Dozens of carp found dead in Brickyard Pond

A Barrington resident stumbled upon a disturbing scene at Brickyard Pond over the weekend: dozens of dead fish.

The resident took a few photos of the dead fish, which were floating in shallow water along the shoreline of Brickyard, and later contacted officials at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

On Monday, fisheries biologists from the DEM traveled to Brickyard Pond and located about 30 dead fish. DEM Spokesperson Gail Mastrati said it appeared that all the dead fish were the same species — carp — and were about the same size.

They "were in various stages of decomposition," said Ms. Mastrati. "Due to the decomposition of the fish, we are unable to determine the cause of death."

Ms. Mastrati said DEM staff are scheduled to revisit Brickyard Pond later this week to see if there is a reoccurrence of the fish die-off. 

Another Barrington resident, Cindy Pierce, said she was walking along the edge of the pond on Tuesday when she spotted some dead fish that appeared to be still intact. She said she saw small groupings of the dead carp along the stretch of Brickyard Pond near the kayak launch inside Veterans Park behind the Bayside YMCA. Ms. Pierce said there were about 20 dead fish in total.

"They were all about the same size," she said.