Dispersants May Be To Blame For Thousands of Dead Fish In 2 Florida Shore Locations – Taylor County and Panacae

  Posted by - June 15, 2010 at 2:47 pm - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
Thousands of dead fish found in Florida
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Reports from a Florida CBS the local news station WCTV say that thousands of dead fish are washing up on the coast of Florida in two separate locations along the Florida shore.

Officials say that the thousands of dead fish washing ashore in two locations in Florida may be related to low levels of oxygen in the sea.

However a local marine biologists, Jack Rudloe,  says that he believes the toxic chemical dispersant, COREXIT, that BP is using to combat the Gulf oil spill may be to blame.

This news comes as two monster tarballs weighing over 1 ton where retrieved off the Florida coast and President Obama has declares Gulf of Mexico seafood safe to eat.

Thousands of Dead Fish on Taylor County Shores

The sight of thousands of dead fish along the Taylor County shores is raising some red flags, but officials have deemed the incident as an “isolated” fish kill and say the oil spill had nothing to do with it.


Click to watch the original news story about the thousands of dead fish washing up on the shores of Taylor County Florida

“It’s heart breaking to see it,” says Sweetwater Creek Resident Henry Lundy.

Henry Lundy looks out on the water wondering what’s caused thousands of fish to float lifeless along the surface of the water.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m worried about our coastline,” says Henry Lundy.

Officials from the University of Florida, who conducted Monday’s assessment for FWC, say there doesn’t appear to be anything abnormal. No discoloration of the water and fish are alive and swimming below the surface, both indicators that this wasn’t the effect of red tide.

So the question still remains: what caused the sudden fish kill of thousands of Pinfish, Pigfish, Gulf Flounders and Hardhead Catfish?

Officials say one possibility is low oxygen in the waters.

As temperatures increase, water holds less oxygen.

During hot summer weather like we’ve been experiencing, the Oxygen levels in shallow, weedy areas can decline even further, to the point where the fish suffocate.

Officials say fish kills are relatively common.

The Fish and Wildlife Research Institute shows that there have been 15 fish kills since August 2005, but there were none reported since October 2007.

That is, until Monday.

But for folks who know these waters like the back of their hand, they say something’s fishy.

“We live down here, we make our living off these water. My Dad catches fiddler crabs. And if the oil, than it’s going to end all that a lot sooner than we thought,” says Ezell Beach Resident Deanna Parker.

Officials say residents should not be concerned at this point and say they didn’t find any oil while they conducted their search.

Additional Facts:
If you spot a large number of dead fish, you can call the Fish Kill Hotline at 1-800-636-0511.

Officials say this has been isolated to Ezell Beach and Sweetwater Creek area. All other beaches in the surrounding area, have not been affected. (As of Monday night.)

Officials say all of the fish had been dead for roughly 24 hours once they inspected them Monday afternoon.

They will be waiting to see if there are any NEW reports of dead fish on Tuesday.

An Isolated Incident? Not Quite! Dead Fish Wash Up in Panacea

In another Florida county over 90 miles away along the shores of Panacea dead fish are also washing up in the marshes.

In Panacea the dead fish found floating in the water and washing ashore  include Pinfish, Pigfish, Gulf Founder and Hardhead Catfish.

Like in the Taylor county incident scientist say nothing out of the ordinary has been found and have ruled out red tide as a possible cause.

Jack Rudloe, a marine biologist and owner of the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab says that he believes that chemical dispersants may to be to blame.


Click to watch the original news story about the fish washing ashore in Panacea

However, local residents who know that waters the waters like the back of their hand say this is out of the ordinary.

Dead fish washing up in the marshes of Panacea has some marine life activists concerned. It’s unknown if the oil spill in the Gulf is the cause of this fish kill, but local biologists are demanding answers.

Jack Rudloe, a marine biologist and owner of the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab says he got the call about the fish kill over the weekend and in his nearly 50 years of work Rudloe says he’s never seen anything like it.

Juvenile pin fish and spiny box fish were found along a marsh and dock in Panacea on Saturday. Rudloe who’s been an active biologist for nearly 50 years says there is no evidence of a red tide. And he believes that the chemical dispersants used to break up the oil could be to blame.

“I really wonder if the dispersants aren’t here and when they concentrate and when the weather gets right we see terrible things like these kills. This was the first that we’ve seen and I hope it isn’t the first of many,” explained Rudloe.

Rudloe says the fish are so decomposed that he’s unsure if we’ll ever know exactly how they died. But he has put some in a freezer and is waiting to hear back from the Department of Environmental Protection to possibly run tests.

These pin fish live in the seagrass beds and are what grouper feeds on. Again, it is still unknown how these fish died.

Could this be the start of the warnings that scientists have given about the effects of COREXIT on the food chain?

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