Dead Fish

On Tuesday, July 19, 2011, I drove over to Clam Pass Park and took a tram down to the beach. I wanted see if Day 2 of this week's Big Kill was just as bad as the first day. All of the fish reported dying in the shallows were gone. The ones washed up appeared to have been from yesterday. Better, I thought. Here are some of my pics. There are 22 all together so please click one of the images if you would like to see the rest. As I am writing this on Tuesday evening, my eyes are still burning from this morning's walk. I sneezed a lot when I got home, but that may or may not be the dead beach critters. It's the rainy season, lots of lawns are getting mowed and re-mowed and the pollen count is high. I sneeze almost every day this time of year.

I called a buddy of mine who was familiar with the kill site. “When I lived on bonita beach you could set your watch to the cloud of dark water that would move south along the beach cut four days after a storm on the river,” he said. “Fishing died, sometimes fish too. I would guess this is double or triple whammy.”

July 20: According to Paula Scott of FWC Karenia brevis was NOT detected at the areas sampled in and alongshore of Collier County on Monday. There were blooms of the dinoflagellate Takayama tuberculata and the diatom Hemiaulus at Barefoot Beach. There were also MEDIUM concentrations of Hemiaulus at Vanderbilt Beach, Seagate and Naples Pier.

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