Thousands of dead fish, crabs, eels and other marine life wash up, ‘never seen before’, on the shores of South Florida’s Biscayne Bay, USA #Fish #Crabs #eels #Octopus#Shrimp #Florida #BiscayneBay #USA
Thousands of dead fish and other sea life washed up this week on the shores of South Florida’s Biscayne Bay.
The fish kill was first reported on Monday. Members of Miami Waterkeeper, an advocacy group, saw about a dozen dead fish when they went out to conduct weekly water sampling. Then reports of dead fish, shrimp, crab, eels, octopus and other animals came in from North Miami to Virginia Key.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” local resident Kathryn Mikesell told New Times. She has swam in the bay at least three mornings a week for five years.
Researchers and government agencies are still investigating the cause, but indicators point to very warm water temperatures and low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, according to a news release from Miami Waterkeeper.
“It’s an emergency. The bay is not in a good place right now,” Piero Gardinali, an associate professor at Florida International University who is helping investigate the fish kill, told New Times. “It’s a warning sign.”
In addition to the dead fish, a large group of rays, believed to be struggling to breathe, huddled along the shoreline near the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, a bird rescue and rehabilitation facility on Biscayne Bay. Personnel from a nearby science aquarium used soaker hoses and air pumps to aerate the corner of the bay where the rays had taken refuge to save them.
Fish and other underwater marine life rely on dissolved oxygen in the water to survive. Warm waters bring those levels down. The Waterkeeper noted very high water temperatures of about 90 degrees in the area where the fish kill was first discovered.
Algae blooms can also cause low oxygen levels, but the Waterkeeper said in an update Thursday that there was no evidence of a toxic bloom. They think an ongoing die-off of sea grass, which produces oxygen, could be a main factor that led to the fish kill.
More than 20 square miles of seagrass has disappeared from the bay in recent years, according to the Waterkeeper. A study last year from NOAA warned that the bay’s ecosystem was on the verge of a “regime shift”. The study found increasing levels of nutrients in the water, which causes numerous impacts that are detrimental to marine habitats.
“We are passing a tipping point for the bay not being able to support any life – literally overnight, the bay became a dead zone,” Miami Waterkeeper said of this week’s fish kill.
“This event is not a ‘normal occurrence,’ but rather a sign that something is seriously out of balance in our bay.”
Courtesy of weather.com
Mass die off of fish in Luanda Bay, Angola #Fish #LuandaBay #Angola #Africa
Large mass of dead fish in the Bay of Luanda, Angola
Courtesy of novojornal.co.ao
Mass die off of seagulls in Lake Van, Turkey #Seagulls #LakeVan #Turkey
Mass gull deaths in the Lake VAN basin worried the people of the region. Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ) Director of Wildlife Protection Center Prof. Dr. Lokman Aslan stated that the residents of the village should not be anxious and said, “After the pearl mullets return, the spawning season is over. The pearl mullet that the seagulls can reach is now impossible. For him, hunger due to not being able to find food, and death due to hunger are caused by stress.”
Seagulls that prefer non-human and non-human places during their breeding time, VanIt prefers the lake basin, especially the islands of Çarpanak and Adır.
The seagulls that arrive at Adır Island, also known as ‘Seagull Island’ at the beginning of March, lay their eggs here. Dead seagulls seen on the coastline in Adır District worried the people of the neighborhood.
On this, Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ) Wild Animals Protection Center Director Prof. Dr. Lokman Aslan came to the area where gull deaths took place and conducted research. Taking samples from dead seagulls, Prof. Dr. Aslan said that there was nothing to worry the residents of the neighborhood.
Courtesy of hurriyet.com.tr
Hundreds of dead fish found washed up on beach in Mondragone, Italy #Fish #Mondragone #Italy
Swimmers found hundreds of dead fish along the beach shoreline in Mondragone, Italy.
Courtesy of casertaweb.com
10 whales dead after 20 become stranded on Western Isles, Scotland #Whales #WesternIsles #Scotland #UK
When 20 pilot whales became stranded in shallow water off the Western Isles, disaster loomed. There was no one locally who was trained to rescue the stricken creatures and some of their lives were saved only when a quick-thinking South Uist resident phoned a rescue agency for advice on how to refloat them.
Ten whales died, but the others were guided back to open water after a rescue operation was mounted by British Divers Marine Life Rescue helped by islanders.
The incident in June underscored the need for a network of trained rescuers to deal with a rising tide of beachings.
Courtesy of thetimes.co.uk
Hundreds of birds dying due to virus outbreak around Doñana National Park in Seville, Spain #Birds #DoñanaNationalPark #Seville #Spain
A probable outbreak of cyanobacteria is killing hundreds of birds in several lagoons around Doñana (ZEPA-Doñana).
Although the data from the necropsies of the birds are being investigated, because cyanobacteria are a type of microscopic algae that also tend to proliferate in environments contaminated by wastewater and with excess fertilizers , which produces the so-called eutrophication process.
For the moment, dead birds have appeared in the Dehesa de Abajo (ZEPA-Doñana) but the search for remains of winged species has been extended to the areas of Veta la Palma and the wide network of peridunal lagoons to Matalascañas, Almonte and El Dew .
It is a recurring phenomenon in the Biosphere Reserve and its natural environment and which is being repeated at the moment fueled by high temperatures , the zero renewal of the waters and the little wind that contributes to the movement of stagnant waters and helps slow the growth of cyanobacteria.
These cyanobacteria have been growing during this summer in this area of Doñana and generating an environment of toxicity (anoxia) that is killing birds, many of them protected species. Found copies of teals pardillas, Malvasia, coots and storks , among others.
However, the Environment authorities are investigating and analyzing the remains of the dead birds to document the exact cause of the outbreak.
The fact that cyanobacteria are a type of microscopic algae that tend to proliferate in environments contaminated by sewage and excess fertilizers , which produces the so-called eutrophication process, makes it necessary to rule out other causes of origin.
Courtesy of diariodehuelva.es
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