FISH DIE-OFF

Crop Failures, Food Shortages page.

Unusual ANIMAL Behavior
BEE & Insect Die-offs
Mass BIRD Deaths


2007 -

MASS FISH KILLS - June & July 2007 -
CLIMATE CHANGE could ruin fisheries - Climate change could cause more harm to fish stocks and the coastal communities that depend on them than excessive harvesting, a globally recognized scientist warns.

U.S. EAST COAST - Hundreds of emaciated seabirds have washed up dead along the south-eastern coast of America, alarming scientists who fear changes in the ocean could have affected the fish that the birds normally eat.

KENTUCKY - 7/12/07 - a fish kill on Little Clifty Creek in western Pulaski County is still a mystery. “At this point, we don’t know (for sure) what caused it. The oxygen level was fine ... it (oxygen) was not suppressed enough to kill fish.” They are looking at the possibility that manure may have washed into the creek causing the fish kill. They found at least 500 dead fish and there were likely many more.

VIRGINIA - 7/11/07 - A red-brown algae toxic to fish was the likely cause of a large fish kill of over 300,000 on July 11 in a Westmoreland County creek.

NORTH CAROLINA - More than 6,000 fish were found dead Friday in the Neuse River at Carolina Pines. The Neuse River Rapid Response Team investigated the kill, which extended nearly a mile. The dead fish included multiple species such as spot, croaker, menhaden, silver perch, trout, flounder and needlefish. Team members estimate the total number of fish dead at 6,666. None of the fish observed in the fish kill had lesions, and the event appeared to be around 12-hours-old. The fish kill appears to coincide directly with the drop a dissolved oxygen, and rise in salinity at the surface.

ALABAMA - People living along the popular Baldwin County river are talking about a massive fish kill on the river near Weeks Bay. Hundreds of dead fish that look like eels have washed up near Manatee Park. "We don't know what caused the fish to die...We've taken water samples and we haven't found any problems."

MASSACHUSETTS - A thousand or so dead sunfish were bobbing in and around Field Pond, bleaching a sickly white under the sun in mid-June. Fearing an act of pollution or some impending ecological disaster, visitors to Harold Parker State Forest were quick to call authorities. But the fish kill the past two weeks was neither toxic release nor apocalyptic sign. As alarming as it was to the dozens of callers, it was a natural event, the combination of spawning stress and warming waters, state fisheries officials say.

NEW YORK - Federal researchers have confirmed that a large fish kill of rock bass and smallmouth bass on Skaneateles Lake this spring was the result of the fish being infected with VHS (viral hemorrhagic septicema).
A bloom of brown tide may be associated with a late June fish kill in eastern Moriches Bay.

MAINE - 7/25/07 - The stench from piles of dead herring stretching hundreds of yards along the shore of Sanford Cove has forced residents of this coastal community to shut their homes tight. The fish started washing ashore a week ago, and the Maine Marine Patrol is investigating the cause of the mass fish death.

MARYLAND - On June 29, Marley creek was clogged with 1,000 dead fish that died when the death of a large amount of algae sucked the oxygen out of the water. The fish kill occurred the same day as larger one in the Annapolis. Some 15,000 fish died in that incident. In both cases, the sudden algae death depleted the dissolved oxygen in the water and suffocated the fish. Though not a common occurrence, fish kills are believed to be a natural summer event. In early June, officials say a lack of oxygen killed thousands of fish in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The fish kill was the result of an algae bloom or brown tide, there was a massive algae die-off as water temperatures rose.

NEW JERSEY - 7/4/07 - State environmental officials are investigating a fish kill that caused hundreds of menhaden in the Raritan Bay to wash ashore around Keyport. About a 15-mile radius around Keyport was affected. These species of fish travel together so tightly that some schools may have landed in shallow water and depleted their own oxygen levels. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the ocean waters from Sandy Hook to Manasquan experienced an algal bloom that state officials attributed to the unusually warm days around that time followed by intense rainfall. Environmental organizations have cautioned that algal blooms and fish kills are signs of an unhealthy ocean that can put an entire ecological system in danger of collapse.

FLORIDA - A low level of dissolved oxygen in Lake Apopka has been blamed for killing thousands of fish during the past several days. Bottom-feeding gizzard shad dominate the polluted, 50-square-mile lake in west Orange and south Lake counties and are particularly stressed by low oxygen levels that often occur during summer months. A lack of oxygen was to blame for hundreds of fish deaths in mid-June near the Rye Bridge on the Upper Manatee River. "They literally told me there were a good thousand dead fish or better. People had to paddle through them things." They were various dead species - catfish (the majority), snook, jack crevalle, mullet, garfish, bass and bluegill. "In 30 years, I've never seen anything quite like that."

INDIANA - 7/27/07 - It's far from certain what is killing shovelnose sturgeon in the Wabash River, but signs point to a disease. DNR officials now believe that hundreds of shovelnose sturgeon, a bottom feeder with bony plating, have gone belly-up in a 48-mile stretch of the Wabash River from Delphi to Attica since as early as June. It seems unlikely that a pollutant has caused the deaths. "It's been considered by researchers as a relatively healthy population of shovelnose sturgeon. That's why it is such a mystery." The largest sign that a disease is the culprit is that only sturgeon are dying. If chemicals or sewage had been dumped into the river, more than one species would have been affected. Other signs are that the deaths have occurred over a long stretch of the river and over a period of months. If a pollutant was killing the fish, they would likely have died in a more concentrated area and over a shorter period.

ILLINOIS - Discoveries of dead fish and other wildlife near Oak Lawn Lake in late May had animal control officials asking questions. Dozens of fish were found floating in the lake in late May. More UNUSUAL was a series of reports about dead squirrels around the lake. "A combination of heat and reduced oxygen stresses the fish. Death among land animals is not consistent with that type of problem."

OHIO - A carp kill at Seneca Lake appears to have subsided a month after thousands of the fish began floating to the surface.

MICHIGAN - In early June, a shift in the wind may have saved City of Luna Pier residents from further headaches after thousands of foul-smelling dead fish washed ashore. For more than a week, city crews had been hauling away loads of mostly sheepshead, carp and white bass from the city's public beach. The superintendent of the city's department of public works, said it's the WORST FISH KILL HE'S SEEN in 29 years with the city. "I've never seen it this bad. You peek over the seawall and it's solid white with fish. It's just so overwhelming." Local and state officials aren't sure yet what's causing the fish to die. (photo)

NORTH DAKOTA - Thousands of dead fish are floating on Rogers Lake, west of Kalispell, and are washing up on its shores.

MINNESOTA - Only a heavy rain storm or a break in a dam could have helped tens of thousands of bullhead and hundreds of carp searching for oxygen this past weekend (July 14 & 15) in the murky, pea-green waters of the Crow River near Hutchinson’s Main Street bridge. Hundreds of stressed fish have been unsuccessful in their quest for oxygenated water and have perished in the pool between the concrete dam approximately 100 feet west of the bridge and rock dam 100 feet to the east. Their rotting corpses now float in the pool or have washed up onto the rocky shoreline. Low water levels have made navigation through the rock dam east of the bridge almost impossible. By mid-day the dam was littered with the carcasses of carp, bullhead and walleye trying to find a pathway through the rocks. Those who watch the river say this is ONE OF THE LOWEST YEARS SINCE 1988. The problem isn’t confined to the Crow River but is also occurring on area lakes.

WISCONSIN - 7/16/07 - Viral hemorrhagic septicemia claimed thousands of valuable fish. Because they feared spreading the deadly viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, DNR officials killed more than 21,000 young-of-the-year sturgeon at the Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery . The euthanization of almost 23,000 lake sturgeon at the hatchery was the first time fish had to be killed in response to VHS. VHS is not a human health threat but can kill a broad range of native fish.

OREGON - 7/20/07 - State biologists are concluding that the intense heat earlier this month killed as many as half the migrating spring Chinook in the John Day River. The die-off of between one-third and one-half the salmon run is UNPRECEDENTED.

CALIFORNIA - In what is apparently an annual event, millions of tilapia died in the annual summertime Salton Sea fish kill.

MONTANA - Heat has caused a big fish kill near Kalispell.

YELLOWSTONE - UNUSUALLY HIGH temperatures are killing off Yellowstone’s prized native trout populations. The situation in Yellowstone National Park is becoming a real concern to par biologists who are finding hundreds of dead trout on a daily basis. The fish kill is being caused by extreme temperatures and drought-like conditions which are heating up the normally cool water flows and decreasing water levels to a historic low.

NEW MEXICO - MacAllister Lake has had a fish kill. Only the trout were affected and the mirror carp remain. Currently there are no plans to restock the lake.

UTAH - Salt Lake City and Utah officials believe a heavy concentration of nitrate, a primary ingredient of fertilizer, is responsible for a widespread fish kill in Parleys Creek, but they still don't know how it got into the water.

CANADA - thousands of dead fish washed up on the banks of two of Prince Edward Island's most pristine rivers - the massive kill likely caused by pesticide run-off from farmers' fields. The fish were found on the banks of the Dunk and Tryon in areas that extended over several kilometres.
The march of the dead carp continues - Peterborough beaches are the latest shores to claim the carcasses of the smelly victims of this mysterious kill. "It's not surprising seeing as the carp die off is following the water course. I expect we'll be hearing from Rice Lake soon."
The Ministry of Natural Resources has found columnaris bacteria in dead fish in Sturgeon Lake, but cannot confirm if it is to blame for the massive carp deaths.

AUSTRALIA - Thousands of dead tropical fish - some more than a metre long - were found floating to the surface of Lake Moondarra, Mount Isa's main water supply. Authorities are blaming Queensland's big chill on the mass fish deaths. The cause of a large number of oyster deaths that plagued Western Australia's pearling industry remains a mystery, despite months of tests by researchers. The Department of Fisheries has studied 7,000 oysters from pearl farms and carried out 800 tests looking for disease. The investigation was launched after a large number of deaths at nine farms in the Exmouth Gulf, in the state's north-west, in October 2006. The tests have not identified a cause for the deaths.

IRELAND - There has been a fish kill on the Castletown River near Dundalk in Co. Louth. It is believed the source of the kill originated 20 miles away near Newtownhamilton in south Armagh. The extent of the kill and the amount of contamination in the river is not yet known, due to the high level of water from recent heavy rainfall. Brown and Sea trout have been seen floating in the river.

CHINA - in Donghu lake, officials say an estimated 30,000kg of fish have been killed by a combination of pollution and hot weather.

BAHRAIN - Thousands of fish that washed ashore in Sitra, Sanad and Tubli Bay died. "The tests showed the fish had not died of bacteria or diseases but of lack of oxygen."

UKRAINE - In early June, tons of dead fish in shallow waters and on beaches were the grounds for a Ukraine Health Ministry's ban on swimming in a summer resort region. The order affected more than one dozen of kilometres of shore line along the Azov Sea, in the Donetsk province. Health inspectors testing dead fish and sea water found no evidence of poisoning or excess pollution - both frequent suspects in cases of fish die-off in the region. The species most greatly affected was the bullhead or freshwater goby, a small teardrop-shaped fish popular with Ukrainian anglers and industrial fishermen. Fish rotting on the beaches had brought the tourist industry in the area to a near complete halt. Local officials estimated the total weight of the dead gobies in the dozens of tons. Scientists identified high sea water temperatures breaking records sixty years old as a possible culprit in the fish kill.

BLUEFIN TUNA - Overfishing, competition from fish farms, water pollution, and government subsidies to fishermen have brought bluefin tuna stocks to near collapse. The issue led to finger-pointing by the United States and the European Union, each of which regards the other as the culprit. But it is the Japanese, consumers of the most bluefin tuna in the world, who will bear the consequences. Cutbacks on the international tuna quota, down to 29,500 tons in 2007 from thirty-two thousand tons last year, mean the popular sushi ingredient could become more scarce and expensive.

7/19/07 -
This year could see the BIGGEST "DEAD ZONE" SINCE RECORDS BEGAN form in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists say conditions are right for the zone to exceed last summer's 6,662 sq miles (17,255 sq km). The dead zone is an area of water virtually devoid of oxygen which cannot support marine life. It is caused by nutrients such as fertilisers flowing into the Gulf, stimulating the growth of algae which absorbs the available oxygen. The volume of nutrients flowing down rivers such as the Mississippi into the Gulf has tripled over the last 50 years. The annual event has been blamed for shark attacks along the Gulf coast, as sharks, along with other highly mobile species, flee the inhospitable waters. Animals which cannot move simply die. The nitrate load is so high that the dead zone may attain a size of 8,500 sq miles (22,015 sq km), almost double the average since 1990. However, an active storm season could change that forecast, as storms mix the seas, dispersing nutrients and algae and bringing in oxygenated water. The United Nations warns that dead zones are becoming more common globally as intensive agriculture spreads. The number of seasonal hypoxic areas has doubled each decade since the 1960s. The UN believes the algal blooms are having a significant impact on commercially valuable fish stocks.

5/14/07 -
BARBADOS - On May 7, officials were trying to determine what caused a massive fish kill along this country's east coast. It was a story of fish, fish everywhere but none you could eat. Dead fish covered several beaches and up to news time marine biologists could not say exactly why. At Cattlewash in St. Joseph the surf had washed the dead fish onto the beach and carcasses were scattered along the white sand. Evidence of the kill could also be seen in the water and on the reef. At river bay in St. Lucy the kill was massive. The dead fish seemed to be of a single species and some people have identified them as jacks. There has been some speculation about the cause of the fish kill but until the scientists make a determination it will remain a mystery.

TURKEY - Fish in the Sakarya River of Turkey’s Marmara region are dying en masse from an as-yet-undetermined cause. The problem appears to have first been noticed near the sand pits of Bogaz village. Locals, concerned at the sight of hundreds of dead fish floating downstream, have demanded that officials locate the source of the problem at once. Residents suspected that the deaths might be down to toxic factory wastes. “Large fish in particular are dying. And most of them contain roe... Those responsible should be found. I’ve been here three hours and seen thousands of dead fish carried past by the current.” Most of the dead fish are two-to-three kilograms in weight. The Sakarya Forestry and Environment Directorate has launched an investigation and taken samples from the water and the dead fish.
Global warming has taken a huge toll on Kizilirmak, Turkey’s longest river. Rain shortage and increasing temperatures have dried out the river, where mass deaths of fish are now common. Fishermen can pick up the fish swimming in the puddles that are all that’s left of the river with their bare hands. Scientists studied the causes of the decrease in water levels in the river’s beds and the recent fish deaths and concluded that the decreased level of water had led to an excess growth of underwater weeds, leaving the fish without enough oxygen. The report also notes that waste water was dumped back into the river without being treated, causing further contamination.

