Canadian town overrun by millions of fish flies

Thursday, July 14, 2016, 10:20 AM - The people of Gimli, Manitoba are in some places, ankle-deep in mounds of fish flies. The problem is growing worse, with residents having no other option but to shovel and dump the dead insects into garbage bags.

The town located on the shore of Lake Winnipeg is used to the fish flies as they appear annually in mid-July. However, officials say this year's visit is far beyond what residents have experienced in the past.

"I've never seen such a thing," Gimli park patrol supervisor Gibby Finnbogason told CBC.

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Easterly winds have helped carry the insects into the town in hordes, covering storefronts, signs and sidewalks. On Monday morning, Finnbogason's staff filled 42 garbage bags of fish flies. It's not only the horrifying sight of piles of insects invading Gimli, but the smell that is really bothering residents.

"The bad thing about fish flies comes the smell," Finnbogason told CBC. "And if you're not familiar with it, it's pretty much open up a fish and take a whiff."

The smell comes after the flies die, and when the insects are wet, the odor is even worse. They look similar to a dragonfly and only live for about 24 hours.

"Everyone seems really cool about it. But it really seems like a bit of a plague going on," Dan Harwood, a tourist from the United Kingdom told CBC. "But I guess they're kind of cute."

Fish flies are actually called burrowing mayflies, according to University of Manitoba entomology professor Terry Galloway.

"Mayflies are quite unique in the insect world because they are one of a group of insects that molt as adults," Galloway told CBC.

Adult flies have two stages, explains Galloway. The insects are cream-coloured in the first stage. They cannot reproduce until they shed their skin. Upon molting, they emerge as a reddish-brown colour. Fish flies are known to gravitate towards cool and rough surfaces, like cement in shaded areas.

"They're quite a remarkable animal, if it wasn't for the big pile of stinking mass that you get on your property." said Galloway. "If you're a resident or a tourist in this town, you get used to them. I'm not going to say you embrace them, but you get used to them."

SOURCE: CBC

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