The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is investigating a fish kill in the Chesapeake Bay in which an estimated two million fish have died.
Natural causes appear to be the reason for the deaths of the fish. Cold water stress exacerbated by a large population of the affected species (juvenile spot fish) appears to be the cause of the kill.
Preliminary monitoring results show that water quality in the area appears to be acceptable. Additional water quality monitoring results are to be analysed.
The affected fish are almost exclusively juvenile spot fish, three-to-six inches in length. MDE first received reports of dead fish last week. The fish kill appears to be centered on the bay from the Bay Bridge to Poplar Island.
State wildlife officials in California have found hundreds of thousands of dead fish washed ashore along the South Carolina coast. South Carolina state wildlife biologists believe that mass deaths, like the fish-kills in Maryland, can be attributed to the abnormally cold weather conditions being experienced in various parts of the US.
Wildlife experts are now worried that the record-breaking cold temperatures will begin to impact other fish and aquatic populations, like shrimp, sea trout, and red drum.
Cold Weather Kills Over Two Million Fish
US - Following reports of the death of around two million small fish in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, now another massive fish-kill has been reported in South Carolina.
