Large fish kill in the Shark River

[Abrasion]

BELMAR — A fish kill is being reported by mariners along the Shark River as what appear to be mostly moss bunker gulp for air at the surface, said Bob Matthews, a worker at Fisherman’s Den Bait and Tackle.

“I have never seen anything like this when the water temperature is 58 degrees,” Matthews said.

Michael Meddis, public health coordinator in the Monmouth County Health Department, said right now, “the fish kill appears to be limited to the Shark River,” and bunker are the affected species.

The fish kill is in the boat basin in Belmar and the Coast Guard is on the scene, Meddis said.

“I know there’s a large number” of fish affected, he said. “Exactly how many, I don’t know at this point.”

The state Department of Environmental Protection has been contacted for information but has not returned calls. Matthews said that the DEP was at the site collecting fish.

Moss bunker, fluke, blowfish and winter flounder are coming up to the surface to get air, Matthews said.

Meddis said the health department received a call at about 5:30 a.m. Monday and the DEP’s pathologist took samples of the fish to look for “various parasites or toxins, whatever.”

County spokeswoman Laura Kirkpatrick said in an email that the DEP is taking the lead on the fish kill.

Meddis said bunker “reproduce in large numbers and typically they use up a lot of oxygen. We’re going to take some dissolved oxygen readings as soon as our water crew is available.”

The crew began sampling the waters at beaches today as part of the beach season sampling program, according to Meddis.

Most fish kills are due to oxygen depletion and officials “typically see that in the summer months, but ... there could be other causes,” he said.

Bruce Degraw of Wall, who is a member of the Shark River Yacht Club, called it a “massive die-off of bunker from the river.”

Degraw said he believes the river is unhealthy and “is from the river filling in with silt.”

[CatchEmUp]

I heard a rumor that it's happening in Staten Island too. Can anyone confirm? Hope it's just that - a rumor.

Pretty unbelievable for this time of year.... :(

[chrislars]

Anybody down there have any photos?

[CatchEmUp]

Now hearing that it might have been a trawler that dumped its load to avoid grounding or something... Lovely.

Still kind of odd that there were apparently other species of fish that I wouldn't think would get caught up in an net trawling for bunker, like fluke and blowfish - but hey, I guess that's the indiscriminant nature of it. :mad:

[Tpkc2]

This is very disturbing! I realize this happens occasionally in late August but early May? This is not good!

[Fish Tank]

Capt. Ed is down there today waxing the boat and sent me these pics. He said the bunker are all over the place 2-3ft thick in some areas. It's a very sad sight :(

~Capt. Kevin Hutnik

[Leif]

Anybody down there have any photos?

Took this in the am around 9:50am. All up and down the docks like this. Didn't see any other fish besides bunker.


Leif

[Capt. Debbie]

Crab bait for my 2014 season!

Supposed to be in Delaware Bay too

[CatchEmUp]

Sad.... Apparently NJDEP is saying algal bloom depleting water of oxygen.

[dakota560]

Can someone with knowledge explain how you have an algae bloom in 52 degree water!

[Tpkc2]

This is headline news on CBS, NBC and ABC......this is not good! Yeah, it happens in August, not May!

[hammer4reel]

bunker were thick last night from SRI , up to Long Branch.
School was 3 miles wide , they were having NO problems oceanside except for being hammered by bluefish.

There was a net boat just north of the inlet at 930 last night,
Working that area. HMM so what could it have really been

[dakota560]

bunker were thick last night from SRI , up to Long Branch.
School was 3 miles wide , they were having NO problems oceanside except for being hammered by bluefish.

There was a net boat just north of the inlet at 930 last night,
Working that area. HMM so what could it have really been

Bingo....guaranteed. Commercial guy whose nets were too full and dumps the residual. If they determine this ti be the case, they should confiscate the *******s boat and throw the book at the owner, captain and crew for wasting our resource. Can't see how this has anything to do with low oxygen levels at this time of year.

[Capt Jimmy Elliott]

Bingo....guaranteed. Commercial guy whose nets were too full and dumps the residual. If they determine this ti be the case, they should confiscate the *******s boat and throw the book at the owner, captain and crew for wasting our resource. Can't see how this has anything to do with low oxygen levels at this time of year.


So let me get this rite
A trawler working a couple miles off the beach dumps it catch. Then all the dumped fish finds its way all the way to the marina another mile inland from the jetties. Cmon,!! That would be some feat! First of all bunker boats dont work at night none of them pack in Shark River . Fluke season is open commercially and they are allowed to work 2 miles off shore and out.

Lets get some facts straight before everyone goes pointing fingers

Did anyone think maybe Just maybe that Shark River has filled in sooo much after sandy just like most bays and rivers and its so shallow at anygiven point of the day now. We have had sooo much rain , snow , and runoff that not enough saltwater is getting back there !!!