MISSISSIPPI - Drought conditions have left many boat ramps, and fishermen, high and dry along the Mississippi River. Fishermen can now walk to areas that once were under 3 to 4 feet underwater. All four flood-control reservoirs in Mississippi have been far below normal pool. At Arkabutla Lake, less than 30 minutes south of the Tennessee state line in Mississippi, levels were 2.5 feet below normal levels. Last week thousands of male crappie were found floating on Sardis and Enid Lakes in Mississippi. Extremely low water levels and aggressive competition over spawning sites may have led to the high fish mortality.

WISCONSIN - The deaths last week of hundreds of sheepshead in Lake Winnebago and Little Lake Butte des Morts signal the presence of a virus responsible for massive fish kills in Lakes Erie and Ontario. It can kill many other fish species in the chain of lakes, even threatening the population of ancient sturgeon that thrive there. "We didn't expect to find the virus in the Winnebago system first. We expected to find it in Lake Michigan first. Our main concern is that this virus has caused infections in so many other species, too, from bass to perch to muskies, northern pike, walleyes and shad. In the next one, two or three summers, we could lose much of those fish in the Winnebago system... This is a major fish health crisis." The Lake Winnebago sheepshead looked similar to two confirmed with the infection: swollen and bulging eyes, reddened fins, reddish tint to skin. It's unclear exactly how the disease is spread, but it appears it could be shed by infected fish into the water, particularly by fish that survive the disease and become carriers.

NEW YORK - Hundreds, if not thousands, of gizzard shad — 12-inch long fish that feed on small invertebrates and phytoplankton and are in turn eaten by larger sport fish — have been found dead or dying in the Dunkirk Harbor over the past several weeks. The senior fisheries biologist said it’s the LARGEST SHAD DIE-OFF HE HAS SEEN IN 20 YEARS in the harbor. “There’s a lot more carcasses around than we see in an average winter.” The two main suspects are a virus or stress brought on by a long winter. It’s possible the die-off might be related to the emergence of viral hemorrhagic septicemia in New York waters. Although the virus has no impact on humans, VHS has been blamed for other fish kills across the Great Lakes.

VIRGINIA - Fish kills in the Shenandoah River watershed are no longer discernible incidents, but one continuous event. "They are dying all over...What we are seeing is another long-term chronic fish kill developing, and if it matches the pattern from previous years it will go on for another month." Contrary to years past, fish kills this spring are affecting both the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah. At this point, the general consensus is that the fish have an immunity problem, which "seems more and more clear as we look at our fish." Due to this immunity disorder, fish are dying of various conditions including organ failure, parasites and fungus. Many dead and dying fish are affected with lesions and sores. The problem is claiming a large percentage of the river's fish. In 2005 alone, it was estimated that 80 percent of the river's redbreast sunfish and smallmouth bass died. Since then, the condition has grown more aggressive. "In 2004 and 2005 we lost smallmouth adults. The juvenile fish were spared. But in this kill, they are not spared."

Overfishing is eading to system collapse - If these animals lived on land there would be a global outcry. But the great beasts roaming the savannahs of the open seas summon no such support. Big sharks, giant tuna, marlin and swordfish should have the conservation status of the giant panda or the snow leopard. Yet still we believe it is acceptable for fishmongers to sell them and celebrity chefs to teach us how to cook them. A study in Science reveals the disastrous collapse of the ocean’s megafauna. The great sharks are now wobbling on the edge of extinction. Since 1972 the number of blacktip sharks has fallen by 93%, tiger sharks by 97% and bull sharks, dusky sharks and smooth hammerheads by 99%. Just about every population of major predators is now in freefall. Another paper, published in Nature four years ago, shows that over 90% of large predatory fishes throughout the global oceans have gone. But beyond a certain point the collapse is likely to be permanent. Off the coast of Namibia, where the fishery has crashed as a result of over-harvesting, we have a glimpse of the future. A paper in Current Biology reports that the ecosystem is approaching a “trophic dead-end”. As the fish have been mopped up they have been replaced by jellyfish, which now outweigh them by three to one. The jellyfish eat the eggs and larvae of the fish, so the switch is probably irreversible. We have entered, the paper tells us, the “era of jellyfish ascendancy”. It’s a good symbol. The jellyfish represents the collapse of the ecosystem and the spinelessness of the people charged with protecting it.

5/7/07 -
Overfishing by most of the world's island nations is likely to cause their sole source of protein to disappear within decades if it continues unchecked, according to a research team. Catches in 49 countries, from the Philippines to the Bahamas, are on average about 64 percent above sustainable levels. Coral reef fisheries have already collapsed in nine of those countries. More collapses are inevitable unless something can be done to reduce fishing and to reduce the demand for fish. "But for millions of people living on these islands, there are no alternatives to fisheries."

Grey whales in the eastern Pacific appear to be in some trouble, with the cause far from clear, scientists say. Researchers found that whales are arriving in their breeding grounds off the Mexican coast malnourished. The same thing happened just after the 1997/8 El Nino event, which warmed the waters and depleted food stocks. Scientists are not sure whether the current decline is climate related or part of a natural predator-prey cycle. "We're not really sure what is going on now. We certainly saw in Mexico this winter a very large number of starving whales. There is currently an El Nino building, and this is a worry." A link with climatic conditions makes sense; warmer waters hold less oxygen, they become less productive, resulting in less of the tiny crustaceans which are the grey whales' favoured food. The deepening annual Arctic melt, too, would also deprive the whales of a rich source of food, which accumulates along the edge of the pack ice. "It may be a lot more serious than just grey whales - they may just be the early warning sign of changes for the whole Pacific."

A virulent virus that causes fish to bleed to death is expected to strike Lake Erie again this summer, fouling shores and endangering hatcheries. An outbreak killed hundreds of perch and sheepshead last spring and, with no known cure, wildlife experts predict even more deaths this spring as the Ebola-like virus spreads to more areas of the lake. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, has infected at least 37 fish species throughout the Great Lakes. The virus can cause fish to bloat and hemorrhage before dying. But it poses no threat to humans even if they eat infected fish. Outbreaks have been greatest in the St. Lawrence Seaway and lakes Erie, Ontario and St. Clair.

INDIANA - Fish kill perplexes officials - the search for the mysterious cause has closed Springwood Lake Park. State and local officials have yet to identify what has killed 250-plus fish in Springwood Lake Park. Until they do, the 4-acre spring-fed north-side Richmond lake will remain closed to the public. "The fish kill is not over. They're still dying. But I'm pretty sure that whatever it was is no longer flowing into the lake." DNR and IDEM officials scoured the lake throughout the day, trying to find the source of the contaminant, but to no avail.

OKLAHOMA - State wildlife officials don't know what killed hundreds of smallmouth buffalo fish in parts of Lake Eufaula, but pollution has been ruled out. About 300 fish died in the Coal Creek and Mill Creek areas of the lake in mid-April. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation knows of no similar incident at Lake Eufaula or any other lake in the state that has affected smallmouth buffalo fish. Researchers made it out to the area a week after the fish kill was estimated to have occurred and found the dead fish in advanced stages of decomposition. Because of that officials may never know the cause. The smallmouth buffalo primarily is a bottom-feeding species that thrives on insect larvae and algae.

ALABAMA - Fisheries biologists say a bacterial disease and a water mold are the cause of a fish kill that started on Lake Tuscaloosa last week. The 400 to 500 white crappie that were found dead in Lake Tuscaloosa in the last seven days were “loaded" with a bacteria called columnarius and a water mold called Saprolegnia. Both the mold and the bacteria typically cause fishes’ protective slime layers and internal organs to dissolve and causes them to suffocate when their gills go through necrosis, or tissue death. It usually only proves fatal in fish that are old or in a weakened state. The white crappie found dead and/or dying in the lake had just finished spawning and were weakened from spending energy creating sperm and eggs. “They were tired and spent and their immune system wasn’t up to par. They had a compromised immune system and couldn’t fight off infection. That’s likely how they got it." No other fish besides white crappie were found dead in the area of the fish kill, which occurred in the upper section of Lake Tuscaloosa.

VIRGINIA - What's happening on the Shenandoah River is an epidemic that has slaughtered bass and sunfish by the thousands. “The water quality situation on the Shenandoah is catastrophic.” What is happening a “fisheries ending event." "We may have lost half a million fish.” Many are belly-up. Others are stressed, their bodies, in some instances, riddled with lesions, parasites and mucus. The die-offs date back to at least 2003. In some sections of the river, baffled officials estimate that 80 percent of the mature bass and sunfish have died the past three years. Some guides have given up; anglers are staying away, tourism has been impacted. Late last month, when the temperatures rose and the water level dropped, more kills were encountered. Not just in the Shenandoah drainage, but also in the Cowpasture River, which is part of the James River drainage. These aren’t your normal fish kills, the kind that can be traced to some toxic discharge. Scientists, who are working overtime, have no explanation as to what is behind the deaths, even after more than three years of investigation. The easy explanations have been ruled out.

BLOG ENTRY - "a million fish died in the Colorado River (covering an area of 7 miles). The reason given was 'lack of oxygen'. I waited to hear more on evening broadcasts (pictures) and there was NOTHING, just that 30 second announcement. When I went searching I found that this was not an aberration pertaining just to the Colorado, but was happening in all parts of the country (rivers & lakes) and to put the people, who blame farmer's fertilizer at ease, many of these areas had no farms anywhere near them. Tens of thousands of fish have been found in California, Oregon, Washington State, Pennsylvania, and the Potomac etc. Looking further, I found that this is happening world wide, from Romania to China! Combine these massive die-offs with thousands of dead whales, sea turtles, porpoises, birds, honey bees, and butterflies. Well, it's not hard to reason that the planet is dying. These massive deaths appear to be reported only locally and never making it to the national scene or an all out alarm by the EPA or environmental (corporate sponsored) groups... The Gulf of Mexico has a DEAD ZONE that is approximately 7,000 square miles! Oregon has a DEAD ZONE off of its coast the size of Rhode Island. (photos)

COSTA RICA - AMPHIBIANS & REPTILES - A protected rainforest in one of the world's richest biodiversity hotspots has suffered an alarming collapse in amphibians and reptiles, suggesting such havens may fail to slow the creatures' slide towards global extinction. Species of frogs, toads, lizards, snakes and salamanders have plummeted on average 75% in the past 35 years. The new findings suggest an unknown ecological effect is behind at least some of the sudden losses and have prompted scientists to call for urgent studies in other protected forest areas. The researchers believe climate change has brought warmer, wetter weather to the refuge, with the knock-on effect of reducing the amount of leaf litter on the forest floor. Nearly all of the species rely on leaf litter to some extent, either using it for shelter, or feeding on insects that eat the leaves.

4/29/07 -
CASPIAN SEA - Hundreds of dead seals washed up on Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea coast in the first two weeks of April. The cause is still a mystery, but it is a blow to the already dwindling Caspian seal. The Caspian seal is the Caspian's lone mammal species, and can be found nowhere else in the world. Officials in Kazakhstan now say 363 dead seals have been found on the Caspian Sea coast of the Mangystau region. The number of reported dead seals in the area has been growing daily since the first carcasses were found - most of them pups. Pollutants accumulate in seals, weakening their immune systems and causing infertility. Such pollutants originate in heavy industry and enter the Caspian Sea via rivers. Kazakhstan's Environment Ministry says preliminary data suggests that abnormally warm temperatures prevented the formation of ice sheets in the northeastern Caspian. Ice floes allow newborns time to gain strength before they must take to the water. Massive deaths occur on an almost annual basis in the Caspian region. A year ago, hundreds of dead sturgeon and seals washed ashore near the Kalamkas oil field.

CALIFORNIA - FISH, SEALS, BIRDS - Hundreds of seals, dolphins and marine birds have been killed in recent weeks by an upsurge in a sea toxin linked to overfishing, the destruction of wetlands and pollution. The report was triggered by the sight on local beaches of sick and dead pelicans, sea lions and dolphins. Scientists believe that the toxin, domoic acid, is produced by microscopic algae that are flourishing because of overfishing, marine farming and other man-made causes. "I have been doing this work for 35 years and I have NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS as far as the number of species affected, other than an oil spill," said the director of the International Bird Rescue Research Centre in San Pedro. Domoic acid, which accumulates in shellfish and fish and is then passed on to the birds and animals that eat them, has occurred each spring over the past decade as ocean water warms and algae bloom. But this year's algae are "especially virulent." Dead birds, including grebes, gulls, cormorants, American avocets and loons, began littering Southern California beaches in March while dozens of sea lions, dolphins and even whales have also washed ashore in recent weeks. Scientists believe the explosion of harmful algae causes toxins to move through the food chain and concentrate in the dietary staples of marine mammals, causing poisoning that scrambles the brains of the animals and leads them to wash ashore.
In the past week, 40 birds have been taken to the International Bird Rescue Center in San Pedro with symptoms of domoic acid poisoning, which attacks the brain and can cause seizures. In previous seasons, the center might see seven birds a week.
Birds and animals have been washing up on shores from San Diego to San Francisco Bay. This year's bloom seems early, extensive and "very, very thick." "In five years of study I have not seen a bloom this large at this particular time of year. It's having an extraordinary impact on pelicans and many other species. There are conceivably thousands of animals being affected." The Wetland and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach had received 73 sick or dead birds since last Sunday. The toxin has been swifter and deadlier than usual. "The concentration of the toxin is so great this year that we haven't had a chance to react to it. Normally we're able to flush out the toxin with a treatment regimen ... This year they're just coming in dead."

OREGON - Oregon State Police and Department of Fish and Wildlife Officials are still trying to figure out what toxic substance killed dozens of fish in Griffin Creek earlier this month. Officials have been chasing tips for more than a week to no avail. The dead fish, including federally protected wild Coho salmon, turned up in lower Griffin Creek near where it flows into Bear Creek.

