Nashawannuck project leaves fish high and dry, humans help out

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GORDON DANIELS

Paul Nowak of the Nashawannuck steering committee, foreground and Peter Trinchero of the Army Corps of Engineers, top, pull a net toward the sluice gate where the fish will swim downstream to the Lower Mill Pond.

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GORDON DANIELS

Mayor Michael Tautznik helps to rescue fish that were in the culvert between Rubber Thread Pond and Nashawannuck Pond. A net on the mayor's right was placed to prevent any more fish from going into Runner Thread.

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KERI-ANN AUBIN

Paul Nowak stands with a 3-foot carp he rescued from Nashawannuck Pond after getting stuck deep in the mud Wednesday afternoon. Nowak returned the fish to deeper water.

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GORDON DANIELS

Paul Nowak of the Nashawannuck Pond Steering Committee works with four Army Corps of Engineers officials to set out a net on the pond to direct fish toward a sluice gate that will take them to Lower Mill Pond.

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GORDON DANIELS

Matthew Bishop, a member of the Easthampton Rod & Gun Club, with a perch that was in the large net. The fish was then released to the Lower Mill Pond.

EASTHAMPTON - It was a long day's work with one goal: saving the fish in the now-drained Nashwannuck Pond.

A crew consisting of four Army Corps of Engineers officials, Mayor Michael A. Tautznik and a cadre of volunteers spent much of the day Wednesday in small boats using nets to corral stubborn fish toward an open sluice gate. The gate would take them through a small stream, into a canal and ultimately as far as the Connecticut River.

The fish relocation project was one of the final steps officials will take before mobilizing next week to dredge sediment from the pond bottom.

The effort was not without mishaps and spectacle. Before the day was done, one worker became mired in the mud so badly that he needed a Fire Department rescue, and the journey of the more than 1,000 fish toward the river led a crowd of people at a canal off Liberty Street to assume that the many thrashing disoriented fish were dying in the shallow waters.

Officials believe the bulk of the fish survived the relocation.

Once the water had drained and most of the fish were out of the pond, officials rescued about 30 large carp stranded on the mud by hand. One of those carp died, as did a number of smaller fish, but the majority appeared to survive the move.

Nashawannuck Pond Steering Committee member Paul Nowak capped off his volunteer day by venturing out onto the drained pond's muddy bottom to pick up stranded fish - some of them 3 feet long - and toss them into deeper water near the sluice gate.

With only two fish left to rescue, Nowak sunk to his thighs and could not get out. An onlooker alerted a nearby police officer, who radioed a fire truck. Firefighters extended a ladder to a sheepish and muddy Nowak.

"I was never afraid for my life or anything," he said.

Nowak managed to rescue the first fish but could not make it to the second.

Asked if he had named the fish he rescued, he immediately said "Lucky."

Nowak, who has volunteered his time for 20 years on the pond dredging project that is now under way, said he was glad there were people around to help, or he might have kept sinking.

Meanwhile, Haydenville resident Jim Weed said he and a small group of onlookers saw hundreds of fish struggling in shallow canal water behind a Cottage Street mill complex, thinking they were witnessing widespread destruction.

"There were far too many fish and not enough water," said Weed, who said he was picking up his son from a woodworking class around 5 p.m. near Liberty Street. "The water was roiling with dead and flopping fish."

But there appeared to be no evidence of such casualties when a reporter checked the area and several locations downstream Thursday morning.

Nowak said Thursday that he, too, had checked the canals just before dark Wednesday and saw no problems.

"The fish were shaken up, obviously," Nowak said. "But those fish had a way better chance of living than if they had stayed up in the mud topside."

Mayor Michael A. Tautznik, who also spent the day assisting with the effort, said Thursday that some fish probably did not live through the day, but every effort was made to save them.

"We know we lost some fish. Clearly that was an expected thing," he said. "The effort was to make sure that as many as possible survived."

Tautznik noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not find any endangered species of fish in its review done in preparation for the dredging project and did not instruct officials to save any specific number of fish.

"Whatever we could do would be sufficient," Tautznik said.

Nowak concurred, saying that the Army Corps did not have to assist in the effort, but did anyway.

"It wasn't part of the contract but they did it," he said. "All those people out there were heart and soul."

He said that he is still "elated" about the outcome of the effort.

Matt Pilon can be reached at mpilon@gazettenet.com.