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Thousands of dead fish wash ashore at Utah’s Pineview Reservoir

(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) Pineview Reservoir in Ogden Canyon in June 2016.

Ogden • Thousands of dead fish have washed ashore at a reservoir in northern Utah this summer.

The Standard-Examiner reports biologists with Utah Division of Wildlife Resources have noticed a massive die-off of fish at Pineview Reservoir in Weber County.

Many of the fish were young black crappies. Black crappies are freshwater fish that like to live in flooded vegetation.

DWR aquatic biologist Chris Penne said the fish have likely died from overpopulation, hotter temperatures and receding water levels.

He said dropping water levels have forced the fish into shallow water along the shoreline where they become "stressed and crowded."

There was a similar die-off of fish at Pineview last year that had affected hundreds of fish.

Penne said the fish will likely continue to die if temperatures stay hot in Utah.