http://discussions.texasbowhunter.co...1&d=1284066542
http://discussions.texasbowhunter.co...1&d=1284066542
http://discussions.texasbowhunter.co...1&d=1284066542
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careful......it's a trap!
Red algae?
Where's the oil?
happens every day
move along, mates, nothing to see here
big fish are more sensitive than fish eggs or fingerlings. :)
Unfortunately, it's my favorite place to fish at the coast...I've won several tournaments fishing there...
CORPUS CHRISTI — Unusually low oxygen levels could be at the root of two separate fish kills near Baffin Bay, biologists said.
Anglers reported hundreds of dead fish in an extreme western area of Baffin Bay Monday, near the convergence of Laguna Salada and Cayo Del Grullo offshoot bays.
The species list includes croaker, mullet, several kinds of perch, redfish and trophy size speckled trout,
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s Alex Nunez said the likely killer is an aggressive bloom of nontoxic algae that depletes dissolved oxygen at night under certain conditions. Those conditions include hot water, high nutrient levels and low salinity, all of which have been present in the Baffin Bay area for weeks, Nunez said.
The exact type of algae will be determined later, Nunez said. But state biologists have ruled out algae associated with the toxic red tide or nontoxic brown tide, both of which periodically bloom in Coastal Bend bays.
Late this past week anglers reported another fish kill between Baffin Bay and a stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway known as the Landcut. Nunez suspects this kill, which mostly involved mullet and other baitfish, was the result of extremely depleted oxygen levels caused by recent flooding of the Rio Grande.
Nunez said much of the freshwater entered Laguna Madre through the Arroyo Colorado and a series of Rio Grande Valley canals and spillways that diverted floodwaters from the Rio Grande. This water entered the Lower Laguna Madre south of Port Mansfield and worked its way through the Landcut to the mouth of Baffin Bay, where salinity levels in the upper water column were measured as low as single digits during recent weeks, Nunez said.
The salt content of seawater generally is about 35 parts per thousand. Summer salinity levels in Baffin Bay can reach into the 50 ppt or 60 ppt range depending on rainfall.
Because freshwater is less dense than saltwater, the river water formed a blanket near the surface of the Intracoastal Waterway within the Laguna Madre. This blanket prevented water column mixing and photosynthesis from occurring at lower depths of the channel, where decaying nutrients and warm temperatures further prevented the normal generation of dissolved oxygen. And that kills fish, Nunez said.
Biologists are uncertain what effects Tropical Storm Hermine will have on the situation.
Speckled trout?
Yeah...Baffin's known for monsters...
They look it -- at least in that first pic. Scale is tough in close-ups. Anyway... what a waste.
Did the kill mess up the whole trip, or did y'all just boat out further?
My bad... misinterpreted your intro to the article.
High nutrient levels and low salinity are the result of runoff right? Don't fertilizers contribute to these blooms? High water temps - well - you know what that can be attributed to.
I know CC meant this as a trap but its a shame you likely can't compare the amount and type of these fish kills that happen now to what happened 50/100/150 years ago.
High nutrient levels are result of runoff from crop and animal farms, causing algae blooms with their poisonous excretions and hypoxia.
The Amazon outflow creates an wonderful, life-supporting enrichment of the Atlantic.
The Mississipi and Delaware outflows create dead zones in the Gulf and Chesapeake.
This has to be the fault of humans.
I think I'm gonna have a fish sandwich today.
no you won't. just like you lied about going to the coast.
There is record heat content in the ocean yet Summer comes every year. You also convenient glossed over the previous two items. I didn't even mention the loss of marshlands which contributes to more of the nutrients and fresh water reaching farther out into the Gulf.
Just to be clear - I'm not attributing this fish kill directly to anything man made in particular I'm merely pointing out how human activities have likely raised the occurrence of these events.
I realize that you understandably know little about our coastal estuary fishery...it's not something the casual person would relate to or care about if they weren't an outdoors/fishing/boating person. The estuary is very temperature variant depending on the season. The Estuary fishes biggest threat is cold...At least every 5 years we have big fish kills that are cold related...their second biggest threat is the hot weather oxygen lamination like this fish kill...this stuff just happens and has been happening as long as I can remember.
That may all be very well and true but it doesn't really contradict anything I posted. The largest threat may be the cold but there are human factors that are increasing the 2nd largest threat.