Herriman Pond closed after hundreds of dead fish found

HERRIMAN — A public pond in southwest Salt Lake County will remain closed indefinitely after hundreds of dead fish were found floating in it.

Utah wildlife biologists estimate that about 500 fish have died in Cove Pond in Herriman Springs Bay, but there could be more, said Faith Heaton Jolley, spokeswoman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

“Most of them were catfish, there were also some green sunfish and maybe a few other species, some trout,” Scott Root, DWR conservation outreach manager, told KSL.

Angler Aspynn Scott-Boehme discovered hundreds of dead fish floating on the water’s surface on Sunday evening.

“It was definitely devastating going up here,” she said. “I felt really sick.”

Biologists confirmed the large-scale die-off on Monday after receiving a report from visitors earlier in the day.

“Our biologists found that the dissolved oxygen levels were lethally low,” Root said.

Uncertainty about the cause

The cause of the mass extinction is unclear.

“Occasionally, fish kills occur when chemicals are present in a stream,” Root said. “In rare cases, the heat can be so great that fish die, but we believe there is more to the cause than just heat.”

A spokesperson for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality told KSL.com that state wildlife biologists and local authorities would monitor the water testing currently underway before taking any further action.

“It’s crazy to think that we were there just a few weeks ago and suddenly when we came back, everyone was dead,” Scott-Boehme said.

The pond was full of catfish, bluegills and sunfish that the agency releases.

“We stock Cove Pond regularly, mostly with trout,” he said. “When the temperatures rise, we switch to catfish. They do better in slightly warmer water.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that anglers do not eat any fish caught from the pond on Monday,” Jolley said in a prepared statement.

Swimming pool remains closed

Jolley said the pond will remain closed until the cause is determined and corrected and the pond is deemed safe again. A timeline has yet to be determined.

“It would be wise not to bring your pets near it,” Root said.

Root said if the cause of death was chemical-related, it was likely that the chemicals would dissipate. Then they could start over.

“We’ll start stocking trout as soon as we know what’s going on there, but I’m guessing we won’t be stocking fish in Cove Pond for the next few months until the water temperatures are cooler and we get everything figured out,” he said. “And we probably won’t be stocking catfish there until next summer.”

Anglers hope that experts can get to the bottom of this.

“We’re dealing with changes in the water, changes in the wildlife, even changes in the number of people we attract on a daily basis, like water shortages, lakes not getting enough snow due to climate change, but also people just dumping things into bodies of water,” Scott-Boehme said. “If we don’t treat the environment better, we’re going to lose it one day.”