50,000 Fish Die From Cold. Are You Sure?
The Washington Post is reporting that 50,000 white perch died along the lower Potomac River in Maryland. The report claims these fish died of natural causes or at least a natural event. Officials think the fish got trapped in some shallow water and with the onset of cold weather and windy conditions, were exposed to water too cold for them to handle.
Officials ruled out pollution.
Charles Poukish, a environmental program manager with the Maryland Department of the Environment, said investigators had found no evidence that the fish were killed by pollution or a disease. Instead, he said, the fish seem to have died of “thermal shock” while trapped in water colder than they could stand.
“We’re pretty convinced that it was the conditions, the winter conditions,”
The Potomac River watershed area seems to be gathering a lot of attention of late because of troubles with fish and the water. In October I told you about estrogen found in the waters of the Potomac causing male fish to grow female organs, asking what long term effects this was going to have on all fish but more importantly humans.
Let’s hope this is just a “natural” event and not a cover-up of something worse.
Tom Remington
[...] The Potomac River is a great fishery but is also recording some disturbing news. Tom Remington at The Daily Bag Limit is reporting via a Washington Post article that approximately 50,000 fish have been reported killed due to cold weather. As Tom reports, there have been some other events that are making some eyebrows raise about the watershed’s stability. The Potomac River watershed area seems to be gathering a lot of attention of late because of troubles with fish and the water. In October I told you about estrogen found in the waters of the Potomac causing male fish to grow female organs, asking what long term effects this was going to have on all fish but more importantly humans. [...]
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I find it very disturbing….since fish can swim out of trouble…..usually. Not to mention that rIver has a history of issues.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:20 am
It’s bad enough what we treat our “drinking” water with, 3 deadly poisons, but think about what we treat our human waste with before relesing it into a river!
Fish are cold blooded creatures, unless frozen they shouldn’t die from water temps, of all things!
February 27th, 2007 at 10:30 am