What killed 144,000 fish in North Carolina waters? Activists have an idea
Thousands of fish died in a North Carolina waterway, and experts say they may know why.
An estimated 144,163 fish were found dead near the coast in Beaufort County, the Sound Rivers advocacy group said in a blog post Wednesday.
The dead fish were covered in lesions, and the ones left alive had “visible sores,” according to a Facebook post on the group’s Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper page.
The discovery was made in Blounts Bay, near the Pamlico River, the group says.
Those killed were from the menhaden species, which are found up and down the Atlantic Coast, according to the NC Division of Marine Fisheries. The animals come to North Carolina in the fall and winter for offshore spawning, environmental officials say.
So what caused the most recent deaths?
Sound Rivers says it suspects a water mold called aphanomyces invadans.
“The change of season and resulting fluctuation of air and water temperatures is a contributing factor to the massive kill,” the Washington Daily News reports.
Officials have collected water samples and turned them over for analysis, Sarah Young, spokeswoman for the NC Department of Environmental Quality, wrote in an email.
The deaths came after state officials in May opened an investigation into dead menhaden fish along the Neuse River and close to Havelock, according to a news release.
Sound Rivers, which encourages people to stay away from “active fish kills,” says reducing river pollution can help keep water dwellers alive.
“What we’re seeing here is a symptom of a much broader problem; declining water quality in the Pamlico and a stressed river ecosystem,” its recent blog post says.
Blounts Bay is near Goose Creek State Park and about 13 miles southeast of the city of Washington.
This story was originally published October 4, 2019 at 4:26 PM.
