Several Texas beaches along the Gulf Coast are in clean-up mode after being inundated with thousands of dead fish, which had prompted wildlife officials to warn people against visiting over the weekend until the “fish kill” fallout subsides.
On June 11, the Brazoria and Quintana County Parks departments used tractors with giant rakes to clear the carcasses of dead fish off the beaches.
The fish kill resulted in high bacterial levels in the water, as well as sharp fins from the fish risking cuts to swimmers.
The QBCP said water samples taken from its Intracoastal Waterway were found to have close to no dissolved oxygen and no evidence of a chemical release.
The department then asked the public to stop spreading misinformation.
“The Brazoria County Parks Dept., nor the TP&W has any interest in covering for the chemical industry if a spill of any kind were to happen,” the QBCP said. “We are in the business of protecting the environment and creating safe spaces for the public to enjoy nature.”
Fish Kills Common
According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Kills and Spills Team, an investigation determined that the scores of dead fish were caused by “a low dissolved oxygen event.”“Fish kills like this are common in the summer when temperatures increase,” the TPWD said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “If there isn’t enough oxygen in the water, fish can’t ‘breathe.’ Low dissolved oxygen in many cases is a natural occurrence.”
Photosynthesis and aerobic respiration result in changes in oxygen concentration, the TPWD said.
“Increased dissolved oxygen during the day is a result of photosynthesis which is driven by sunlight,” the TPWD said. “Photosynthesis stops at night and may slow down on cloudy days, but plants and animals in the water continue to respire and consume free oxygen, decreasing the dissolved oxygen concentration.”
The TPWD said before the fish kill event takes place, fish will strive for more oxygen by gulping at the surface of the water in the morning.
The species impacted was the Gulf menhaden, which travel in large schools.
According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), over 32 different predators feed on the Gulf menhaden, which include sharks, mackerel, and sea birds.
The fish act as filters, cleaning impurities out of the water.
Their pattern of traveling in large schools likely contributed to the sudden appearance of such a large quantity of fish at once, according to officials.
‘It Looked Like a Big Blanket’
Patty Brinkmeyer, the park supervisor with QBCP, told CNN it was the third time in her 17 years that she’d witnessed the phenomenon, with this most recent incident being the largest amount of fish.“You could literally see a straight-across mass of fish floating on the water,” Brinkmeyer said. “It looked like a big blanket.”
Despite some media outlets attempting to connect the fish kill to climate change, state officials said the phenomenon is normal.
Katie St. Clair, a sea life facility manager with Texas A&M University, told a local news outlet that hypoxia takes place when there is a lower than normal dissolved oxygen in the water, which she adds “is very common in the summer.”
“As we get these warmer Gulf water temperatures, the water itself has less capacity to hold dissolved oxygen, which, of course, is really important and essential for the fish and other animals to breathe,” Clair said.
Clair added a benefit of the die-off is there will be a “huge nutrient pulse into our environment.”
“It’s kind of a circle of life,” she said.
