The Town of Okotoks is getting prepared to take action on its overwhelming goldfish population.

Due to the amount of goldfish that have been dumped into the Drake Landing and Crystal Ridge storm ponds, an eradication process is set to begin next week.

A plant-based chemical called rotenone will be injected under the water surface and sprayed on surrounding riparian vegetation where goldfish lay eggs. The rotenone and its strong odour aren't harmful to plants, animals, or humans.

Christa Michailuck, parks manager for the Town of Okotoks, says trying to gather all the fish would be ineffective.

"It's generally not a good practice to round up an invasive species and give it away," she says. "As we know with gardeners, if they've got a plant that's overtaking their backyard and they give it to all their friends, it's probably going to over take their backyards, similar with invasive fish. It's just not something you should do as a responsible land manager, and it is possible some people have closed ponds and it would all fine and good but I don't think that it's in our best interest to go out and evaluate every person's different situation."

Michailuck says she's read stories about people flushing living goldfish down the toilet that have ended up in local waters, and while that may be the case in other areas of the country, it's not in Okotoks.

"In Okotoks we have the water treatment plant for our wastewater so anything that goes down your toilets, drains, showers, and sinks goes to the wastewater treatment plant where it is screened and only the clear water is returned back to the river. It is not possible that you could flush a live fish here in Okotoks and have them return to the river."

She adds other municipalities have reached out to the Town expressing they're dealing with the same issue of invasive goldfish in their ponds and the Town will be providing training to them on the rotenone application process.

Drake Landing treatments will begin at the end of next week with the second round starting around Aug. 25-29. Crystal Ridge treatments will begin the week of Sept. 5 and 19.

Both storm ponds will be fenced off and the rotenone application will be done by certified staff who'll be wearing full protective equipment, as they'll be handling the concentrated product.

Fish will succumb to the rotenone almost immediately and it's estimated that 80 percent of the fish will sink to the bottom of the ponds and 20 percent will float to the top.

The Town has made plans with the Foothills Regional Landfill to drop off the eradicated fish at the site with cleanup of the treated areas to be completed 1-2 days after the treatment.

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