Fish kill in Shark River

[bababooey]

Found this on www.nj.com (http://www.nj.com) and the pic on the internet.
Any one down there who has seen it first hand? Sounds unusual for this time of year.


BELMAR ? A fish kill is being reported by mariners along the Shark River as what appear to be mostly moss bunker gulp for air at the surface, said Bob Matthews, a worker at Fisherman?s Den Bait and Tackle.

?I have never seen anything like this when the water temperature is 58 degrees,? Matthews said.

Michael Meddis, public health coordinator in the Monmouth County Health Department, said right now, ?the fish kill appears to be limited to the Shark River,? and bunker are the affected species.

The fish kill is in the boat basin in Belmar and the Coast Guard is on the scene, Meddis said.

?I know there?s a large number? of fish affected, he said. ?Exactly how many, I don?t know at this point.?

The state Department of Environmental Protection has been contacted for information but has not returned calls. Matthews said that the DEP was at the site collecting fish.

Moss bunker, fluke, blowfish and winter flounder are coming up to the surface to get air, Matthews said.

Meddis said the health department received a call at about 5:30 a.m. Monday and the DEP?s pathologist took samples of the fish to look for ?various parasites or toxins, whatever.?

County spokeswoman Laura Kirkpatrick said in an email that the DEP is taking the lead on the fish kill.

Meddis said bunker ?reproduce in large numbers and typically they use up a lot of oxygen. We?re going to take some dissolved oxygen readings as soon as our water crew is available.?

The crew began sampling the waters at beaches today as part of the beach season sampling program, according to Meddis.

Most fish kills are due to oxygen depletion and officials ?typically see that in the summer months, but ... there could be other causes,? he said.

Bruce Degraw of Wall, who is a member of the Shark River Yacht Club, called it a ?massive die-off of bunker from the river.?

Degraw said he believes the river is unhealthy and ?is from the river filling in with silt.?

18280

[fishinmission78]

So strange. I read the latest update-

"The massive fish kill in the Shark River was likely a result of a natural occurrence caused by the "right circumstances," the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said.

It is likely that the tens of thousands of menhaden, a small bait fish, died from an algae bloom, which leads to a reduction in oxygen levels in the water, said Larry Ragonese, the DEP press director."

[finchaser]

It was caused by the enormous amount of bunker that came into the river since yesterday bunched up in the back and died Bobby called me yesterday when it first started as big bluefish chased them into the river. By first light today there were bunker in epic proportion and they just kept coming he told us when he called today and possibly mixed with some algae was a formula for disaster.
Another friend of mine who works at the Den said there are flounder ,fluke ,kingfish ,blowfish small blues and bass and numerous bait fish gasping and dying on the surface. Everyone worries about the lack of bunker which today spread from LBI to Monmouth beach. IMO they are the demise of big bass and a pain in the as_.

[voyager35]

Finchasers report seems the most accurate. Don't know if the news reporters understand fishing. This was in nj.com They are blaming it on algae.

http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2014/05/large_fish_kill_likely_result_of_natural_occurrenc e_official_says.html#incart_river_default

[finchaser]

Why are dead fish washing up in New Jersey?Todd B. Bates, @ToddBBatesAPP 2:48 p.m. EDT June 6, 2014
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/b62abdfa5183df177f2dc8f80c67581106e1ba4a/c=0-136-3456-4744&r=537&c=0-0-534-712/local/-/media/AsburyPark/2014/06/06/-asbbrd05-17-2014pressmon1a01420140516img-fish0512a.jpg2014011.jpg
Belmar public works employees clean up dead fish that surfaced in the Shark River on May 12. (Photo: Tanya Breen/Staff Photographer )


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The state is investigating fishing boats in the Delaware Bay area following a wash-up of menhaden, or bunker, according to a state website.
A state coastal surveillance aircraft spotted the wash-up from Cape May Point to Villas, Lower Township, but there are no recreational beaches in that area, according to njbeaches.org (https://www.njbeaches.org/).
This type of wash-up is typically seen when a bunker fishing boat net fails, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection website.
The DEP?s Division of Fish & Wildlife is investigating bunker boats in the area, according to the website.
?Delaware Bay is a small-scale incident ? apparently a fishing boat lost its catch,? DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said in an email. ?We?re trying to pinpoint vessel at this time.?
?Areas affected are primarily Sunset Beach and Higbee Beach on the bay,? he said Friday. ?Fish will wash out with tide cycles. Sporadic wash-ups on Cape May Point. Lower Township is assessing whether they need to do any cleanup.?
The wash-up follows a massive bunker fish kill in the Shark River last month. An estimated 500,000 to 600,000 bunker died after they swam into the river and didn?t have enough oxygen, DEP officials have said. They called it a natural event.

Oxygen depletion likely killed thousands of fish in the Shark River (http://www.app.com/article/20140512/NJNEWS0301/305120042/)

Hajna said the dead bunker in the river amounted to 306 tons, but ?we have no estimate as to numbers.?
?Too many fish packed together? depleted the oxygen after the fish were chased, presumably by predators, into the shallows, he said.

Beaches and water top notch, state says (http://www.app.com/story/news/local/2014/05/22/shore-beaches-ready/9439845/)

In August 2010, DEP officials investigated a massive kill of menhaden along Delaware Bay. Water tests strongly suggested that low oxygen levels led to the die-off, according to a statement then (http://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2010/10_0082.htm).
In June 2007, hundreds of dead menhaden washed ashore along Raritan Bay. DEP officials said it appeared that the fish died following a fishing operation that went awry.
In July 2005, two fishing boats spilled about 5,000 pounds of menhaden and officials closed several beaches on Long Beach Island as a precaution. Officials also issued summonses to the vessels? owners.
Meanwhile, the state aircraft?s remote sensor detected elevated levels of chlorophyll, a green pigment in algae and other plants, in Delaware Bay off Pierces Point, according to the DEP website. But the levels are not unusual, based on previous data. A Sunday flight will be extended to include the area and the DEP Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring will take samples Monday if elevated levels linger.
The sensor also continues to detect elevated levels of chlorophyll in Raritan Bay (http://njdep.marine.rutgers.edu/aircraft/). The algae detected are nontoxic, but one species will make the water look brown, according to the state.

Why is the water brown in Raritan Bay? (http://www.app.com/story/news/local/monmouth-county-bayshore/2014/06/02/algae-bloom/9884263/)

The Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring will continue to monitor these areas via aircraft, according to the website.

Todd B. Bates: 732-643-4237; tbates@app.com

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