Tens of thousands of fish that washed up on the north shore of Lake Erie over the Labour Day weekend died of natural causes related to lack of oxygen in the water, early test results reveal.

The environment ministry said Friday the water tests confirm that a naturally occurring temperature inversion brought an oxygen-depleted layer of water from the bottom of the lake close to the surface causing the widespread kill.

“Samples back from the lab do not show any evidence of a manure spills or anything unusual in terms of contamination. The information that we have suggests the fish may have been killed as the result of natural causes,” said ministry spokesperson Kate Jordan told the Star.

Jordan said further data confirmed a sudden temperature drop in the lake and near-zero oxygen in the water below 12 metres. Test results on the fish are expected next week.

Meanwhile, the rotting fish carcasses as well as some dead birds continue to line the shore of Lake Erie for 40 kilometres.

“The stench is absolutely terrible,” Progressive Conservative MPP Rick Nicholls, MPP (Chatham — Kent — Essex) told the Star.

A Natural Resources Ministry spokesperson confirmed Friday that some limited cleanup of the beach at Rondeau Provincial Park had begun but could not say if and when the province planned to proceed with the rest.

But that’s not good enough, said NDP environment critic MPP Jonah Schein (Davenport), who called for an immediate cleanup of the entire beach and warned the McGuinty government should not to try to stick the local municipalities with the bill.

“My first concern that it’s been a week and it hasn’t been cleaned up. We need the province to take responsibility for this,” said Schein, adding that the slow response is unacceptable.

“Obviously there is a stench there but there are also concerns about it getting into the food chain. We don’t know what it is. It is potentially a canary in the coal mine,” he said.

People living along the lake from west of Port Stanley to roughly Rondeau Park woke up Labour Day weekend to find the beach covered with fish of all sorts washed up on shore, including yellow perch, carp, sheepshead, catfish, big head buffalo and suckers.

Since then seagulls gorging themselves on the carcasses have also died.

Nicholls said the whole thing appears to have become a political football with the province saying the cleanup is the responsibility of the municipalities and the municipalities saying unless the fish are on designated swimming areas it is up to the homeowners and cottagers to remove the rotting carcasses.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment said a couple of municipalities have already removed the dead fish from their beaches as have some residents.

Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope swept aside any talk of a struggle over jurisdiction, saying that his municipality and residents were quick to do their part at minimal cost to clean up the smelly mess from the public beaches. In some areas, he said, they will be left to decompose or be washed away.

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Nicholls said Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby told him that acidity and alkalinity tests came back negative and that the widespread kill was consistent with the “upwelling in the lake,” causing the death of thousands of fish.

“Also when I talked to Dr. Colby he said . . . that he feels that there is not a health hazard,” he said.