Spring is a time of year where we see big changes, obviously. And for fish in some bodies of water, that can be a problem. Every spring we hear of a mass die-off or two on different waters, which occur for a variety of reasons.

Lake Champlain experienced one in recent days, as Vermont fisheries officials documented a big kill of non-native alewives in the central part of the lake. Details are below from a Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department press release.

So far, we haven't heard of any on the south end of the lake, but alewives can be found in the Crown Point and Ticonderoga areas at times.

White perch and other smaller species go through this in the spring as well.

-- Don Lehman

MILTON, Vt – Large numbers of small fish called alewives are washing up on the shores of Lake Champlain in Milton and Georgia. State fisheries biologists from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department say it is an example of the kind of problems non-native invasive fish species can cause.

First documented in Lake Champlain in 2005, alewives are now well established and found throughout the lake.