San Carlos Lake in Arizona has been closed indefinitely after officials said a major fish kill wiped out nearly all of its fish population. The San Carlos Recreation and Wildlife Department announced Friday, June 5, that the lake would stay closed until further notice, and banned fishing, harvesting or possessing fish there as well as all recreational fishing-related activities.
Officials said the kill affected approximately 100% of the fish population within the lake, turning a popular stretch of water into a public safety concern. Decomposing fish can create health hazards for people entering the area or trying to fish, the department said, and it asked visitors to respect the closure and avoid the affected area.
The shutdown hits one of Arizona's largest lakes, with more than 150 miles of shoreline on the San Carlos Apache Tribal Lands about 160 miles east of Phoenix. The lake had already been in trouble. On April 3, the department said it had fallen to 1.93% capacity and was still dropping rapidly, warning that it was seeing an approximate 0.5% decrease every 10 days and that there was potential for a fish kill before the end of the month.
Officials tied the die-off to recent drought conditions and water releases from the dam, a combination that left little room for the lake's ecosystem to recover. What remains unclear is how long the closure will last or what conditions must change before anglers can return, but for now the only official guidance is to keep out and wait for updates.