FLORIDA - Red tide may kill marine life even after it dissipates - When 27 manatees died from red tide poisons near the Caloosahatchee River in March and April, there were no signs of a red tide bloom. But toxins from an earlier bloom settled into sea grass beds near Fort Myers and the grasses stayed poisonous for weeks. As the weather warmed, manatees migrated out of their river wintering grounds and ate the deadly grass. Manatees frequently perish when a red tide bloom creeps into Charlotte Harbor's estuaries during their spring migration, but it's UNUSUAL for so many to die in the absence of a bloom. With the help of researchers, scientists have begun to realize that sea grasses can remain poisonous to marine life for weeks, even months, after red tide has passed. When red tide is present near shore in the dry season, the toxic algae can start to proliferate in the river. Red tide algae usually thrives in oceanic waters, not rivers and bays. Fish are usually the first victims of a bloom, but the poisons go on to kill birds, dolphins and manatees. A RECORD 417 manatees died in Florida waters last year, about 50 due to red tide exposure in the summer and fall. Reducing pollution from fertilizers, septic tanks and sewers could help keep red tide at bay. Some scientists say man-induced nutrient pollution is contributing to long-lasting blooms that stretch into the dry season.

VIRGINIA - New fish deaths in Shenandoah watershed - The Department of Environmental Quality has received reports this past week of dead fish on the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River. Dead and dying smallmouth bass and sunfish were found in at least three areas. A number of live fish with skin lesions or abnormal behavior were observed. Fish kills have begun in the Shenandoah River system during the spring of each of the past three years. The causes of these fish kills remain unknown. The kills have occurred at low rates, have lasted for extended periods, and have affected primarily adult smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish. In some areas adult smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish numbers have been reduced by an estimated 80 percent. Except for two small, isolated, short-term incidents, no notable fish kills have been found here this spring until now.

NEW YORK - Preliminary findings point to stress rather than starvation as the cause of the dolphin deaths inside East Hampton’s Northwest Creek in January. The finding also indicate that those that succumbed were “young of the year.” Eleven died during a weeklong rescue effort. The dophins grazed for fish, two by two, in the creek. As January grew cold, reaching 12 degrees on Jan. 16 when the dolphins were in the creek, fish became scarce, and it became clear that many of the 20 or so could not, or would not, go through the creek’s narrow channel into Northwest Harbor, where others were seen. When, on Jan. 21, the last of the dead dolphins was carried away, at least some witnesses were beginning to wonder if the attempt to get them into open water — which involved using a line of boats to herd them along, with boaters beating on metal pipes, boat hulls, or anything else to make noise — had harmed the effort rather than helped. Necropsies performed on the dead animals during the intervening months, suggest that it was not for lack of food that the animals died, as had been assumed. Instead, stress, and the inability of the pod’s younger animals to handle it, apparently caused the deaths.

GEORGIA - Weather has had a big effect on the wildfires in south Georgia, but it's also having an effect on lakes and ponds. On Wednesday, fishermen noticed lifeless large-mouth bass and gizzard shad. The DNR came to test the waters earlier in the week to find out what was going on with all the fish and why they were dying. What they found was that cooler temperatures could be to blame. "We'll have a storm like the one that just came through here and those cooler temperatures can kill out the phytoplankton and that decomposing material can take oxygen out of the water. Which is what we think happened." The weather did not kill out the entire population of fish in the pond, so they expect the pond to make a full recovery.

LOUISIANA - the fish kill from Hurricane Katrina in the Pascagoula River alone was in the hundreds of thousands. The storm's surge removed most of the oxygen from the rivers, which in turn spawned a fish kill the area HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE. "The Pascagoula River was pretty much wiped out, a total kill." There were parts of the Pascagoula River where gar were the only living species. Gone were largemouth bass, blue gill, crappie and catfish. Efforts are underway to restock the rivers. "We are trying to jumpstart the rivers because the storm was so devastating. The rivers would have eventually recovered like they have in the past. This wasn't the first storm and won't be the last. But we were able to fill a void with more fish this time around."

OKLAHOMA - at a small pond near Oak HIll Cemetary "there were dead fish everywhere. They’d just all floated up to the top and they were all over.” Little fish, fairly large fish, sunfish, catfish, carp — dead. Some floated off down a little overflow stream leading from the pond. Ducks and turtles were feasting on others. “The ducks and turtles were fine, but all the fish were dead." Usually fish kills happen in the fall, but they have been known to happen at other times of year. The most common cause is when algae, microscopic plants, die for some reason. The death of the plants depletes the oxygen level in the water, causing fish to basically suffocate. Another reason is simple overpopulation, when a pond’s food or oxygen supply is not great enough to support the number of fish in it.

WASHINGTON - Hood Canal, known for a series of rapid fish kills in recent years, has lived through a natural cycle of high and low oxygen levels dating back more than three centuries, a new study shows. One potentially alarming result is that the last 50 years may have been a time of relatively high oxygen levels in Hood Canal, despite the recent fish kills. What that foretells for the future is anybody’s guess. "The system in Hood Canal is in a delicate balance and that any additional input from man can upset that balance." The new study shows periods of very low oxygen levels in the early 1700s, early 1800s and early 1900s. Winds coming from the south in Hood Canal tend to blow away surface waters and force low-oxygen water out of the depths, leaving fish no place to go. As a result, fish can die from lack of oxygen even near the surface. "We can’t say whether there were fish kills during any period of time in the past."

CANADA - A number of dead fish washed up along the shores of Wascana Creek last week. The dead fish in Wascana Creek followed a rash of dead fish washing ashore around Wascana Lake. The cause of death was a lack of oxygen. The process is known as "winter kill." When ice gets a few inches thick it prevents sunlight from getting to underwater plant life. Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis, which creates oxygen in the water.

NEW ZEALAND - The water in some of New Zealand's most photographed lakes in the picturesque Southern Lakes region is so toxic it is killing fish. Algal blooms are blighting several southern lakes, forcing scientists to admit fish in the worst affected lake have "nowhere to go to stay healthy". The bloom is creating a dense brown cloud in Lake Hayes, near Queenstown, and has also been detected in Lake Hawea, near Wanaka, and tiny Lake Johnson, near Lake Wakatipu. The problem follows the discovery of invasive and unsightly didymo in Lake Wakatipu late last year. "It's been three months of these harsh conditions and they are succumbing to it. We are likely to see more fish deaths than we've seen already."

BELIZE - hundreds of dead fish have been washing up on the waterways surrounding Crooked Tree. "All the tilapias are just floating down the lagoon. In Black Creek, the banks are littered with fish. The trees that are across the creek are full with dead tilapias.” The sudden mass death of fish in the waters occurred after a U.S. scientist used an electric stunning device to collect fish samples for his research. Villagers were concerned that the device, which paralyzes the fish in the lake, could have caused the kill - ”that gentleman was out, even at night in the back lagoon, and he was out in the lagoon all day just zapping fish. And to take samples, a few samples of fish you don’t need to be out there all day and all night filling up iceboxes and taking them to Orange Walk to sell them before Easter for seven dollars a pound.” "The fish didn’t die before the research started and no more fish die after he finished." "From the Audubon Society, from BAHA, from all the organisations there [at a meeting], they were all blaming the oxygen in the water, which is nonsense. This is four to five feet of water out here and we never had a problem like this before when the water is that deep.” "When you cut them open the guts just red inside and the brains like they fry or something.”
BELIZE - The sudden mass death of fish in the waters surrounding Crooked Tree has been blamed on low oxygen levels. “Algal bloom is one of the probable causes why the dissolved oxygen would drop, algal bloom, there are some correlations with temperature. As you are aware last week we had some peak in temperatures and so that could be one cause." "There have been past fish kills in the Crooked Tree Lagoon and we really need to find out what is the reason behind these fish kills." There have also been reports of fish deaths in Maskall and the government officials say they will be looking into that incident as well.

JAMAICA - The National Environmental and Planning Agency has yet to release the finding of a report on what caused a massive fish kill in the Black River in St. Elizabeth last month. In March, officials at the agency said that it was fast tracking its investigations after residents claimed that Dunder, a by-product in the making of rum, was being released into the river that runs close to the Appleton Estate. The agency has declined to say if it found Dunder in the water. However they disclosed that whatever substance was released into the river caused a reduction of oxygen levels in the water resulting in the death of marine life.

4/12/07 -
AUSTRALIA - EELS - Declining water quality at a drought-stricken Victorian lake has resulted in the state's LARGEST EVER EEL KILL, with more than 100,000 of the fish dying over the past two weeks. Falling water levels and rising salinity are behind the significant death toll at Lake Bolac, about 200 kilometres west of Melbourne. "This may well have killed, if not all, the majority of eels in the lake." The latest eel deaths at Lake Bolac follow a spate of die-outs over the past two years at lakes across western Victoria, killing as many as 160,000 eels — including up to 100,000 at Lake Tooliorook, near Lismore, in November. At Lake Bolac, the water level has dropped to less than 20 centimetres from a historical depth of more than two metres. Salt levels have increased over the summer from a third of the level of seawater to double its salinity. The combination of high salinity, increased mud and rises in water temperatures to more than 20 degrees was making it difficult for eels to survive.
4/8/07 -
LOUISIANA - The death of fish in Dawson Creek off Kenilworth Parkway was caused by low levels of oxygen in the water. The question now is what caused the depletion of oxygen. More than a dozen dead shad washed up near vegetation and tree branches near the Kenilworth Parkway bridge over the creek. In addition, the usually clear water had turned murky, making it impossible to see the bottom of the creek. Nine times out of 10, the cause of a fish kill is environmental factors such as high temperatures or stagnant water. But organic material such as grass clippings or sewage, which decay and rob oxygen from the water, may have washed into the creek in the weekend rains. “There’s no doubt it’s low oxygen” that killed the fish. This just happens to be the first case of the year.”

TENNESSEE - A massive shad kill has occurred beneath Nickajack Dam in Marion County. There are millions of dead shad below Nickajack Dam. They are the smallest species of shad, most are 4-6 inches long. They believe this to basically be a "natural occurance," not a fish kill due to water pollution. This year there is an exceptionally large population of threadfin shad being reported in many places, especially below Nickjack Dam. This time of year the threadfins typically migrate upstream to the dams where they spawn. When there is such a huge population, they will gather in confined spaces such the locks (where barges go through). There are literally so many shad that they can gather in those confined spaces, depleting the oxygen in the water, literally killing themselves. Oddly though, the only species of fish found dead were shad. Threadfin shad are a primary food source for many species of game fish, such as rockfish which also congregate beneath Nickajack Dam.

MARYLAND - In A FIRST for the Maryland fisheries department, more than 80,000 fish are being destroyed because they are infected with whirling disease, a parasite that infects the fish brain, disrupts their equilibrium and causes them to swim in circles. They estimate a loss of about 20% for the coming stocking season. Experts estimate that the disease first arrived in the United States in loads of European brown trout sometime in the 1950's. The disease has long been present on the East Coast, but it has been only a severe problem in the rivers and streams of western states such as Colorado and Montana. Cases of whirling disease have been observed for at least a dozen years in Maryland, but RARELY cause such a mass infection. In February, workers at the Mettiki fishery, a smaller rearing station about 15 miles from Bear Creek, started losing one or two fish a day, which was UNUSUAL since hatchery fish deaths are RARE. The dearth of rainbows in Colorado's rivers and streams has become so severe that in some locations scientists are introducing rainbow trout that have been identified as parasite-resistant, despite the risk of jeopardizing the indigenous rainbow trout population.

FLORIDA - Red tide killed at least eight of the 26 manatees that were found in Lee County over a two-week period in March. Results of necropsies, animal versions of autopsies, show that high levels of the red tide toxin were positive in eight of the manatees. Scientists suspect the toxin may be responsible for 12 other deaths but are waiting results from necropsies. In 2003, red tide was suspected in the deaths of 98 manatees. The most manatee deaths attributed to red tide happened in 1996, when it killed 151. Seventy-one of those deaths happened between Feb. 27 and May 1, when carcasses were recovered throughout Lee, Collier, Sarasota and Charlotte counties.

4/4/07 -
JAMAICA - The National Environment and Planning Agency last Friday said it was not sure of the cause of the huge fish kill in St Elizabeth, nearly three weeks after the hundreds of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Black River and its tributaries in the parish. Fish and water samples collected from the river on the days immediately following the fish kill (March 12, 13 and 14) have been analysed but said the results were so far "inconclusive". The water was tested for biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, acidity (pH) and total suspended solids. The fish kill sparked allegations from residents and business persons alike who live and work in Black River and the surrounding communities that the fish may have died as a result of dunder - dark-coloured by-product of rum distillation which smells like stale sugar - released in the river by Appleton. Dunder is known to deplete the oxygen levels in water. Appleton's Chief Executive Officer refuted the claim saying the dunder it produced was stored in large ponds which were sealed and therefore leak-proof.

NORTH DAKOTA - Something fishy is going on between Bismarck and Jamestown at Lake Isabel, thousands of times over. Carp, some up to two feet long, are washing up on shore after a severe winter kill. Some nearby residents say it`s the WORST FISH KILL SINCE THEY'VE BEEN LIVING THERE. Carp are normally a hearty fish. But this winter, even the heartiest fish couldn`t survive the conditions in Lake Isabel. "We`re in the seventh year of a pretty significant drought and Lake Isabel water levels have been declining for the past seven years and so decreased water levels increase the chance of kills happening." (photo)

GREAT LAKES - Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, more commonly called VHS, has already infected the Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan, and is causing massive fish kills. "I think people know about invasive species in general but I think this one is such a large threat. It's probably AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE GREATER THAN ANYTHING WE'VE SEEN TO DATE." The Wisconsin state Department of Natural Resources is asking for the public's help in keeping the deadly fish virus at bay. To help keep VHS out of local waters, experts recommend the public empty any water from boats after boating on any of the Great Lakes, because the virus can live in water. They also suggest not using live bait from outside of the state because other states don't screen live bait for health issues. The virus isn't a threat to humans, only to fish.

