Stranded fish moved after Saskatchewan floods

Wildlife crews in Saskatchewan are carting loads of fish, stranded in pools formed by flooding, to more suitable surroundings in the province's water-logged southeast.

The fish were being rounded up in the spillway of the Alameda Dam, near the community of Oxbow about 220 kilometres southeast of Regina.

Members of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority and the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation are pulling the fish from rapidly shrinking pools.

"If they're not removed before winter they'll actually die under the ice," Adam Matichuk, a biologist with the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, explained Wednesday. "They'll suffocate. There won't be enough oxygen for them."

The fish are being hauled to the large reservoir at the dam site where they will be counted, identified by species, and released.

The crews are finding pike, catfish and other species of all sizes.

"There's lots of different species," crew member Kevin Lauritsen, told CBC News. "We didn't realize it would be, but the pickerel population is huge. There's some huge fish. A lot bigger than we anticipated."

Watershed officials said there have been several fish rescues in the province this year, mostly related to flooding.