Posted on 01/05/2011 1:05:33 AM PST by Pinkbell
State officials say they are investigating a "very large" fish kill in the Chesapeake Bay, but suspect cold temperatures killed them, rather than any water-quality problems.
An estimated 2 million fish have been reported dead from the Bay Bridge south to Tangier Sound, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment, which investigates fish kills. The dead fish are primarily adult spot, with some juvenile croakers.
Agency spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus said bay water quality appears acceptable, and biologists believe "cold-water stress" the likely cause of the fish kill. Spot are susceptible to colder water, she said, and normally leave the upper bay by now. Water temperatures plummeted in late December to near-record lows for that time of year, about 36 degrees. The average air temperature last month was 32.4 degrees, 4.3 degrees below normal, and reached 16 degrees at its lowest, according to the National Weather Service.
Large winter kills of spot have been documented at least twice before, the MDE spokeswoman said, with about 15 million dying in early 1976 and a smaller number in 1980. Anyone wanting to report seeing dead fish can call 1-800-MDE-GOTO.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
A lot of cold fresh water (snow) has landed or been dumped in there recently.
;)
It may have to do with the speed of the temperature change. Many species start their migration when water temperature hits a certain level; perhaps this year's drop was sudden, where a normal year is more gradual. Instead of slowly passing the temperature that triggers migration, it may have shot right by it, leaving the fish unable to cope.
But if we ~don’t~ keep laughing, we just ~might~ start *screaming*.
Coping strategies.
Hysterical, terrified people are useless in a crisis.
‘Tis but a small matter.
Regardless of what’s happening, God’s got full control over it.
All we can do is watch and pray.
Just my tuppence.
Somewhat iffy hors d’oeuvres at 12.
LMAO!
That’s seriously excellent!
You are right... GOD will have HIS will be done.
LLS
The computer model forecasts for snow cover after next week showed snow cover almost all the way down to the Louisiana coastline. That was just a model forecast though.
No, there is the scent of mendacity here.
Good point. Read one report about some fish that normally migrated out of a Bay before winter, but the extreme cold December in Florida may have messed up their migration patterns. They ended up stuck in the shallow Bay and died in mass from the cold exposure. This was the Coldest December in recorded history for Southern Florida, Eastern Florida and Tampa Bay. After this next Arctic blast we could see almost the entire US coastline much colder then normal. Just took a look at that map again and only South Carolina and North Carolina currently have coastal waters at normal temps. Everything else is already colder except Alaska and Hawaii.
Locally, the nuke power plant at Oyster Creek in Ocean County caused a few fish kills over the years. Seems that they waited until late fall to do some servicing and the warmed cooling water had kept some summer species which normally would have migrated by then. When it was shut down they died.
Of course the eviro-whackos tried to claim that it was radiation poisoning...
Has anyone looked at the map and list on Drudge, it’s all around the world and not just fish and birds. I’d post the like if I know how.
Has anyone looked at the map and list on Drudge, it’s all around the world and not just fish and birds. I’d post the link if I know how.
Those organizations who claim this was the second warmest year ever, got some explaining to do. We are losing millions of animals to the cold. Even losing some apes. It is like we are living in the Twilight Zone. The worlds governments claiming it is warm, when it actually is cold enough to kill millions of organisms. And these same world governments are trying to prevent us from surviving the cold. Think we need to build a spaceship to leave this insanity.
Those bastards!
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