4/3/07 -
THAILAND - A decrease in sea temperatures caused by the El Nino phenomenon is blamed for the deaths of huge numbers of fish off Tarutao island. A number of fish were found dead on Sunday near the western part of the island in the Andaman Sea. The incident coincided with a change in the colour of the water to red. "Water off the Son Bay, where most fish died, became very cold." The fish, which inhabit deep water, came to the surface to escape the cold. Those which could not adjust to the different environment died. Officials also spotted whales which came near to shore to escape cold water. El Nino, or ocean warming, normally refers to an increase in ocean water temperatures around the equator. When that happens, it causes cold, nutrient-rich currents to flow toward the Andaman Sea, with temperatures plunging from 26C to below 20C. The cold water, together with strong sunlight and still water, led to the 'red tide' off Tarutao. A red tide is a sea condition in which phytoplankton grow in large numbers. The plankton, some of which are harmful, feed on nutrients in the water. "I think marine fish died from eating poison phytoplankton." However, the Tarutao Marine National Park said examinations of the dead fish showed no traces of toxic substances, and the park has allowed villagers to eat the fish. An expert is worried about the next 'red tide', which he expects will occur in a river mouth in neighbouring Trang province, saying breaching coral has been detected in Satun and Trang. "The pale colour is a sign that soft coral has been damaged. This has happened before, 10 years ago in the north of the Andaman Sea, including Surin Island." He said that condition was also caused by a reduction in temperature to below 20C from the normal temperature of 26, due to cold currents flowing from the Pacific Ocean to the Andaman Sea.

4/2/07 -
ARIZONA - Something’s fishy at Canyon Lake. Roadside overlooks boast red rock cliffs plunging into sparkling blue water. One does not suspect what a closer look reveals: Hundreds or even thousands of dead fish lying or floating along the lake’s rocky shoreline. The silver-colored fish ranged from one to six inches long, a mix of minnows and shad. Both are varieties that fisherman typically use as bait. “(The fish kill) makes us think the water’s contaminated.” But why had only small fish had died and washed ashore? In April 2005, biologists linked a toxic algae to more than 2,000 dead fish in Saguaro Lake, northwest of Canyon Lake. A toxic species of golden algae was killing threadfin shad, the typical first victims of toxic algae. The toxic algae also was found in Gilbert’s Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch that year.

VIRGINIA - Scientists and volunteers are working this spring on the Shenandoah River to find the source of the mysterious fish kills on the river for the past several years. State scientists, with freshwater fish experts at Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University, have a lengthy list of tests to be performed on river water, sediment and fish. A minor fish kill was reported last week on the North River, a Shenandoah tributary, but it didn't fit the pattern of the past three years: large kills involving several species beginning in March. "We're holding our breath. This is really right at the time when they began the last three years." Last spring, northern hogsuckers died in the mainstream Shenandoah River, and smallmouth bass and sunfish died in the North Fork of the Shenandoah and in the South River. The year before, 80% of the smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish died in the South Fork, and a similar kill occurred on the North Fork in 2004. There was a kill in December on the main branch of the Shenandoah that affected several hundred fish, mostly hogsuckers. Friday there were about 25 dead white suckers on a 3-mile stretch of the North River. The fish had been dead for a couple of days, so it won't be possible to determine how they died. The most likely reasons for fish kills have been ruled out, and so far officials have no explanation for the symptoms of chronic stress that the dead fish displayed. Many bore lesions that resembled cigar burns, and some had males and female characteristics. Scientists have tested fish samples for nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous, and this spring, they plan to look for compounds such as heavy metals and pesticides and other chemicals used specifically in the largely agricultural Shenandoah Valley.

AUSTRALIA - Last week a man emailed the ABC South West Victoria newsroom and said he knew a big fish kill was about to happen in Lake Colac - and his prediction turned out to be true, with roughly 1,000 fish turning up dead this week. His evidence is based upon aerial photographs taken of the lake before the events, in a region which has seen massive deaths in eel and carp populations over the past years of drought. Photographs taken 5 days before fish kills show a very strong foam pattern that looked like sand dunes moving across a perfectly stil lake. The other tell-tale was the shore was thickly covered in foam. These are precursors, generally, to a significant fish kill to follow. "The intriguing part of the pattern was it appeared the bottom of the lake was erupting with gas-type bubbles that were forming the foam pattern on the surface...The intriguing part of the observation on both occasions is that Lake Colac is generally very turbid - usually a pretty unhealthy greyish colour. On both occasions, you'll see the 2006 photograph, the lake looks pristine, almost crystal clear. More startling on the 2007 photograph, when the lake is significantly lower and more turbid, where the event is taking place you can clearly see patches of the [lake] bottom. This is extraordinarily uncharacteristic of Lake Colac." Does he know what is causing these events - and the ensuing fishkills? He said, "I wouldn't have a clue." The unlikely explanations being put forward by the EPA are that the surface disturbance is the result of fish spawning, and the fish kills are attributed to increasing salinity in the lakes due to the drought and water evaporation. (photos)

THAILAND, on March 15, embarked on a two-week investigation to find out whether a ship sinking with 650 tonnes of raw sugar aboard or factory waste devastated fish farms in the Chao Phraya River. Environment, industry and irrigation officials were probing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of fish raised in pens along the river in the central provinces of Ayutthaya and Ang Thong. One suspect was a monosodium glutamate factory opposite the pens in Ang Thong where the fish started dying. Fish farmers in Ayutthaya below the site of the sinking and the factory were also hit as the river flowed south. Officials released a rush of water into the river from a dam to flush the contaminant out to sea.

SOUTH AFRICA - Residents have been warned that dead fish will continue washing up on beaches along the False Bay Coast for some time. Decaying planktonic plants, which were in bloom during the red tide along the coast, are resulting in a lack of oxygen in the water, leading to the deaths of fish and other marine life. A number of dead fish have already washed up on beaches along Gordons Bay. Usually the blooms are dispersed by the wind, but this has not happened this time. “The problem in False Bay is that the blooms are not easily dispersed. The fact that it is a bay makes it have a longer retention time. So we have seen these blooms building up over several months now, and although we have had various wind patterns during that period, the blooms have persisted. Through a more exposed coast these blooms would be dispersed by the wind, but this has not been the case now because of detainment in the bay system.”

MICHIGAN - State officials are telling people not to be alarmed when seeing dead fish floating on lakes and ponds this time of year. It's natural, they say. Hundreds of fish have been found floating on Pleasant Lake after the warm weather melted ice on top of the water. "We expect the typical winter kill. Over the winter, lakes lose oxygen and (dead fish) are hidden under the ice and snow." When the ice melts, the dead fish surface and drift. Pleasant Lake was stressed going into the winter and shows evidence of low oxygen. People living near the lake could have contributed to the problem with lake weed treatments, but that has not been proven. The weeds provide oxygen to the water. "(Fish) can even continue to die into the spring with the increase in temperature all at once. It can be quite stressful on the fish." DNR officials do not run tests on the fish that die over the winter.

PENNSYLVANIA - The explanation for the fish kill at Mermaid Pond in January remains uncertain after two months, although the investigation is continuing. Laboratory results received earlier this month showed traces of a family of chemicals called carbamates in the pond water, although the source and exact nature of the compounds is unknown. Carbamates have many industrial uses and are found in pesticides, fungicides, rubber accelerants, wastewater treatment and metal finishing. It was not definite whether the carbamates were actually responsible for the kill. More than 600 fish - mostly bluegills and few bass - were found dead in the pond and surrounding streams the evening of January 18. Examination of the corpses by investigators from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission was inconclusive. Residents of surrounding neighborhood in Wyndmoor reported finding more dead fish during the first weeks of March, but because of their advanced state of decomposition, investigators concluded they had died in January with the others and floated to the surface of the water after an ice melt.

TEXAS - March 15 - Biologists believe toxic Golden Algae is behind a fish kill on the Brazos River in Waco. It’s left hundreds, if not thousands, of fish dead. The problem has also plagued a number of other Texas lakes. The Texas Parks and Wildlife staff said the Golden Algae is new to the area and just has to run its course. The algae gives off a toxin that paralyzes a fish's gills, suffocating it. However, the algae isn’t harmful to most other animals. A fisherman says lately he's noticed a change. "The fish, they're dying. You catch a fish every once and awhile, but very seldom." This latest fish kill has been going on for the past month. If you walk along the riverbanks, you'll see fish, after fish, after fish. This is the second year this fish kill has affected this portion of the Brazos. The Golden Algae blooms during winter months.

U.S. SOUTHERN COAST - In the summer of 2005 marine animals suddenly started dying off Florida's southwest coast, with scores of bottlenose dolphins, manatees and turtles washing up on shore. In October alone, 22 dolphins became stranded and died, compared with the usual monthly average of three. Hoping to unravel the mystery, nearly 50 researchers, part of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events, commissioned a study of the deaths. After taking samples from 130 stranded dolphins, they concluded that red tide - an algae bloom that creates a neurotoxin, brevetoxin - caused the massive die-off. The working group has investigated scores of such events. At present, the panel is handling eight such cases simultaneously, an UNPRECEDENTED high. Experts believe a range of factors are contributing to the algae blooms and viruses linked to the die-offs, including nutrient runoff from farming, rising ocean temperatures and discarded waste such as cat litter. The group are still struggling to figure out whether environmental contaminants or other factors might have weakened the mammals that fell prey to the 2005 algae bloom. This month the rapid-response team sprang into action again after 64 dead bottlenose dolphins and numerous fish washed ashore on the Texas and Louisiana coasts. The experts are concerned that the morbilli virus, which is similar to distemper in dogs and killed tens of thousands of European animals in 2004, may be responsible for the recent dolphin deaths. Marine mammals dying in waves can serve as indicators for human health. "They can be early messengers, really, for broader changes."

Wind shifts are devastating ocean life - The delicate interplay between the oceans and atmosphere is changing with catastrophic consequences. Entire marine ecosystems have been wiped out, devastating populations of sea birds and larger marine mammals. These "dead zones" occur where there are disturbances to the nutrient-rich ocean currents, which are driven by coastal winds. Extreme marine suffocations have occurred off the west coast of the US every year for the last five years. The most intense event, which left the ocean floor littered with the carcasses of crabs, happened in 2006. It was unlike anything measured along the Oregon coast in the PAST 50 YEARS. Other coastal countries including Chile, Namibia and South Africa have also been affected. Observations along the west coast of the US suggest that the upwelling in the ocean is being disrupted, changing its timing and intensity. For example, in 2005 the upwelling was delayed which meant that the plankton blooms did not occur, leading to a collapse in fish populations. This particularly hit migrating salmon, which pass along the coast in April and May every year. An even more catastrophic event occurred in 2006 when the amount of upwelling doubled, leading to a huge influx of nutrients and a supercharged plankton bloom. When these sank to the ocean floor they stripped the water column of oxygen, creating a 3,000 sq km (1,150 sq miles) dead zone, where creatures unable to swim away suffocated en masse. Crabs, worms and sea stars all perished in the anoxic water. The event was so severe that the researchers fear that marine life cannot return to the area. "In previous years, fish that have escaped the low-oxygen area appear to have returned once the oxygen was renewed. This year may be different, however, because unlike earlier years, the living habitat was also suffocated." Researchers believe the cause of these events was changes in the intensity of the coastal winds, perhaps brought about by global warming. "What we know from the climate change models is that the land will warm more than the sea." It is this difference in temperature and pressure that drives the winds. "As you intensify that gradient - that will drive the stronger winds." "Climate models predict increasing uncertainty with wild fluctuations. We should expect more surprises." (photo)

Conservationists estimate 170 frog species have become extinct in the past two decades, and fear another 1900 are on the way out. Many have been killed off by the deadly chytrid fungus, which is thought to have spread from Africa to every continent except Antarctica. Faced with the advance of the deadly disease, as well as habitat loss, global warming and pollution, frogs and other amphibians are in serious decline. "It's been responsible for huge population crashes and it's still spreading. Very few species are resistant to it, and it's becoming more and more widespread." Recently the fungus has been recorded in frogs in Japan, where it was identified last month, and in Sardinia. In Central and South America it has wreaked devastation, with an estimated two thirds of some species wiped out. Amphibians form an important element of the world's ecological biomass, especially in tropical zones, where they are so numerous they play an important role in controlling insects and bugs that can cause diseases in people. Scientists have called for every zoo, aquarium and botanical garden in the world to rescue at least one species of frog. They urged each institution to provide a home for 500 or more frogs to build up a disease-free population. The captive frogs will provide a population reservoir that can be reintroduced to the wild once their natural habitat is safe from the disease.
2/16/07 -
SCOTAND - Millions of fish have been washed ashore at St Andrews Bay following a FREAK North Sea storm lasting several days. The fish were found over a five-mile stretch of beach, including West Sands, one of the top-rated in Scotland. Staff at St Andrews Aquarium have been trying to save some of the creatures which include five species of crab, plaice and flounder, starfish, scallops and an octopus. Around 80% of the creatures have died. Another likely factor is the fact that the tide is not rising as far as in previous years, leaving the creatures stranded on the beach and at the mercy of seagulls. The sealife had been washed ashore over a three-day period. "It is essentially A COMPLETE FREAK OF NATURE. Everyone that has talked about this seems to think it is down to oil tanker pollution but it is not. It is like a natural disaster. I have seen this happen once but it was on a tiny scale and there were a few animals washed up."

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1/15/07 AUSTRALIA - Natural phenomenon and not a chemical spill has been blamed for the death of hundreds of fish at a popular Northern Territory billabong. More than 1000 fish - many of them large barramundi and catfish - were found floating at the Corroboree Billabong, about 70km southeast of Darwin. Up to 100 dead fish were found the previous week in the same water. "Having visited the site, we are confident that the fish kill is a natural phenomenon and an extension of last week's kill. Both resulted from local showers washing deoxygenated water off the floodplain into the billabong. It is a phenomenon we see most years and is usually rectified by prolonged rains." The toxic smell fouling the air close to the waterway was also unlikely to be associated with chemicals. "Larger barramundi which were trapped in the weeds have now been washed into the billabong channel by recent rains. A smell associated with the fish kill is that of decaying fish and not chemicals." The unusual film on the water was probably the result of the decomposing fish, which were proving an easy meal for local crocs. "Fisheries officers saw one crocodile in the area during last week's investigation, but now we understand he has at least another 10 for company, all enjoying their annual feast of immobile barramundi."

Temperatures rising a few degrees in the Mediterranean Sea could kill its fish population in vast numbers. Researchers said they established the impact that a rise in sea temperatures and an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the water would have on sea life. Earth's average temperature rose by up to 1 degree F during the last few years and is predicted to increase by as much as 5 degrees F over the next few decades - enough to kill fish in Greek seas, the researchers said. Fish in the Mediterranean ideally live in temperatures between 64 degrees F and 75 degrees F. Above 78 degrees F, fish do not take in enough oxygen. At temperatures above 84 degrees F, their cardiac systems fail. Scientists said increased amounts of carbon dioxide in seawater also threaten sea life because water would be more acidic.

