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More Than 100,000 Fish Die Off In Massive White Lake Fish Kill

Gerry Dincher
/
Flickr Creative Commons

There is plenty of debate over whether an algae bloom, or chemicals, or a combination of the two led to the devastating fish kill on White Lake in Bladen County, NC. What is clear, is more than 100,000 fish of various species, including hearty largemouth bass, floated up to the surface and washed ashore starting in May.

According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, the Town of White Lake may have made the problem worse by applying alum to restore their popular crystal clear lake from an algae bloom. NCDEQ also says the town misled the public when they declared their water safe for swimming. WUNC daily news producer Will Michaels speaks with host Frank Stasio about the fish kill and the environmental conditions that led up to it.

Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.