North River restocked after fish kill

P.E.I. wildlife officials the Cornwall Watershed group are stocking North River, hoping to restore it after a fish kill this summer.

Between 5,000 and 10,000 fish were killed in the stream in August. The cause has not been confirmed, but it happened after a heavy rainfall. It is suspected that rain caused agricultural runoff into the stream, killing the fish.

Karalee McAskill, coordinator of the Cornwall Watershed, said this is the first step in making the watershed healthy again.

"We can't bring back those individuals that we lost, but we can contribute to an eventual recovery by stocking it," said McAskill.

"We do need to do more than that for a successful recovery, because the real issue at hand is the agricultural run-off and the sedimentation in rivers."

She said it will take years before the fish population is back to where it was before the fish kill.

Young brook trout will be added to the headwaters of North River Tuesday morning. The provincial stocking program is partly funded by the P.E.I. Wildlife Conservation Fund.