Hundreds of dead small silvery baitfish floated Friday atop murky greenish-brown waters along the State Road 520 causeway on Merritt Island, victims of a deadly algae bloom.
“There are a few big fish floating dead. I see a number of larger fish kind of on the bottom," said Duane De Freese, executive director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, standing on a dock near Ms. Apples Crab Shack.
"Not as intense — thankfully — as what we saw in 2015 and ‘16. Probably in the big picture, we're looking at hundreds of fish, if not thousands. But, you know, we are in a very vulnerable situation with the lagoon right now," De Freese said.
Since July, the northern Indian River Lagoon and southern Mosquito Lagoon have been impaired by an intense bloom of a tiny nanoplankton, De Freese said.
"We've been worried about a fish kill. Because often when these blooms begin to slowly collapse, you'll see dissolved oxygens drop," he said.
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“So I guess if there’s a silver lining in this, we've dodged the bullet for a number of months with all the wind we had. And now we've got warm temperatures, very little wind — and you've got quite a few fish floating," he said.
"We’ve had many, many reports. So I just want to thank all the citizens who make those phone calls to let us know that something's going on," he said.
A cold front is forecast to strike Brevard County on Monday, driving temperatures down into the 40s Monday and Tuesday nights, the National Weather Service reported. Wind gusts could reach 20 mph.
“Temperatures are supposed to drop significantly, which will help the oxygen levels. And we should have some wind with it, which will also help," De Freese said.
"I’m sure the state will come to do some water sampling, make sure we don’t have any toxicity issues," he said.
To report an Indian River Lagoon fish kill, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hotline at 800-636-0511 or visit the agency's online fish kill report page.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1. To subscribe: https://cm.floridatoday.com/specialoffer/
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The Link LonkNovember 28, 2020 at 04:48AM
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Fish kill strikes Indian River along Merritt Island, leaving hundreds of dead fish - Florida Today
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