Huge fish kill in Lousiana (article w/pics)

[goindeep]

So many dead fish, it looks like a gravel road

www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/huge_fish_kill_reported_in_pla.html

A massive fish kill was reported late Friday in Plaquemines Parish at Bayou Chaland, west of the Mississippi River.

Plaquemines Parish officials have asked state wildlife officials to investigate what they said is a massive fish kill at Bayou Chaland on the west side of the Mississippi River late Friday.

Photographs the parish distributed of the area shows an enormous amount of dead fish floating atop the water.



The fish kill was reported to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries and the cause has not yet been determined, the parish said. The fish were found in an area that has been impacted by the oil from the BP oil spill, the parish said.

The dead fish include pogies, redfish, drum, crabs, shrimp and freshwater eel, the parish said.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said he has asked Wildlife & Fisheries for a quick determination of the cause. The parish has also requested testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"We can't continue to see these fish kills,'' Nungesser said in a news release. "We need some additional tests to find out why these fish are dying in large numbers. If it is low oxygen, we need to identify the cause."

A recent fish kill in nearby St. Bernard Parish was attributed to low oxygen levels in the water.

[blacktip]

Thats a large kill. At first i thought I was looking at a picture of a road...

[Tommy]

Sept 14, 2010 23:45:08 GMT -5 goindeep said:

We need some additional tests to find out why these fish are dying in large numbers. If it is low oxygen, we need to identify the cause

Is he friggin stupid or what? I've seen pic from Destin that the shoreline was covered with sand fleas and they made the same statement, "Uh wonder what caused this"? Do they really believe we're as stupid as they are?

Bud of mines facebook photo>> www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=1832416345

[boltman7]

State paid biologists have ruled out the oil. Hard to believe I know, but that would be a big pay day if it was.

[fishwander]

Yeah ! That is one massive kill !

As boltman7 said:

State paid biologists have ruled out the oil. Hard to believe I know, but that would be a big pay day if it was.

Yup , that is going to irk some lawyers who get at least 1/3 the payout !!

My question is : Whats upstream ? It could be residential lawn fertilizer , a working farm , golf course insecticides , or a natural occurring algal bloom ?

Whatever it is , steps need to be taken to minimize such a massive kill-off as those fish are the young of the year , baitfish for predators , or potential gamefish . Any further word ?

Fishwander

[Tommy]

Sept 17, 2010 17:00:53 GMT -5 boltman7 said:

State paid biologists have ruled out the oil.

Bet they did and I wonder how much that cost BP, did they rule out corexit, probably not because their not testing for that?

[riverviewsteve]

My wife and I just spent 4 days in Houma, Louisiana
visiting our son who is on temperary duty with the
US Coast Guard. I think he's finally going back to his
regular duty station in NJ. We were there from
9-10-10 till 9-14-10 and thank god we didn't see that
mess. It would have been so depressing. One day
our son did take us on a tour of Grand Isle and we
didn't see any signs of oil. We saw lots of people
that were working on the problem though. There
were temperary setups all over the place. On the
way down to Grand Isle we passed people fishing
in the bayous on the side of the road and we passed
a guy just as he was pulling in a beautiful fish. At least
6 or 8 pounds I would guess. It looked like a trout
but seemed kind of dark for trout so not really sure
what it was. It sure looked like a nice place to plan
a fishing trip. Water and bridges everywhere. Really
beautiful down there. Sure hope they figure out
what's doing that but I kinda doubt we'll ever get
a straight answer.
riverviewsteve USN, Retired Tight Lines everyone

[juck]

This is clearly a heat-related low ox or dead-zone event.

There's already a dead-zone the size of NEW JERSEY at the mouth of the Mississipi river thanks to residential, agricultural & industrial waste & runoff,, that's SIX THOUSAND SQUARE MILES,,,, the dead zone caused by the BP spill is (by the largest estimate) only 25 square miles.

You'd think that someone would make a fuss about a dead zone some 240 times bigger than the one caused by BP ,,, where's the outrage about that? It's amazing the devastation that folk will happily ignore when it's not caused by some nasty foreign company or terrorists.