CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Indiana environmental authorities are investigating what killed many hundreds of fish that were found floating in the public marina in Portage, Indiana, near the scene of toxic spills in the past.
The fish started dying a couple days ago, according to Harbor Master Barb Lusco.
“The amount of fish that washed back up into here was huge,” she said, and the smell was horrible.
There were all kinds of fish, she said, including big game fish.
“There were catfish, there were perch, there were shad, there were some steelhead and salmon," Lusco said.
She’s concerned, she said, it could have been another toxic discharge.
“I don’t know what we’re up against here. I hope it’s something that’s not too horribly serious that destroys the marine life in our waterway," she said.
There was a north wind when the fish started floating in the harbor two days ago. The harbor is connected to Lake Michigan about a half mile to the north. Lusco said it appeared the fish blew down the ditch.
Burns Ditch is where U.S. Steel discharged toxic hexavalent chromium into the water on at least two occasions.
“My concern is there are a lot of people that fish here, there’s a lot of recreational boaters. Do we eat the fish? Do we go swimming in the water? There’s just a lot of questions," she said.
The DNR and IDEM are investigating, testing the fish that have been collected and testing the water.
“I hope that they come forth with whatever it is, because people need to know. This is our big resource down here and we need to keep it as clean as possible. It’s part of life. If we don’t have Lake Michigan, what do we have?”
When WBBM Newsradio was at the harbor Thursday, there were no dead fish visible from our vantage point, but several boaters said there were still a lot of them floating among the boats and docks.