Hey but what do i lknow. JUst my 2 cents

[Reelman73088]

I was out fishing shark river inlet today and trust me that was no bunker boat offloading its over quota catch. There were thousands of them floating out of the inlet the entire outgoing tide. The kill had to be in the millions. I talked to a fish and game officer who was at the jetty checking everything out and he said that it was because of an algae bloom as well. He also said its not that uncommon if they get chased into the back and then get stuck with low tide and an algae bloom. They were def oxygen starved as the few I saw that were alive were at the surface gulping air and were very sluggish. Got some good bait for crabbing season though out of it. And to think i was such a dummy this morning to buy a fresh bunker at the baitshop lol. It was sad to see that many bunker dead though. Weird thing was the seagulls weren't touching them. I would have thought the dinner bell was ringing and they'd be all over them. I guess maybe they gorged themselves early in the morning or overnight last night. They were littered all over the beach as well next to the jetty. Lots of guys got free bait today.

[hammer4reel]

So let me get this rite
A trawler working a couple miles off the beach dumps it catch. Then all the dumped fish finds its way all the way to the marina another mile inland from the jetties. Cmon,!! That would be some feat! First of all bunker boats dont work at night none of them pack in Shark River . Fluke season is open commercially and they are allowed to work 2 miles off shore and out.

Lets get some facts straight before everyone goes pointing fingers

Did anyone think maybe Just maybe that Shark River has filled in sooo much after sandy just like most bays and rivers and its so shallow at anygiven point of the day now. We have had sooo much rain , snow , and runoff that not enough saltwater is getting back there !!!

Hey but what do i lknow. JUst my 2 cents

there was a bunker boat working just outside the 6/10 of a mile legal limit for bait boats last night AFTER dark. was after 930 when I passed him

I drove way tight on the beach getting around him last night. He was def in legal water and even very well lit u so well it looked like an amusement ride at night and I almost took a pic as it was a cool site.

Bunker was spread out for miles from there and 25' thick .
I would have expected IF a boat tried to haul last night it would have been hard pressed to not have a maximum haul, as the blue fish had the bunker not knowing which way to turn next.

with the extremely low tide last night the water rushing into the inlet especially in the back is ripping.

so I think at current water temps, and super tide flow its even more silly to think that those fish would have been ox deprived enough to not make it back to the ocean where they had been swimming without issue other than blue fish attacks.

and there most certainly was not an algae bloom, as the signs of that dont leave that quick

[rumster]

Pretty scary stuff for sure. I stopped at the Fisherman`s Den in Belmar at 7:00 am to pick up some clams and was told by a few guys what was going on. I went to the water to see myself and sure enough Fluke,Bunker, Flounder and a blow fish were just fighting to get air coming to the surface periodically and just sinking back to the bottom. After picking up the clams I made my way over to my boat, which is located on the river and it was the same story 1000`s of bunker all around dead or dying . As I made my way out to the ocean you could see that the fish were becoming more and more active. I returned to the marina at 3:30 pm and checked out a few bunker to find that gill`s of the bunker were pretty much disintegrated. It did not look like an algae bloom event and I am pretty sure it wasn't the result of a netter dumping a load.

[Striperswiper]

A buddy sent me a text and photo early this morning while they were all still alive.

He estimated the amount of live bunker in the river in the millions.

They probably made a wrong turn, got stuck in the river as there is really no water even at high tide and couldn't figure out how to back out of there and get into the ocean.

Packed in like sardines (bunker) they just suffocated. It's a real shame.

They usually don't come into Shark River in large numbers so this is really not the norm but if the river had been dredged it might have given them half a chance to get back out.
Capt Brian

[torchee]

Someone asked about Staten Island

I was on the kayak last night until 9

Many bunker, all still swimming

[Tuna Tales]

Yesterday I had to fuel up early and then head to work.

I saw these all of these bunker around 6:30 am...unreal sight and never seen anything like that in Belmar.

Dead and alive...all across Shark River. The live ones were on top and finning.

Full Moon?
Too many ocean bluefish pushed them in the river?
Freak happening?

It did look like lack of oxygen as a lot were also half alive when swimming around...



Best,



Joe T.

[dakota560]

Whatever caused it it's a shame to see so many fish die bunker, fluke, flounder etc. One thing for sure is that river needs to be dredged at some point, there is simply no water in back. Shark River always was a skinny body of water but it's ridiculous how shallow areas of the bay are today. Wouldn't be surprised fish made a wrong turn and were choked by the lack of oxygen, it would certainly make sense, but I would equally not be surprised if someone dumped their catch although based on the volume of fish that seems less likely to be the case.