THE STATE OF THE OCEANS - the oceans are disgorging more dead and dying creatures, and scientists have come to a disquieting realization: The proliferation of algae, bacteria and other microbes is making the oceans less hospitable to advanced forms of life.
*Off the coast of Sweden each summer, blooms of cyanobacteria turn the Baltic Sea into a stinking, yellow-brown slush that locals call "rhubarb soup." Dead fish bob in the surf.
* On the southern coast of the Hawaiian island of Maui, high tide leaves piles of green-brown algae that smell so foul condominium owners have hired a tractor driver to scrape them off the beach every morning. * On Florida's Gulf Coast, residents complain that harmful algae blooms have become bigger, more frequent and longer-lasting. Toxins from these red tides have killed hundreds of sea mammals and caused emergency rooms to fill up with coastal residents suffering respiratory distress.
* North of Venice, Italy, a sticky mixture of algae and bacteria collects on the Adriatic Sea in spring and summer. This white mucus washes ashore, fouling beaches, or congeals into submerged blobs, some bigger than a person.
* Fireweed torments the fishermen of Moreton Bay, Australia, causing burning sores and welts. * There are vast webs of plastic debris and garbage covering hundreds of square kilometres floating in the Pacific.
* The rising acidity of the worlds oceans will kill off whole orders of aquatic life.
* Domoic acid poisoning is a condition that sends dazed marine mammals washing ashore in California as regularly as the spring tides. They pick up the neurotoxin by eating anchovies, sardines and other sea life that consume algae that produce the acid. Although such algae have been around for eons, they have bloomed with extraordinary intensity along the Pacific coast for the last eight years. The blooms are part of a pattern of oceanic changes that scientists attribute to warming waters and a torrent of nutrients unleashed by farming, deforestation and urban development.
*In Maine two years ago, 800 harbour seals, all seemingly healthy adults, washed up dead.
A strain of cyanobacteria, venomous weed that is an ancestor of modern-day bacteria and algae that flourished 2.7 billion years ago, has appeared in at least a dozen places around the globe. It is one of many symptoms of a virulent pox on the world's oceans.

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2006 -

12/26/06 -
AUSTRALIA - Fish species on the Great Barrier Reef are starving to death because climate change is killing off their food source, an environmental study has found.

RED TIDE - With sickening regularity, toxic algae blooms are invading coastal waters. They kill sea life and send poisons ashore on the breeze, forcing residents to flee. Coastal residents along Florida's Gulf Coast fear that the sea has turned on them whenever purplish-red algae stain the crystal waters. The blooms send waves of stinking dead fish ashore and insult every nostril with something worse. The algae produce an arsenal of toxins carried ashore by the sea breeze. What was once a freak of nature has become commonplace. These outbreaks, often called red tides, are occurring more often worldwide, showing up in new places, lasting longer and intensifying. Overfishing, destruction of wetlands, industrial pollution and climate change have made the seas inhospitable for fish and more advanced forms of life and freed the lowliest — algae and bacteria — to flourish. Red tides date back at least 150 years in Florida. People who have spent many years on Little Gasparilla Island and in other Florida Gulf Coast communities say red tides used to show up once in a decade. Now, they occur almost every year and persist for months. The previous bloom, which ended in mid-February, peppered Florida's western coast with its fiery breath for 13 months, stubbornly refusing to dissipate despite three hurricanes. Last year's red tide took the lives of at least 88 manatees, with a cascade of nerve and tissue damage that filled their lungs with blood. "The manatees are gassed to death. They die of toxic shock." Researchers are hearing a growing number of complaints about neurological symptoms. Hundreds of visitors, after a short beach vacation on the west coast of Florida, suffered weeks of coughing, bronchial infections, dizziness, lethargy and other symptoms. Red tides are 10 times more abundant than they were 50 years ago. Once, "the peak time was in the fall…. Now we have blooms continuing on and lasting into the winter and spring."

MALAYSIA - Mystery surrounds the death of thousands of catfish and ikan duri at a estuary near Pantai Leman. Also belly up were ikan bulu ayam, a tilapia-like marine species said to be extremely hardy. They may have died of poisoning from pollutants in a nearby river leading into the estuary. Something similar occurred after the tsunami hit Aceh and parts of Kedah and Penang on Dec 26, 2004. One initial reaction was that someone had used fish bombs in the area. "But I rejected this as fish bombs are almost ineffective in shallow sea, and more often used in ponds and rivers....Their sudden appearance in very large numbers is shocking." The fish also did not die of an oil spill as there was no trace of oil along the 2.5km stretch of the beach. The State Fisheries director was puzzled by the incident. Officials from the Department of Environment visited the scene to check if the river had been polluted by heavy metals or other poisons.

NORTH DAKOTA - Drought has taken a toll on the Souris River, affecting golf courses and area wildlife refuges. As of Dec. 11, Minot had recorded just 11 inches of precipitation for the year, compared to 18 inches on average. "The flow is zero right now. I don't think there's anything coming down at all. We really haven't had any flow all year." Officials say the river in Minot could freeze solid this winter, and that heavy snows are needed throughout the region to recharge reservoirs in the basin next spring and bring river levels up to normal. "We probably can't afford another spring without sufficient runoff, or we'll be in trouble next summer." Wildlife officials say the possibility exists for an extensive fish kill throughout the entire Souris River below Lake Darling this winter.

MINNESOTA - Lake Osakis in western Minnesota is known as one of the best lakes in our state for fishing. It provides a beautiful backdrop on a summer day...Until you walk towards the shore and are confronted with a thick foamy sludge. Many Minnesotans have used the popular lake for many years as their summer getaway. But, the dirty, smelly mess has many of the lake's biggest fans concerned. So what is it? DNR officials speculate that high winds have increased the levels of plant breakdown into proteins and pushed them towards the shore where they've accumulated. The 'Mystery Sludge' showed up about the beginning of August and doesn't appear to be letting up. The look and sewer smell has many fearing it could be fertilizer or manure run-off. Osakis regulars say they've never seen the brown residue on the top of the water before, and are anxious to find out what it is.

Scientists suspect global warming in having a major negative impact on the Bering Sea, where much of the fish consumed the United States is caught. The Seattle Times reported that the Bearing Sea, where the annual catch totals some $1.7 billion, is seeing its sea life population dropping sharply. For instance, the snow crab catch has declined by 85 percent over the last six years. Part of the reason is over-fishing, but the scientists also say that global warming also plays a major role in the area`s rising water temperatures and melting ice caps.

June -
A major red tide alert was issued for the west coast of North America - Most of the British Columbia coast was closed to shellfish harvesting on the 16th because of an outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), also known as red tide. The red tide toxin, which is not destroyed by cooking, can be deadly because it paralyzes the respiratory system. The closure affects bivalve shellfish — oysters, mussels, clams and scallops. It's expected to last several weeks. These harvesting closures aren't uncommon. But this is ONE OF THE LARGEST CLOSURES EVER, extending from B.C.'s North Coast south into Washington state. Red tide is caused by a naturally-occurring algae that increase as water temperatures rise.
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Through 5/30 -
MARYLAND - After having been whipsawed between unusually good — and extremely bad — water quality conditions over the past decade, scientists say the Chesapeake Bay is in for something different this summer: moderation. While an oxygen-starved “dead zone” will appear, it shouldn’t be as bad as last year’s which was the fourth worst on record. They predict a dead zone covering 1.17 cubic kilometers, or about 2.3 percent of the mainstem of the Chesapeake. That is about the same amount of anoxia — water with essentially no oxygen — as seen in 2001. That year, the anoxic “dead zone” stretched along the bottom of the Bay from the Bay Bridge to the Choptank River. It was the 12th worst year for anoxia.
MISSOURI - An UNUSUAL number of fish kills across Missouri has some anglers wondering what the problem is. Fish experts say the answer lies in the weather. "Most years, we might get one report of dying fish a week. Right now it is more like five a week. They are coming from all over the state and from every kind of water body-private ponds, big reservoirs, rivers and creeks." Every fish species has been affected, from crappie and largemouth bass to suckers and shad. Most kills have involved 50 to 100 fish. The biggest reported so far this year was in the Kings River, a tributary of Table Rock Lake. The first report came on April 18, and fish continued to die there for several days. On top of normal spring stresses, Missouri waters have been affected by an unusually dry, warm spring. Water temperatures are higher than normal for this time of year, and water levels in streams and reservoirs is below normal, especially in southwest Missouri. Water quality is worse than usual, and fish are crowded into less space. In many cases, reports have involved so-called "furry fish," dead fish with an advanced growth of bacteria or fungus covering their bodies.
PENNSYLVANIA - A thick green ooze is forming along stagnate areas of the region's waterways - algae. We've never seen it this bad. We've heard from people at the state that this is the WORST THEY'VE SEEN THE ALGAE IN 20 to 30 YEARS. They cloud the water, rob plants on the bottom of life-giving light and strip oxygen from the water, making it harder for fish to breathe. Algae are a normal occurrence, rarely drawing much attention. But this year, it seems, they are worse than ever. The cause? Probably the lack of rainfall, but no one seems to know for sure. Precipitation for the region is more than 2 inches below normal, and some are worrying that the algae might be a harbinger of drought conditions to come. "The last time we had conditions like this was in 1995 and we ended up having a severe drought."
EL SALVADOR - A lethal algal bloom dubbed "Red Tide" by scientists caused a mysterious mass die-off of 200 sea turtles on the Pacific shores of El Salvador late last year. The deaths were reported in January but had initially baffled scientists. Tests showed traces of "saxitoxin, which is produced by the species of algae and sea plankton that cause the phenomenon known as 'Red Tide'." "Red Tide events have become increasingly common around the world, causing significant impacts on wild marine animal populations, massive economic losses to shellfish producers, and occasionally human deaths. While the algal blooms are a natural occurrence, human wastes such as run-off containing fertilizers and sewage from urban areas have been postulated as triggers for these events."
TEXAS - The consensus among fisheries officials and others is that if the drought continues through spring and summer its effects are going to be the worst in at least a half-century. If the drought continues, heightened concerns will include dangerously low lake levels, poor fish and wildlife reproduction and fish kills. Fish kills caused by low oxygen levels already have occurred on many private East Texas lakes and ponds.
FLORIDA - Marine scientists say cataracts first noticed in REDFISH at the state fish hatchery on Tampa Bay have been discovered in wild fish. Recent samplings at several locations have yielded fish with cataracts - a clouding of the eye`s lens that causes loss of vision. The scientists are not sure how widespread the problem might be since screening for cataracts is not a part of normal fish-health examinations in hatchery-raised or wild fish. The researchers also say they don`t know how long the vision problems have existed, what is causing the cataracts, and how a loss of vision might affect a fish`s ability to catch food or evade predators.
April 2006 - TANZANIA - DOLPHINS - Scientists tried to discover why hundreds of dolphins washed up dead on a beach popular with tourists on the northern coast of Zanzibar… Villagers and fishermen were burying the remains of the roughly 400 bottlenose dolphins, which normally live in deep offshore waters but washed up along a 2-mile stretch of coast in Tanzania's Indian Ocean archipelago. A preliminary examination of their dolphins' stomach contents failed to show the presence of squid beaks or other remains of animals hunted by dolphins. That was an indication that the dolphins either had not eaten for a long time or had vomited. "We have never seen this type of dolphin in our area."
UPDATE - May 2006 - Scientists looking into the deaths of nearly 600 bottlenose dolphins that washed ashore on Zanzibar said they still had no idea what killed them. Examination showed the stomachs to be unusually empty, suggesting the animals vomited in a confused or frenzied state although they were not poisoned.

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WEEK through 2/7 -
UGANDA - Five years ago when Lake Victoria water levels started to fall, no body thought it would turnout into a national crisis. Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh water body in the world. The current fall in water levels, now receding to about six metres away from the shore, makes it difficult for the boats to land. Daily fish catch has fallen drastically. At Ggaba, which used to land over 20 tonnes of fish daily, the catch has now dropped to between 500 kilogrammes and one tonne. "The fish has run away to the deep waters." "There is no fish. We do not know what is happening. We get about 50 kgs, some days 20 or 5 kgs, at times nothing." With the drought, the landing beaches are drying up and are quickly being turned into grazing fields.
ALASKA - A study found SALMON stream temperatures on the lower Kenai Peninsula have increased steadily over the past six years to levels considered unhealthy. State standards say water at 55 degrees Fahrenheit is considered unhealthy for spawning areas. Measurements taken last year found water temperatures above that mark more than 80 days for each of the streams. Warm water can damage salmon egg and fry incubation, resistance to disease, and the availability of oxygen and nutrients. It can also slow the travel of migrating adult salmon.
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WEEK through 1/17/06 -
AUSTRALIA - the recent Queensland hot spell has been blamed for the mass death of fish on the Gold Coast. Thousands of dead fish were discovered in Robina Lakes and a Clear Island waterway on the 5th. It is believed that UNUSUALLY HIGH WATER TEMPERATURES caused by hot weather during the past few days led to the death of eels, mullet, bream and bass. Many of the dead fish have washed ashore and more fish deaths are expected this weekend.
AUSTRALIA - WHALE SHARKS spotted off the coast of Australia are getting smaller, researchers have said. In a decade the average size has shrunk from seven metres to five metres. "Now if you consider that the sharks probably aren't sexually reproductive or mature until they're six or seven metres long - that's a very worrying sign." Whale sharks, the world's largest fish, are caught for food in some east Asian countries and Australian researchers suspect this is causing a decline. Whale sharks can live for up to 150 years, attaining lengths of up to 20m, and are believed to reach sexual maturity around the age of 30. There are also indications that the number of sharks visiting Australian waters may be decreasing, which would be additional evidence for a decline prompted by over-fishing.
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2005 -

