the bylaw. What we want to do is have the ministry do their work," Ellenwood said. "There's other places people can fish other than a pond in an urban park."
Central Park's lower pond is a manmade body of water. The inflow comes from a city pipe, and the outflow runs into another creek in the park, which then flows through the city's drainage system, eventually emptying into the Fraser, Ellenwood explained.
Even though snakeheads have been known to travel on land, Ellenwood did not think the fish could make it to natural waterways, especially because the pond's outflow has been screened off.
"That would be an epic journey, but right now that's impossible," he said.
