WATCH: Volunteers rescue fish from Willow Wilderness Park

Volunteers came to the rescue of local wildlife when reports of fish dying at Willow Wilderness Park started to surface.

On February 28, Bedfordview and Edenvale News received reports that a large number of fish were dying at the park.

Ward 18 Alderman Heather Hart explained that the situation depicted a similar scene to that of 2017.

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Seven years ago, approximately 80 fish were rescued from the dam.

She said efforts were underway by volunteers to relocate some of the fish to the Edenvale quarry in Meadowdale.

Several years ago City of Ekurhuleni confirmed that sewage polluted the dam causing a large die-off of the fish population at the park.

At the time, CoE said that a rock had blocked a sewage pipe south of Gillooly’s Farm and the sewage then flowed into the dam and killed the fish.

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Although this is what is believed to have contributed to the deaths of the fish in 2017, the current cause is unknown.

When the NEWS visited the dam last week, volunteers from Hurlyvale-based Eco Rubber Industrial were hard at work recovering and removing fish they believed could be saved and rehabilitated.

They were assisted by Multitool Industrial Supplies.

The fish were transported to a nearby body of water where they would hopefully recover.

Heeding the call to assist the struggling fish, the volunteers reportedly recovered over 120 fish.

It is alleged that the dam started smelling pungent a short while ago.

Chris Fish from Eco Rubber Industrial said the company has launched several projects to promote sustainable fishing at the dam so when he heard about the crisis got involved immediately.

“The community has kept the park in a pristine condition and we have assisted where we can by installing line catches.

“We did this to look after the ecosystem and to try and teach the youth about responsible fishing. We just wanted to save as many of the fish as possible,” he said.

Fish said he did not want to speculate on what could have caused the mass die-off.

“I do a lot of fishing that is why we do what we do for dams such as this one.”

Fish said as an avid fisherman he has noticed water quality declining at dams.

“It is a terrible thing to see, we are trying to keep things good for our youth but it’s terrible when the water quality declines.”

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He said the fish hardest hit at the dam included carp, kurper and bass species.

At the time of publication, the cause of the fish’s death was unknown.

Although not proven, Hart told the NEWS that a possible cause is an overpopulation of fish.

She said during the 2017 crisis, conservationists involved in that rescue informed her that there were already too many fish in the dam.

A request for comment was sent to the City of Ekurhuleni on February 28 requesting insight into the situation. Comment was requested by March 1 at 13:00.

At the time of going to print, no comment was received.