NORTH CAROLINA - December 22, 2005 - Millions of dead fish blanketing the beach strand of Wrightsville Beach earlier this week created a scene that one expert called “phenomenal.” Menhaden fish, which are not typically eaten by humans, began washing up along the beachfront Sunday morning. A cause of the occurrence has not yet been determined. “I have never seen anything like it. There have been fish kills that are this large, but I have never seen one.” Menhaden are an important food source for many sportfish that are caught, including flounder, trout and Spanish mackerel. They ruled out red tide. Tests came back negative for bacteria that cause a red tide, which is the frequent cause of fish kills. The theory behind the fish kill is that a large school of menhaden swam behind the north end of the outer island and ran into trouble. “We are still with the theory that those fish went up a small creek and were trapped, and then suffocated. When the tide dropped out, they couldn’t breathe because they used up all the oxygen.” It's not common for this to happen, but we have seen it happen in the past. But never with this many fish.” Several small sharks were also found among the menhaden. “I don’t know what the deal is with that. They may have been there and got caught up with the low oxygen, or they may have been trying to feed on them or what might have been the situation there." "I think it’s pretty much of a freak-type event. We certainly would be concerned if this started happening again. Then we would certainly suspect something other than them being trapped.”
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WEEK through 12/13 -
MARYLAND - It's been a while coming, but big stripers have finally entered the Chesapeake Bay. "Things are running about three weeks late this year." The water temperature is just beginning to drop into a range that makes the bait "ball up," which attracts the big stripers from the ocean now migrating down the Atlantic Coast.
RHODE ISLAND - FISH - Saltwater anglers had been disappointed by the small numbers of stripers, blues and hickory shad seen the last several weeks. Summer and early fall had UNUSUAL weather. The species of fish that migrate south for the winter just did not provide the exciting fall fisheries. But on November 25th hundreds of gannets were diving into the water and gulls swooping down and picking up baitfish. It's UNUSUAL, because scenes like that traditionally occur in late October along the Rhode Island and Connecticut coastlines, not in late November.
CANADA - A slew of goopy and gross sea creatures is making its way into or near Canadian waters, leaving a slimy trail that is menacing mussels and threatening rich fishing grounds. Known as the tunicate, the unappealing sea life has slithered into waters around several provinces, including Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and British Columbia, fouling mussel farms and raising anxiety over future invasions. One in particular — didemnum — is alarming marine biologists, who fear the species could get into Canadian waters and smother lucrative scallop beds under a pancake-like batter that chokes off life.
AMAZON - The Amazon basin's worst drought in more than 40 years is ending as rainfall returns to normal. Stocks of fish, a dietary staple, may not recover for months in smaller tributaries that dried up, killing millions of fish.
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WEEK through 12/6 -
FLORIDA - The massive, nasty red tide bloom that has spewed toxins into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly a year finally is starting to loosen its hold on the Florida coast. Like balloons slowly losing air, the algae are shrinking, said oceanographers who have monitored the bloom since it was spotted in January. Their findings confirm what beachgoers have noticed - that the beach breeze no longer dries their eyes and scratches their throats. The tide's tentacles, which had spread to the shore and even wound their way into Tampa Bay and tiny neighborhood canals, are mostly gone. At its largest, about three weeks ago, the algae bloom spread from Pasco County south to Captiva and covered a swath of water the size of Connecticut. Scientists are offering the good news with a strong word of caution: The bloom could expand again. They don't know whether wind and water currents will shift it farther north. They also don't know how long it will hang on; red tide typically dies off in winter months, but this bloom already has proved itself to be UNUSUAL. Generally, red tides in the Gulf bloom in the late summer or fall and grow until they exhaust themselves and fade away. By wintertime, they disappear. This bloom came to life in January, and researchers don't know why. They're also not sure why the bloom is now dissipating. When the bloom was at its most intense this summer and fall, it killed sea turtles and thousands of fish, and it kept many people off the beaches of central and southwest Florida. Also, for the first time in 30 years, red tide crept into Tampa Bay. Karenia brevis typically doesn't like low-salinity water and stays out of bays and inlets.
FLORIDA - The fall kingfish run never materialized along Florida's central Gulf Coast in November, likely because of unusual weather conditions and the ninemonth red tide.
Are we putting our fish in hot water? Global warming is causing the world's waters to warm while rainfall patterns, currents and sea levels are changing. "The balance is set to tip, as climate change continues the pressure on fish populations already strained by overfishing, pollution and habitat loss." Hotter temperatures are expected to stunt the growth of some fish, resulting in fewer offspring. Some temperate fish like salmon, catfish and sturgeon cannot spawn at all if winter temperatures do not drop below a certain level. To make matters worse, the WWF report shows that freshwater fish particularly may not have enough oxygen to breathe as waters grow warmer. In the Gulf of Alaska in 1993, as fish moved into cooler waters around 120,000 sea birds starved to death as they were unable to dive deep enough to reach their relocated prey.
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WEEK of 11/15 -
SALMON - An estimated 100,000 farmed salmon in New Brunswick, Canada have been freed from their cages in the latest act of vandalism that one scientist is calling a "nightmare scenario." The released farmed salmon are a danger to the diminishing stocks of wild salmon. Farmed salmon have smaller brains, are helpless against predators and PROGRAMMED TO SWIM IN CIRCLES. There are fears the farmed salmon will interbreed with their wild counterparts. "My ultimate nightmare release period is large fish near to or actually mature getting out very close to the spawning season ... and that's exactly what this last vandalism event has done." Salmon populations on the west and east coasts of North America are declining. The wild Atlantic population has not rebounded and remains at about 3.5 million worldwide, with some scientists fearing the wild species could become extinct.
A new report commissioned by the Worldwide Fund for Nature says fish are increasingly threatened by climate change.
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WEEK of 11/8 -
A catastrophic collapse in sea and bird life numbers along America's Northwest Pacific seaboard is raising fears that global warming is beginning to irreparably damage the health of the oceans. Scientists say a dramatic rise in the ocean temperature led to unprecedented deaths of birds and fish this summer all along the coast from central California to British Columbia in Canada. The population of seabirds, such as cormorants, auklets and murres, and fish, including salmon and rockfish, fell to record lows. This ecological meltdown mirrors a similar development taking place thousands of miles away in the North Sea.
GULF OF MEXICO - Scientists concerned by bottlenose dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico have reportedly asked for the marine mammal equivalent of a disaster declaration. A 12-member working group of scientists voted to recommend the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration add the dolphin deaths to an "UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENT" the group declared in March for manatees. The scientists suspect "red tide" is responsible for the deaths and NOAA is expected to initiate a study of the microscopic algae bloom's effects on dolphins, manatees, sea turtles and even seabirds.
Researchers have found male fish with eggs in their testes and female sex traits off the coast of Southern California and believe that chemicals in sewage may be the cause. The changes in fish such as English sole and California halibut, both of which are bottom dwellers, occurred in water near where sewage is released. Higher levels of the egg protein were found in male fish in areas with lower levels of estrogen and estrogen-like chemicals in the sediment. The cause of the female characteristics, therefore, could be unknown chemicals in the sediment. Los Angeles County's sewage outfall, "has probably one of the most contaminated DDT sites in North America, and these responses are fairly consistent with that kind of exposure."
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WEEK of 11/1 -
INDIA - Last month, Juhu beach saw an entire school of fish (eels, the snake-like fish with long mouths and small fins) washed ashore right along the coastal stretch. This episode happened barely a couple of days after scores of dead catfish were found floating in the sea at the southern tip of the city’s seafront between Gateway of India and Sassoon Dock. In all probability, these fish were a catch discarded by a fishing trawler. However, in the case of the dead fish found at Juhu, such a possibility was ruled out. In order to gauge the magnitude of sea pollution, samples of water along Mumbai’s four different beaches were examined. The testing of the waters was conducted. The tests that were conducted examined various parameters like `pH’ levels, dissolved oxygen levels, total nitrogen, ammonical nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and the presence of heavy metals like mercury and cadmium present in the seawater. The results of the test took a week’s time and the findings are rather stunning. At certain stretches, the sea is so toxic that it is almost like the waters are poisoned. “We found dissolved oxygen to be less than 3Kds which is not good for the aquatic life. The study indicates that there were huge amounts of industrial wastage in the sea and that the water was polluted." The water is also laced with heavy metals like mercury and cadmium and the levels are much higher than the norms and limits which are globally accepted as normal. Mumbai has one of the worst ratios of built up areas to open spaces in the world, which is why beaches are so important. But the latest results have sent warning signals to Mumbaikars as well as the rest of the world against impending dangers of water pollution.
CALIFORNIA - The Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta is crashing. At just about every level in the food web - big fish, little fish, zooplankton, phytoplankton - the ecosystem's wildlife populations are dropping, despite three wet years in a row and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on recovery and restoration efforts. The problems come from many angles and affect a region that serves as a key wildlife sanctuary, a fertile farmbelt and a crucial water source for 22 million Californians and a huge chunk of the state's agriculture industry. Researchers conducting ongoing surveys have long seen great swings in population levels. But until now big drops have always followed droughts. These recent drops in fish populations such as delta smelt and striped bass come as the state has enjoyed three consecutive wet years. More puzzling, fish populations in the San Francisco Bay have seen no clear decline. There are some positives. Salmon runs, for instance, are more robust than any time in the past 20 to 40 years. The Delta serves as a giant sewer for agricultural run-off, urban effluent, excess power plant heat. The landscape has been completely changed, with massive water works, deeply sunken farmland and increasing urbanization. "Changes happen very fast. We're not grappling with or handling this very rapid change. We will have a collapse of the Delta."
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WEEK of 10/21 -
BRAZIL - FISH in the Amazon - the drought and subsequent dying off of fish have left 20 percent of the 120,000 fisherpeople in the state out of work. And there are fears that the situation will worsen over the next year, because the drastic reduction in the number of fish has limited their breeding capacity.
OREGON - weather caused fickle water conditions this summer in the Pacific. A strong northwest wind brought cold water in and drove the fish deeper and farther offshore, resulting in an Oregon albacore catch less than half of what it was last year. ''It's been a real strange summer. "
PENNSYLVANIA - Thousands of trout went belly-up at four area lakes after they were stocked for fall fishing. About 5,000 rainbow trout trucked in from Tellico Trout Farms of Franklin, N.C., were dead or dying hours after they were put in North Park Lake and at Upper and Middle Deer lakes in Allegheny County, and immediately after being planted at Lower Hereford Manor Lake in Beaver County. Another 700 trout destined for Raccoon Lake in Beaver County were euthanized on the truck. The cause of the deaths is a mystery and until it is solved, future deliveries from Tellico, including another 25,000 this month, are on hold. "Lakes turn over at this time of year and I've seen bizarre things happen. But those fish were healthy and strong and robust coming off the truck." A difference in PH levels between the truck water and the lake water may have been the culprit because trout are vulnerable to fluctuations in water chemistry. "That's pure speculation, but we'll be looking at it. Water pollution is unlikely since this has happened at four different lakes." So, too, is a disparity in water temperatures, because testing showed that the difference between the tanker water and the receiving water was just four degrees, which is well within the 10-degree range allowed.
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WEEK of 10/13 -
Thursday, October 13 - Hundreds of dead fish have washed up on Mumbai's famous Juhu beach overnight. The reason why they've died remains unknown, as does their identity. According to the official theory, pollution is behind the incident. Juhu remains one of Mumbai's most littered and contaminated beaches.
Two days after thousands of dead fish washed ashore the beaches of Mumbai, preliminary tests suggest pollution may have killed the fish. However, local fishermen say the fish, mostly of the Moray Eel species, died after getting caught in their nets. Apart from the Moray Eels, the team also found species of Hilsa, Horse Mackerel, crabs and some types of tuna. There's no shortage of theories about what actually caused these fish to die, but many agencies are investigating the bizzare happening.
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WEEK of 10/7 -
Dead zones - large areas of water with little oxygen - occur when excess fertilizer and untreated sewage seep into the waters. The dead zones are usually seasonal and they cause fish and other bottom-dwelling animals to move outside the area to avoid being suffocated. Much underwater life also dies. Since the 1960s the number of dead zones worldwide has doubled with each passing decade. In Lake Erie, a massive multiyear study is underway to study how the lake’s ecosystem is affected by its dead zone.
On the U.S. east coast, sea squirts got a lot of press two years ago when they were discovered on Georges Bank, one of the world's most productive fishing grounds. The fear was that these colonial animals, barely a 16th of an inch long, would smother the sea life on the ocean floor, killing vegetation used as food and shelter by many valuable commercial fish species, and blanket the pebbly bottom preferred by fish for egg-laying with a deadly acidic mat. What might prove the scariest aspect of an alien sea squirt invasion is that we may be dealing with a newly evolved species, feeding off the surplus of nutrients man produces and capable of out-competing anything that exists.
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WEEK of 9/29 -
Acidic oceans threaten the marine food chain.
In Alaska, as September crept toward October, the Buskin river remained eerily devoid of cohos (salmon). The fish are now, finally, beginning to show, but the run still lags behind expectations. The little stream near the city of Kodiak has been literally choking on an unexpected bounty of pink salmon. "Almost the entire river bottom is lined with white carcasses'' in mid-September, "(and) we noticed there were about 100 dead cohos.'' There was also something funny about the live cohos finning in the river. Many of the estimated 650 fish downstream from the fish-counting weir were "very lethargic. You could almost catch them with your hands.'' The reason? Well, nobody is certain, but likely they were suffering from a lack of oxygen in the water column.
A severe algal bloom afflicting the lower section of the York River is dissipating with the onset of cooler weather. But as the algae known as cochlodinium polykrikoides - which appears to be a reddish-brown muck in the water - slips to the bottom of the river, it may be contributing to lower levels of dissolved oxygen. That could potentially endanger shellfish and fish caught in nets. There are reports of York River watermen reeling up dead fish in their gillnets. While the algae blooming in Asian waters has been linked to fish kills, a similar link has not been established in local waters. The lower York River typically has low dissolved oxygen levels late in the summer. An algal bloom is also commonplace, although this year's was unusually severe. What's unusual is the length and severity of this summer's heat. Typically mid-September ushers in cooler nights that spawn a change in the bay when denser, oxygen-rich cooler water on the surface starts sinking. But high temperatures in the 90s persisted, as did warmer nights. A summer noted for its lack of wind meant the oxygen-rich upper layer of water wasn't sloshed around with the deeper, saltier water. This contributed to the lack of oxygen in deeper water. "In the past couple of days, the red tide has dispersed by sinking to the bottom. That could possibly add to the low dissolved oxygen."
A red tide outbreak detected nearly two months ago along Florida's west coast has reached Panhandle beaches, killing fish and sea turtles and causing respiratory problems for humans. The Panhandle outbreak is considered mild - but still the region's worst in seven years.
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WEEK of 9/22 -
The bloated carcasses of carp littered the small impoundment pools in Wisconsin in the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, as Canada geese and white pelicans stood in the shallow waters that barely covered their webbed feet. The drought conditions plaguing southeastern Wisconsin have taken a toll on the marsh this summer, contributing to a botulism outbreak last month and greatly reducing water levels in all the impoundment pools.
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WEEK OF 9/15 -
In Florida, last month, they had counted 113 sick or dead turtles in the Gulf of Mexico since the beginning of the year. For all of 2004, the total was 83. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute reported 106 turtle strandings between June 26 and Aug. 15. For that same period, the 10-year average is 17. The turtles are suffering from red tide poisoning, caused by a single-cell organism that cuts off oxygen in the water. This year, it has been particularly bad. The offshore bloom normally doesn't occur until the fall of the year. This year, it appeared in January, and, while its intensity has fluctuated, it has persisted. Scientists say it is the worst case in 30 years, and the worst of it is concentrated in a 2,000-squaremile underwater "dead zone" stretching from north of Clearwater to south of Sarasota. Since March, 53 manatees have died. the magnitude of the problem started growing in 1999 when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection removed hundreds of waterways from the state's official clean-up list.
Red tide takes hold in Naples, Florida. The Red Tide Hotline, 732-2591, reported low levels of red tide, which was enough to cause the thousands of dead fish from Vanderbilt Beach in Naples south to Marco Island, with a heavier concentration offshore. Known as karenia brevis, when its toxins are released in the water they can kill an entire school of fish that swims through them in seconds. Ingesting sufficient brevetoxins in shellfish can cause nerve cell damage beginning with inhibiting the immune system, chills, fever, gastrointestinal problems, vertigo and paralysis, reversal of hot and cold sensations. Victims have required hospitalization and respirators. People with respiratory problems such as asthma and emphysema were advised to avoid the beach.
In the Klamath River,in California, algae levels have increased. "Toxic algae levels at these reservoirs are the highest levels that have ever been sampled to my knowledge." Rashes and illness have been reported by tribal members. Animals and children seem to be particularly susceptible to the effects of blue green algae and as a precaution the tribe is recommending pets and children not swim in the river. As this is the height of salmon season, they are also asking fishermen to clean fish with fresh water and to dispose of the innards away from the river or where animals could eat them. Some fish organs seem to retain the algae toxins.
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9/13 -
Largemouth bass disease has been killing fish at Lake Sugema in southeast Iowa, and many other places such as Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. Low oxygen caused by growth of algae, decaying of the algae bloom and curly leaf pond weed that breaks down and pulls oxygen from the lake, contributed to the outbreak. "Once the oxygen levels began to return to normal, the fish kill stopped...We probably wouldn't have had any mortality if we had not had low oxygen levels. The virus could have existed for years and we didn't know it, because it requires a trigger to make the the fish less resistant, more stressed. In this case the stress was low oxygen levels." Other types of fish can carry the virus without becoming sick, as well as frogs and salamanders.
9/12 -
Three summers of near drought conditions have reduced the depths of many southeast Wisconsin lakes and rivers to levels that threaten fish and aquatic life and hamper boaters and swimmers."All of the lakes are low. It's an unusual lake that isn't down at least a foot. I haven't seen it this bad since the drought of 1987-'88." The water in Lorraine Lake near Whitewater warmed beyond 80 degrees, causing a die-off of much of the northern pike population. Other shallow lakes, including Big Muskego Lake in Waukesha County, could experience a similar situation. And if lakes levels remain shallow into the winter freeze, fish likely will become stressed because of reduced oxygen in ice-covered lakes.
9/10 -
Clean-up crews are scooping tons of dead fish from the surface of lake near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The fish died in Marapendi lagoon, which is stagnant and polluted by sewage from high-rise apartment buildings on Rio’s fashionable southwest side. Officials said the water was not sufficiently renewed by contact with the ocean, which leads to high concentration of algae that reduce the oxygen level in the water. The dead fish were savelha, a coastal fish that grows up to 1 foot (30 centimeters) long and is highly sensitive to changes in its environment, said the Rio de Janeiro state Authority for Rivers and Lagoons, or Serla. Pollution also has depleted the fish population in another lagoon, near Rio’s trendy Ipanema beach. In 2000, a leaking sewer line killed an estimated 132 tons of fish in the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, mainly gray mullets, snooks and porgies. The next year, some 30 tons of fish washed up in the lagoon, and a reported 17 tons in 2002.
9/5 - (AP) HUNTINGTON BEACH -
A recurring red tide has been showing up for nearly four months at Southern California beaches. The red tide, which occurs when microscopic phytoplankton reproduce quickly, has been forcing surfers to paddle through water that has turned a reddish-brown hue. The annual algal blooms usually come and go every few weeks, but the blooms have persisted this year with only a few days respite in between. The unrelenting red tide, combined with flat waves in recent months, made it a bummer of a summer for surfers. Experts don't know what's causing the extended red tide periods, with some saying it's related to winter storm runoffs while others contend it's due to current weather patterns.
9/2 -
In Bakersfield, California a significant number of fish and birds were found dead in Lake Isabella. Health officials said the deaths were caused by a naturally occurring blue-green algae, which can also cause serious health problems for humans.
Miles and miles of dead fish are turning up in Texas waters and lining the coasts. From the sky, a sea of white is covering the mouth of the Colorado River. Upon closer look, you'll see dead fish – millions of them. The stunning images of devastation run for miles. It's one of the largest fish kills people in the town of Matagorda have seen in years. Surprisingly, this is a natural event caused by stagnant water and little wind, rain, or flow. "Millions of these menhaden come in from the Gulf into the Colorado River and because of low tidal action and low wind action, there's nothing to replenish the oxygen in the water." Back in 1995, there was a similar situation. Then 60 million fish turned up dead.
9/1 -
Tens of thousands of dead fish were reported this week along some Florida beaches, raising concerns about red tide. officials were not sure whether the fish died elsewhere and were carried by currents into the various regions.

