Daffin Park Pond Deathtrap

Something that has concerned me for the last few months has finally come to a head.

The pond in Savannah's Daffin Park has been a marvel for such a small, urban environment. Over the years it has had an amazing population of largemouth bass, catfish, bluegill, and carp. Most people ride by it every day and don't realize that there are fish in it.
However, last year alone I caught and released many bass in the 2-4 pound range and 2 which were 6+ pounds. I'd seen bass in the lake that easily would be larger than 8 pounds. In fact, a friend has told me of the time when they drained the lake to build the Daffin Park pool, only to find a 17 pound largemouth in the bottom of the dried-up pond.

This year, starting when we had a warm spell in February, an algae bloom in the pond began to spread, turning the water a blue/green color and filling the edges with green scum. In March, I began my weekly ritual of stalking the banks looking for bass beginning to make their beds. I began to be troubled by the fact that I couldn't find any of the larger bass anymore, and the area by the old fishing dock on the east end of the pond was filled in with algae, and had pushed out the family of huge German carp that normally lived there. The algae not only pushes out fish, but it sucks all of the oxygen out of the pond, slowly suffocating the fish population.

Week after week, I've returned to find dead bluegill and catfish floating at the edge of the pond, and no sign of the bass. Today I saw something that finally has pushed me into action. I arrived to find that the recent heat wave has pushed the algae bloom into high gear, with giant mats of slime covering large portions of the pond. As a walked the pond edge, something caught my eye on the north bank by Victory Drive. There, floating in the scum, was a huge dead largemouth bass, easily 7-8 pounds, baking in the sun. I ran and grabbed my camera from the car and started documenting this horror.

The family of large carp that inhabits the pond is nowhere to be seen, either. The pond is filling up with the stuff, which can be easily prevented and destroyed with water additives.

While I was stalking the lake and taking pictures, a gentleman on a bench asked me if I worked for Tree and Park Services. We struck up a conversation about the problem, and he commented that, "The only way we'll stop this from killing off the lake is if we get the community involved."

I have forwarded this story and pictures to the Savannah Morning News and Savannah Tree and Park to hopefully get things moving quickly.