Baitfish kill

[ALLWELD]

I have thousands of dead baitfish at my place on the bayou. Does anybody know what is causing this.

[ALLWELD]

The mullet seem fine its just these pinfish. Correct me if these arent pinfish

[Ibtsoom]

I had that a few years ago here in the diversionary -- Called TPWD and they said it was probably algal bloom or lack of oxygen. Found out later it was illegal dumping (thanks to the pictures and water samples that I took) Some tanker truck place was dumping into the city sewer and "inadvertently" overflowing into the water. Could be that the recent rain washed something nasty off the bank.

[Ibtsoom]

Those are shad -- that's mostly what was dead here also.

[ALLWELD]

Yea, probably some fertilizer from the fields

[el gallo]

Ya Chocolate Bayou and Bay are poisoned, I would stay out of there and fish East or west Galveston, hey by the way, I heard they opened the dike.

[Explorer21]

Don't start rumor if you don't have the facts to back it up!

Ya Chocolate Bayou and Bay are poisoned, I would stay out of there and fish East or west Galveston, hey by the way, I heard they opened the dike.

[aqua pimp]

Yip, and that poisoned water feeds into West Bay!!! I think if everyone stays east of the causeway it would be good for everyone....... Just say'n

AQUA PIMP

[Steve_A]

Most likely it was a lack of oxygen and shad are usually the first to go. Could be worse, look what happen in a part of Baffin. East Galveston bay is just as bad, you might want to stay in the ship channel or jetties. "just say'n"......



Anglers reported hundreds of dead fish in an extreme western area of Baffin Bay Monday, near the convergence of Laguna Salada and Cayo Del Grullo offshoot bays.



The species list includes croaker, mullet, several kinds of perch, redfish and trophy size speckled trout,


Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s Alex Nunez said the likely killer is an aggressive bloom of nontoxic algae that depletes dissolved oxygen at night under certain conditions. Those conditions include hot water, high nutrient levels and low salinity, all of which have been present in the Baffin Bay area for weeks, Nunez said.


The exact type of algae will be determined later, Nunez said. But state biologists have ruled out algae associated with the toxic red tide or nontoxic brown tide, both of which periodically bloom in Coastal Bend bays.


Late this past week anglers reported another fish kill between Baffin Bay and a stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway known as the Landcut. Nunez suspects this kill, which mostly involved mullet and other baitfish, was the result of extremely depleted oxygen levels caused by recent flooding of the Rio Grande.


Nunez said much of the freshwater entered Laguna Madre through the Arroyo Colorado and a series of Rio Grande Valley canals and spillways that diverted floodwaters from the Rio Grande. This water entered the Lower Laguna Madre south of Port Mansfield and worked its way through the Landcut to the mouth of Baffin Bay, where salinity levels in the upper water column were measured as low as single digits during recent weeks, Nunez said.


The salt content of seawater generally is about 35 parts per thousand. Summer salinity levels in Baffin Bay can reach into the 50 ppt or 60 ppt range depending on rainfall.


Because freshwater is less dense than saltwater, the river water formed a blanket near the surface of the Intracoastal Waterway within the Laguna Madre. This blanket prevented water column mixing and photosynthesis from occurring at lower depths of the channel, where decaying nutrients and warm temperatures further prevented the normal generation of dissolved oxygen. And that kills fish, Nunez said.


Biologists are uncertain what effects Tropical Storm Hermine will have on the situation.


Report Fish Kills to Texas Parks & Wildlife


(281) 842-8100


(512) 389-4848


alex.nunez@tpwd.state.tx.us

[sushidog6]

Your pics look like menhaden or shad, don't know what bayou you are on but there was a report in the Galveston Daily News a week or so ago that Offats close to 61st was in the process of turning over (concentration of algae) and there was a fish kill due to the lack of oxygen. This is a common aliment during hot weather in freshwater lakes.

[WestEndAngler]

Those are menhaden pictured & every year millions die in the canals & sink to the bottom. The canals turn a dark brown almost gold color for a few weeks until the crabs clear it out

[Explorer21]

Yep, happened last year and it was horrible! Glad it has not happen this year.

Those are menhaden pictured & every year millions die in the canals & sink to the bottom. The canals turn a dark brown almost gold color for a few weeks until the crabs clear it out

[Muddskipper]

It's from urbun run off from the recent rain ..... it creats an alge bloom and and whacks the smaller fish, and sometimes the bigger ones when they cant find O2 quick enough ...

Regular occurence in bayous that are brackish and run into the bay .....

Prob. from fertilizer but some of its caused by old septic systems that leak .... takes a few days to run its course and let the eco-system work itself out ...

Chocolate is preety clean, but residentail homes and their waste seem to take a greater toll than the industrial you see around FM 2004