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AUGUST 2005 -
( These first august articles were sent to me by email. I do not have the links, but will try to locate them through google news search) -
8/18 -
Lake Koocanusa fish kill investigated. Posted: 08:40:10 am PDT. By Jim Mann. The Daily Inter Lake They don´t know how it happened, but officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks intend to sleuth their way to answers behind a another fish kill on Lake Koocanusa. "We´ve seen identical types of kills at least twice before," said Jim Vashro, the department´s regional fisheries manager. The difference this time was a timely report and a quick response that allowed the department´s fish health specialist to collect samples of the dead kokanee salmon before they decomposed. "Obviously, as the fish decompose, any evidence is degraded," Vashro said. "It appears the bulk of the fish died on Sunday and Monday and it was reported late Monday. Our fish health specialist from Great Falls was able to find fish that were still dying on Tuesday, so he got very good samples. The kill involved "thousands" of kokanee salmon, with some odd circumstances. "What´s interesting is every dead fish is an adult kokanee that was getting ready to spawn in about a month," Vashro said. "No other fish species are affected and no young kokanee are affected, so that´s kind of peculiar."
High temperatures, too little oxygen cited as probable causes for thousands of dead fish found floating in East Rockaway. By Erik German and Sid Cassese staff writers. Several thousand dead fish were found floating yesterday in East Rockaway in a local waterway known as Mill River, a serious die-off state authorities blamed on high temperatures and low oxygen levels in the water. Officials measured the water temperature at an unusually high 84 to 86 degrees, said Maureen Wren, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Many residents call it the worst fish kill they´ve seen in their area. "All the shrimp, the baby bunkers, carp, white perch, striped bass, all dead," said resident Steve Christen.sen, 57, as he stood on a dock on the Oceanside shore of the river. Christensen, who added that many crabs also died, said the fish died beginning Tuesday night and he saw them surfacing with mouths gaping, as if gasping for air. One expert said this may have been exactly what the fish were doing before they expired. "They´re trying to bubble more oxygen into the water that passes over their gills," said Gordon Taylor, a biologist at the Marine Sciences Research Center at Stony Brook University. Taylor said marine life often exhibit this behavior when water becomes hypoxic - when oxygen levels drop dangerously low as temperatures rise. The DEC and Hempstead town officials also blamed hypoxia. "More than likely, it´s a lack of oxygen in the water," said Ron Masters, the Town of Hempstead´s commissioner of conservation and waterways.
8/17 -
Dead Fish At Cary Lake Probably A Result From Heat, Water Official Says. Posted: 6:46 pm EDT. Cary, North Carolina - Sorching temperatures created problems at a Cary lake, leaving many people in the area wondering what happened, as well as a mess for crews to clean. Hundreds of dead shad fish floated to the surface of Lochmere Lake.
8/16 -
Cause of Carmel, New York fish kill probed. By Michael Risinit. The Journal News. What killed hundreds of fish over the weekend in the Croton Falls Reservoir remained a mystery yesterday. "Never in my life have I seen anything like it," said Morgan Seymour Jr., 76, a lifelong Carmel resident and avid outdoorsman. Seymour was describing the 1,000 dead fish — sawbellies, white perch and yellow perch — he saw at the Croton Falls Reservoir floating in the water or washed up on the shore. A retired railroad engineer, he was driving down Stoneleigh Avenue Friday evening when he noticed a mob of gulls and cormorants diving into the water near where the road crosses the reservoir. "I said to myself, ´That´s unusual,´ " Seymour said. "So I turned the car around and went back for a look." The reservoir is part of New York City´s water supply, which delivers drinking water to 9 million people, including part of Putnam County and most of Westchester. City and state environmental authorities yesterday were looking for the cause of the fish kill. "For now, we just don´t know," said Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the city´s Department of Environmental Protection. "We had people investigating over the weekend and today." The DEP oversees the water supply. Ongoing dam construction has lowered the water level by about 50 feet, squeezing the Croton Reservoir´s fish into smaller and shallower areas than usual. Michaels said researchers were testing for various pollutants and looking to see if the construction upstream at the Middle Branch Reservoir released any contaminants into the water. They were also monitoring the reservoir´s content of dissolved oxygen — what fish need to survive. "It seems whatever the condition was has subsided. We´re going to keep trying to figure it out." he said.
8/15 -
Fourth Fish Kill Investigated in the Region of New Orleans. Usually a breeze during a hot summer day is a welcomed treat. But over the last several days, The wind has been blowing the scent of dead fish into a Metairie neighborhood. It’s all the result of a fish kill in the 17th street canal. In a canal best known as a border between Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, silver specks glisten in the water. But take a closer look, and you´ll see the sun shining on dead fish. In Bucktown workers from the department of environmental quality used a water quality probe to measure temperature and oxygen levels. "We had identical conditions in Bayou Lacombe last week with the fish kill that occurred there," said John Calvin of the Department of Environmental Quality. The cause: nothing toxic, according to DEQ. Just high heat and low tide, which means low to no oxygen in the water. "If there´s no oxygen for them, then they´re in trouble. They´re starved for oxygen and they perished," Jeff Dauzat of the Department of Environmental Quality. According to DEQ, this is the fourth fish kill in the region.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released its preliminary findings in this spring´s dolphin die-off; 107 dolphins died in 35 days here in the Panhandle. With every dolphin carcass, another piece of the puzzle was discovered, but researchers are still searching for the main picture. Dr. Teri Rowles with NOAA led the research response effort along the Panhandle. "It look like they died shortly after ingesting a meal. Many of the animals had whole or partially digested fish in the stomach," he says. NOAA got involved almost immediately to study this unusual mortality event. This is the third dolphin die-off related to red tide in the Gulf of Mexico, and the second one off the Florida Panhandle. However, this time the animals showed a higher level of brevetoxin, which is produced by red tide. Ron Hardy, the owner of Gulf World, was the on-site coordinator for the dolphin recovery. He says every bit of information is useful. "When you take probably the most popular living mammal in the ocean, the whales and the dolphins, to monitor their health and what´s going on with them. I think tells us the health of the ocean itself." NOAA dismissed any link between the die-off and military activity in the Gulf or possible pollutants as a distinctive factor in the dolphin deaths. Hardy says nothing is being taken for granted in this research process, despite taking some time. "There´s a lot of things we´ve learned that doesn´t involve red tide. When you get that many animals and you can do the necropsies and do all the tissue, so we´re just learning hundreds and hundreds of things." The focus now is why the toxin is killing the dolphins and at what level is the toxin potentially fatal, but until all the questions are answered, the puzzle remains unsolved.
Warm waters blamed for disappearance of sockeye salmon -
( CTV.ca News Staff)
In the few places on the British Columbia coast where sockeye salmon fishing is allowed, boats arecoming back to port empty or near-empty this summer, as the annual sockeye run has so far failed to materialize. The Skeena sockeye run, initially forecast to be 1.2 million fish, has been about half that number. There are also low numbers on the Fraser and Nass Rivers. On the Fraser River, 11 million salmon were predicted to return, but the peak last weekend saw about 100,000 fish. Because of the crisis, the commercial fishery has yet to open and the native fishery has been restricted.
8/10 -
In Louisiana, Environmentalists hope to find cause of massive fish kill in Bayou Lacombe. Dave McNamara / WWL-TV Reporter. Environmentalists are looking into what´s causing thousands of dead fish to turn up on the Northshore in Bayou Lacombe. The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation agreed with Glockner that a fish kill of this size, involving these types of fish, is usually an indicator that something is wrong. The dead fish, mostly shad and pogies, began popping up last week on both sides of the Bayou, as far as three-quarters of a mile from the bayou basin, according to local fisherman and restaurateur Cliff Glockner. “I seen about a hundred, hundred-fifty thousand right here on the top of the water. All stressed, getting ready to die,” Glockner said. “This is the fourth fish kill in a week and a half. It started last Monday and it went for about two days up the bayou. But as the water fell at night, it progressively moved down to a stretch about half-a-mile long.”
In Florida - Gulf of Mexico mystery. About 20 dead sea turtles have washed ashore in Pinellas County in the past three days, an extremely high number that has doctors and scientists puzzled. Dive instructor Michael Miller took underwater video to try to figure out the mystery. "Right now, anywhere we go from shore to 20 miles offshore, from Sarasota to Tarpon Springs, we can´t find a single creature alive on the bottom right now," said Miller. Miller says he´s never seen such death and devastation under water in his 20 years of diving. "All the coral, all the sponges, all the crabs, not a single living thing, all the star fish, the brittle stars, everything´s dead," said Miller.
In Minnesota - Heat kills thousands of fish on Pebble Lake. By Brandon Stahl. Alan Lunde was boating on Pebble Lake with a colleague on Saturday, July 16, when the two noticed at least two dozen dead fish floating on the water. The next day, Alan and his wife, Carolyn, went out and saw anywhere from 500 to 800. By Monday night, the residents along the north and east shore of the lake were dealing with a massive fish kill, having to clean up anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 fish. "It´s never happened before, and it´s never happened since," said Steve Rufer, who has lived on the lake since 2003 and from 1991 to 1998. The lake´s tullibee, a species of cold water fish related to trout and salmon, died off from the warm water temperatures, according to Arlin Schalekamp, the DNR´s Area Fisheries Manager. Schalekamp said the tullibee need to swim in colder water with higher oxygen levels, but the summer´s hot temperatures depleted the oxygen levels, forcing the fish to swim toward the surface where they died from thermal stress. "It´s fairly common," Schalekamp said. "We see it just about every year where we have one or two lakes that have these tullibee."
In Illinois - Fish at VanWinkle Lake dying from lack of oxygen, other woes. By Larry Eskridge/of the Daily Ledger Approximately two weeks ago local residents reported a large number of dead fish floating on Van Winkle Lake near Wallace Park. Rob Hilsbeck of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said the fish kill was caused by the low oxygen content of the water, brought on by the low water level and the high temperatures. He added that algae blooms also contributed to the problem, and that the lake was not a good habitat because of the high siltation. Hilsbeck went on to say that the situation was aggravated by the drought conditions. He noted that the heat made a situation where the water could not hold oxygen, and that it could be made worse by a sudden cold front or a brief rain. Hilsbeck also said the larger fish, because they needed more oxygen, were the first to die.
In Indonesia - Bekasi seeks cause of dead fish. City News - Bekasi: The Bekasi Council urged the Environmental Management Agency to investigate the death of thousands of fish in Kali Bekasi river since Sunday, suspecting untreated industrial waste had polluted the river. "The agency has to move fast," councillor Heri Koswara was quoted as saying by Antara on Tuesday, "don´t wait until one resident becomes a victim of water pollution." Councillor Muhammad Hasyim Affandi from the council´s Commission B that oversees the environment said that they would ask the agency to submit a report on the cause of the phenomenon. "It first happened a few months ago at every low tide, we could easily pick up thousands of dying fish in the river," said Muksin, 45, a resident of Margahayu subdistrict. "I don´t know what caused it (the death), but they are less tasty compared to fresh ones."
Also in Indonesia - Many fish die of asphyxiation. City News - Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta. Fish in the waters around Gosong Sekati, Karya, Panggan and Pramuka islets in the Thousand Islands regency have died due to asphyxiation, according to an Environmental Management Agency statement on Monday. Kakap (Lates calcarifer), Kerapu (Epinephalus tauvina), Pari (Elasmobranchii) and Sembilang (Plotosus sp) fish were among the species found dead on Friday around the four islets. "The phenomenon was likely caused by a drop in oxygen content in the water due to a rapid proliferation of the phytoplankton population, which absorbs oxygen in the water," the agency´s head Kosasih Wirahadikusumah told The Jakarta Post. Kosasih said his agency had taken samples of the water from the locations and sent them to the laboratory of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences´s (LIPI) oceanography for examination. "Hopefully, the laboratory could come up with the result this week and we could know exactly what causes the deaths of the fish," he said. Head of the Thousand Islands Marine Park Sumarto said that it had been occurring since Friday and was the third major case of its kind this year.
