Amanda Fay with a burbot she speared in Shuswap Lake. Burbot is not an invasive species in B.C.

Image Credit: Submitted/Amanda Fay

Scuba divers have been cleaning garbage out of Okanagan Lake for decades, but Amanda Fay is doing more than collecting old cans and bottles off the bottom of the lake.

She’s spearing invasive carp as another way to clean up the environment.

“They compete for natural habitat and resources for kokanee and the native species in the lake so, even one carp out of the lake is a good thing,” the diving instructor with Diving Dynamics in Kelowna told iNFOnews.ca. “I would like to make a thing of it here from a conservation perspective.”

Back in the 1990s, Diving Dynamics organized regular cleanups of the lake near downtown Kelowna, taking out some 28 tons of garbage, Teresa Johnston, administrator at Diving Dynamics, said.

That effort dropped off over the years but divers often carry mesh bags with them and pick up garbage routinely. One relatively new diver, Ajay Weintz has a real passion for it and regularly posts Mind Over Matter Diving videos.

READ MORE: Okanagan scuba diver removing trash from Okanagan Lake bottom

With COVID, organized dives screeched to a halt last summer and far into this summer as well.

Towards the end of the season, with pressure mounting for some social diving outings, they were looking for some way to make that happen.

They helped organize some social dives that included cleaning up garbage but they also teamed up with the Regional District of Central Okanagan to dive in regional parks.

“They (regional district) wanted to get an idea of what’s down there and what it’s really like as far as trash was concerned so we were more than happy to dive at some of these places and help out at the same time,” Fay said.

So far, they’ve dived at four regional waterfront parks but Fay also joined in a Rattlesnake Island dive, even though it’s not a park. It's on the east side of Okanagan Lake across from Peachland.

READ MORE: The legend of Eddy Haymour: How Rattlesnake island almost became a theme park

“That was a fun dive,” Fay said. “I wanted to dive Rattlesnake Island ever since I was a kid. I’ve snorkeled and gone around it in a boat when I was little and was always saying it looks like Swiss cheese from above. There’s all these weird caverns and bowls and stuff.”

When she did the dive recently, there were also lots of fish, including kokanee, northern pikeminnow and the invasive carp.

“It was great to see so much fishlife in one place,” Fay said. “You don’t expect to see that in some lakes.”

But, amongst all those fish were “tons of carp” that were up to two feet long.

Fay only took a couple with her spear. There are spearfishing groups in the Okanagan that she hopes will take up the challenge and she’s encouraging her students to do the same.

“I want them to get to the point where they can do it but do it safely,” she said. “It’s like hunting. You’ve got to walk before you run. I know people are really keen in getting involved in things like that because it’s sporting and it’s fun.”

Carp were first seen in the Okanagan in 1912 and were believed to have come from stocks introduced in Washington State in 1882 as a food fish, according to an article published by the Royal B.C. Museum.

It reports that, in 1934, seven tons of carp were removed from a trap set at the outlet of Okanagan Lake. By that time they were reported in Kalamalka, Wood and Shuswap lakes as well.

“Common Carp are one of the most damaging aquatic invasive species due to its wide distribution and severe impacts in shallow lakes and wetlands,” states an article on Okanagan Invasive Species Online. “Their feeding disrupts shallowly rooted plants, muddying the water and stirring up sediment. This restricts sunlight, stunting the growth of aquatic plants. Species that rely on those plants for food and cover suffer.”

Common Carp.

Image Credit: Pixabay

They also release phosphorus, which contributes to algae blooms and they can interbreed with goldfish, the article says.

While spearing carp can be fun, there were enough other kinds of garbage around Rattlesnake Island to bog Fay down, including a downrigger weight and a outboard motor cover.

“My mesh bag was full so I almost ditched it because we were swimming into the current coming into the channel at Rattlesnake,” Fay said. “The current was so strong I had to put a marker on the downrigger weight and we came back later. It was too much weight to carry through the current.”

She has found treasures while diving – like old glass bottles and an old logging saw – but it’s the plastic that bothers her the most.

“Glass isn’t that damaging to the environment but plastics are,” Fay said. “They will break down eventually and who knows what that will do to the water and how that changes the local flora and fauna.”

The four social dives this summer included Bertram Creek, Raymer Bay, Kalamoir and Gellatly Nut Farm parks.

The worst, was Raymer Bay.

“Raymer Bay, you can go to every week and be cleaning stuff,” Johnston said. “Lot of boaters tie in there and there are lots of people on the beach. There’s a need for more people to be aware that we have to look after our lake.”

The list of garbage that Fay helped collect from there included the usual cans, bottles and plastic bags but also some bones that might be from a sheep, snorkeling masks, pipes, swim trunks and lots of clothes.

She also found a complete outboard motor and four anchors tied together south of Bear Creek Provincial Park that will require lifting equipment to get out of the lake.

Of the parks they’ve visited, the cleanest was the Gellatly Nut Farm beach.

“I’m not sure if Gellatly Bay doesn’t have as much boater traffic or people are more respectful of the park,” Johnston said.

The plan is to continue to work with the regional district to visit waterfront parks next summer.

“We’ll go to these parks at least once,” Johnston said. “From our standpoint, anything that brings more attention to people taking more responsibility for the lake, we think it’s wonderful.”

As to what she thinks about the people who toss their garbage into the lake?

“It’s innocent enough. People throw it in the water and they don’t see it anymore so it’s like it disappeared. I understand the logic behind it. It’s disappeared and they’ve done it for a long time.”

READ MORE: From Kelowna to Kamloops, Interior lakes hold underwater mysteries

Editor's note: The fish Amanda Fay is holding in the photo is a burbot. It is not an invasive species in B.C.

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