Sea ´dead zones´ threaten fish - BBC News Online environment correspondent in Jeju, Korea. Sea areas starved of oxygen will soon damage fish stocks even more than unsustainable catches, the United Nations believes. The UN Environment Programme says excessive nutrients, mainly nitrogen from human activities, are causing these "dead zones" by stimulating huge growths of algae. Since the 1960s the number of oxygen-starved areas has doubled every decade, as human nitrogen production has outstripped natural sources. Unep made its remarks as it launched its Global Environment Outlook Year Book 2003.
By Dyland Darling - Thousands of dead fish were found belly up on the Klamath River southwest of Klamath Falls in Oregon this week, the apparent victims of poor water conditions brought on by hot weather. Among the dead are some young endangered sucker fish, but most of the fish are tui chubs and fathead minnows, and is no reason for alarm, federal officials said. The fish die-off was reported Tuesday morning by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation scientists, who said it occurred Monday evening. Dead fish were found on a seven-mile stretch of the Klamath River below Lake Ewauna and in irrigation diversions on the river. The number of dead suckers were estimated to be "several thousand" suckers, said Rae Olsen, Bureau spokeswoman. "Thousands is the only thing I can tell you," she said. The dead suckers were found mostly near the Lost River Diversion Channel just south of Klamath Falls, said Roger Smith, fisheries biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Afternoon highs have hovered in the 90s since last Thursday. "And the day before that it was 86," Smith said. The warm air makes for hot water. Water in the river was measured at 82 degrees at 4 p.m. Monday. Suckers can tolerate 75-degree water for quite some time, but it still harms their health, he said. Fish die-offs are common summertime occurrences that happen because of a combination of low water and high temperatures. When temperatures go up, the water quality goes down because oxygen levels are lowered by decaying algae, Smith said. Although the warm water and algae blooms can prove fatal for suckers - especially those only about a year old - and tui chubs and fathead minnows, trout usually avoid the danger by swimming to cool pockets of water and away from the algae.
8/9 -
In Pennsylvania - Fish kill merits top priority. It should be unsettling to more than just anglers that unusual numbers of young smallmouth bass are being found dead in sections of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers. Specifically, biologists and anglers are finding large numbers of dying or dead fish with skin lesions downstream from Lewistown in the Juniata and downstream from Sunbury to below Harrisburg in the Susquehanna. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has attributed the problem to a bacterial infection, but the source of that bacteria remains a mystery. Fortunately, the commission says the bacteria - columnaris, which is caused by environmental or nutritional factors - posts no threat to humans. But it´s nevertheless troubling that dead fish are turning up on some of the best bass fishing waters in the United States, and waters used for various recreational purposes and in some cases drinking water in our backyard. And while the smallmouth are the afflicted at the moment, the bacteria can be picked up by other freshwater species; they have been found in smaller numbers on white suckers in the same waters.
In South Dakota - Fisheries officials looking into dead white bass. Associated Press - Pierre, S.D. - State fisheries officials have been investigating unusually high numbers of dead white bass washing ashore on Lake Oahe during the past week. Robert Hanten, a fisheries biologist with the Game, Fish and Parks Department, said white bass die-offs are unfortunate and messy, but not unprecedented in South Dakota. They´ve happened in the past on Lake Sharpe and Lake Francis Case, as well as in other parts of the country, he said. "It is not uncommon to see a few dead fish on a normal day on the water," Hanten said in a release. "But when we get reports of hundreds of dead fish, an investigation is necessary."
In Florida - Red Tide´s Gone; Dead Fish Aren´t. By David Sommer. Clearwater - When marine researchers issued a favorable red tide update Friday, they forgot to tell the fish. All weekend, dead fish continued to wash up on some area beaches, local officials said. ``Red tide is a living organism. ... What you are seeing today could be totally different´´ from what was reported last week, said Jeremy Lake, spokesman for the state Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.
8/8 -
In Oregon - ’Dead zone’ may be developing on Oregon coast. Portland, Ore. (AP) — Starving birds and fewer fish along the Oregon coast are a warning sign that another seasonal “dead zone” may be developing as a result of global warming, biologists say. No one is sure why it happened. But leading scientists at Oregon State University blame steadily rising sea temperatures, which increasingly appears tied to human-caused global warming. “The oceans are generally warming up, and there are all sorts of signs that something strange is afoot,” said Ronald Neilson, an Oregon State professor and U.S. Forest Service researcher who specializes in climate. “It’s not new to have change happen. It’s how suddenly it’s happening.” A record 181 adult murres turned up dead on a 4.6-mile stretch of beach just south of Newport in July, more than in any other month in the 28 years teams have surveyed the stretch. Brandt’s cormorants, another fishing bird, have washed up dead at rates 50 to 80 times those of previous years, said Julia Parrish, a University of Washington professor who leads a coastal bird survey. “It’s just awful,” said William Sydeman, director of marine ecology for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory in California. “It’s just as bad as we’ve ever seen it.”
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8/23 -
Upwellings of nutrient-rich cold water have finally arrived off the Pacific Northwest coast, purging the ocean of warmer surface temperatures that earlier in the year disrupted the food chain for seabirds, salmon and other maritime life. Surface temperatures on the Pacific recently have dropped as much as 11 degrees Fahrenheit, which is expected to help produce a rich buffet of zooplankton, tiny creatures that are a staple diet to a host of sea animals. But scientists say it may have come too late for many species, such as murres and coho salmon, that depend on heavy feeding in spring and early summer. Researchers are still trying to better understand what happened this spring, when a lack of northerly winds apparently prevented the upsurges of cold water that usually bring nutrients up from decaying sea life on the ocean bottom. Scientists say it could have been an aberration, but they worry it may have signaled a new ocean pattern that might be connected with global warming. "This one caught us completely by surprise." Scientists are hopeful that the recent surge of cold water will continue through the winter, setting the stage for a fertile spring next year. That would boost the confidence of marine scientists who have predicted that ocean conditions will be favorable for at least a decade. But some scientists remain uneasy that global warming could short-circuit weather patterns that create the cold-water upwellings. The concern is heightened by other recent unusual ocean events. "As scientists, we don't want to be Chicken Little and say the sky is falling. But this is weird stuff."
'Moderately severe' hypoxia," on the threshold of being severe, has killed the fish off Long Island Sound in New York. "It stresses the animal. The fin fish simply won't stay in a place with no oxygen, some die, and others are unable to reproduce. It can disturb the entire ecosystem by disturbing the food chain."
8/15 -
Scientists have discovered dramatic evidence of climate change in the South Pacific with "worrying" implications for Australia's rainfall and fisheries. Using new data from a network of floating robots, scientists have detected a 20 per cent increase in the speed of a key South Pacific current over the past 10 years. As well as moving faster, the South Pacific sub-tropical gyre, a circular current that influences the East Australian current, has warmed by up to 0.25C and risen in height by 12cm at its centre. The warming of the current has major implications. It will take nutrient-poor warmer water further south along Australia's east coast, leading to an expected decline in fisheries and aiding the spread of exotic marine pests.
Scientists were trying to measure the size of a red tide outbreak after about 40 reports of dead ocean life at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico off the Southwest Florida coast. Since the beginning of August, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg has received reports of mass destruction of sea life in areas ranging from southern Hernando County to northern Sarasota County. The dead ocean life, ranging from goliath grouper and sea turtles to corals, crabs and starfish, were found at 50 feet deep or less.
8/9 -
Though summer can be murder on trout, smallmouth bass and walleye also are getting whacked by this year's hot, dry weather. Cooperative trout nurseries across Pennsylvania have lost 50,000 rainbows, brookies and browns destined for stocking. On the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, including Penns Creek and the Juniata River, smallmouth bass have gone belly-up in big numbers. And at Pymatuning, scores of dead walleye have been seen floating on the water. Fish commission biologists blame warm water and low flow - a combination that can be lethal to trout, a cold-water species, in the wild. But this is not usually a problem for walleye and bass, which can tolerate higher temperatures. Water temperatures are stressing walleye and the shallowness of the reservoir is offering them almost nowhere to go for relief. "It seems a little strange to me, to tell you the truth," said the commission's fisheries management division chief of the die-off. "We seem to see mortality of one species around spawning time. That's not uncommon. This is a little more uncommon."
The Pacific Ocean off of Oregon has experienced a die-off of birds, declining fisheries and wildly fluctuating conditions in the past few months, and has set the stage for another hypoxic "dead zone" like those of 2002 and 2004, according to experts at Oregon State University. This is the third year in the past four that has demonstrated significantly unusual ocean events, the researchers say, a period unlike any on record. The events have not all been the same. THIS YEAR'S OCEAN BEHAVIOR IS PARTICULARLY BIZARRE, and there is no proof what is causing it. But extreme variability such as this is consistent with what scientists believe will occur as a result of global warming. "And there is no doubt that what is going on right now off Oregon is not normal." In May and June when seasonal "upwelling" events should have begun that bring cold, nutrient rich water to the surface, the ocean was 8-11 degrees warmer than usual. "The nearshore ocean right now looks like a brown pea soup." "The wide variability and oscillation of ocean patterns in recent years is very unusual. "We may be beginning another fundamental phase change right now in how these ocean systems and circulation patterns will operate for decades to come."
8/7 -
A bizarre freeway of fish swimming by the thousands along the shore of Englewood Beach in Florida Thursday morning left crowds of beach-goers agog and marine biologists bewildered. Beach-goers reported that a wide variety of sea creatures came swimming south in a narrow band close to the beach in about 18 inches of water at mid-morning. Included in the swarm were clouds of shrimp, crab, grouper, snapper, red fish and flounder. They were joined by more usual species, including sea robins, needlefish and eels. They were headed south, and the moving mass of sea life stretched a good mile long. All the species "were swimming amongst each other. They weren't attacking each other." "I have never seen anything like that in my life. " The event lasted until late morning, although the parade had thinned out by 11 a.m. A few scientists contacted were surprised to hear of the unusual fish behavior. It was not typical schooling, they said, because many varied species were involved. They agreed was A HIGHLY UNUSUAL EVENT, ONE THEY HAD NEVER ENCOUNTERED BEFORE. Indications seem to be that the fish were escaping a huge area of toxic red tide.
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7/31 -
Flounder fishing's a flop so far this summer in the central coastal area of North Carolina. Flounder landings from the inshore waters of the central coast were down about 36 percent from the previous five-year average for the same months. "It's one of the worst summers I've seen all my life." The unusual weather is being blamed for what started out as a sluggish season. A cooler spring was followed by abrupt hot weather. "Everything's been messed up around here. The shrimp and everything's been running a little late."
7/19 -
Oceanic plankton have largely disappeared from the waters off Northern California, Oregon and Washington, mystifying scientists, stressing fisheries and causing widespread seabird mortality. The phenomenon could have long-term implications if it continues: a general decline in near-shore oceanic life, with far fewer fish, birds and marine mammals. No one is certain how long the condition will last. In perhaps the most ominous development, seabird nesting has dropped significantly on the Farallon Islands off San Francisco. The collapse of the nesting season is unprecedented in the last three decades. 2004's spring and summer ocean surface temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska and off British Columbia were the warmest in 50 years.