Capt. Elliott, the commercial industry puts themselves in this position. How many times have there been massive amounts of fish washed ashore, people think it's a fish kill only to find out later it was a commercial boat tossing their catch or by catch. I'll stop sharing my opinion when the industry stops abusing our resources which will be never. And as Hammer mentioned, there was a trawler working tight in off SRI late Sunday night and it wouldn't take a purse seiner much too net an insane amount of bunker over their capacity with the amount of bait that was outside the inlet that night, hold them until their essentially dead and they've filled their hole with catch and discard the remainder. An incoming tide would take it from there to bring that amount of dead fish into the river. It tragic what these boats do to a public resource so I apologize if my comments offended you but this industry as a whole have been responsible for depleting one stock after another. How it hasn't happened yet to bunker is amazing but it will and when your livelihood is threatened because stripers and blues have nothing left to feed on we'll see whose singing the blues.

Dakota

[Michael82929]

Was down at the marina last night launching the boat.. saw one of the epa guys...

their was no oxygen in the water. He just thinks too much bait poured in with the tide and they suck all the air out of the balloon is how he put it...

[spyro]

problem is not depleted oxygen levels ....

[Capt. Lou]

problem is not depleted oxygen levels ....

OK I give up what the hell is it then ? Looks like simply a freak of nature incident ,too many fish not enough oxygen .

[AVA67]

problem is not depleted oxygen levels ....

and you are basing this on what???

[BigChalupa]

F**K the Rangers! Go PITT!!!

[torchee]

F**K the Rangers! Go PITT!!!

Ha! just got it

[torchee]

Since Sandy it seems many migration/spawning patterns have shifted.

maybe those bunker were lost!

So were all the croakers and spots last year. Those fish in those quantities should've been in Delaware bay not Raritan.

And where were the Raritan Bay Fluke? Lost!

We no little about how fish migrate/navigate great distances.

[Reelman73088]

problem is not depleted oxygen levels ....

The fish that I saw alive yesterday were coming up to the surface to gulp air so what does that tell you about the oxygen level of the water??

[jimmythegreek]

I dont know much but my buddy spoke to a DEP/EPA guy whoever he was and he said they were taking readings and the water O2 was really low, guy said they never seen it this low.

[rumster]

Took a 1/2 dozen bunker from the river to feed a bushel of green crabs which had not fed in about a week. Looked today and the bunker where completely in tact and not touched. Anyone who has kept crabs knows how those little guy will readily eat each other let alone fresh bait. Talk to the DEP and listen if you want, but for me when crabs know better than to ingest something, that`s enough for me to know that it was not just a lack of oxygen in the Spring when the water is cool.

[stugots]

my family has a 20,000 gallon pond in the backyard and in a 20 year span, there has been 2 occasions where about 500 goldfish have died for no apparent reason. the pond is now back at around 600 fish... nature is strange

[dfish28]

Same with the seagulls... All those bunker , I expected a s?!#t show of major proportion, but didn't see one gull by my dock at least eating one of the floaters, turkey vultures on the beach in shark river hills... They were chowing down! I even saw spider and green crabs at the bottom just walking over the dead ones without even a nibble... I did notice the same color water up by 122 on the parkway- whatever body that flows into- looking like a flushed toilet, just like it was Saturday in SR before the kill...

[Dino]

I think we have a pretty coherent story about what happened just by reading the bits and pieces of information in this thread.

1. A tidal river whose depth, and volume capacity for ocean water has been declining over the years saw a very large group of menhaden chased or inadvertently steered into its backwaters by..
2. Bluefish and other predators that fisherman have observed in the area just outside the inlet recently..
3. the oxygen inside the river quickly became depleted leading most of the bunker to die or gulp for air at the surface, which also affected the..
4. other species that happened to be in the river (blowfish, fluke, flounder)
5. as is commonly reported with oxygen related fish kills, scavengers seemed to avoid the carcasses of suffocated fish.

while this fish kill does not look like commercial fishing waste, a toxic spill or an algae bloom.. its clear that a healthier Shark River wouldn't have become oxygen depleted so quickly.

it all fits into a major theme for NY/NJ for the past 20 years : a largely healthy ocean, but unhealthy bays and rivers.

[Topeka Boy]

I think we have a pretty coherent story about what happened just by reading the bits and pieces of information in this thread.

1. A tidal river whose depth, and volume capacity for ocean water has been declining over the years saw a very large group of menhaden chased or inadvertently steered into its backwaters by..
2. Bluefish and other predators that fisherman have observed in the area just outside the inlet recently..
3. the oxygen inside the river quickly became depleted leading most of the bunker to die or gulp for air at the surface, which also affected the..
4. other species that happened to be in the river (blowfish, fluke, flounder)
5. as is commonly reported with oxygen related fish kills, scavengers seemed to avoid the carcasses of suffocated fish.

while this fish kill does not look like commercial fishing waste, a toxic spill or an algae bloom.. its clear that a healthier Shark River wouldn't have become oxygen depleted so quickly.

it all fits into a major theme for NY/NJ for the past 20 years : a largely healthy ocean, but unhealthy bays and rivers.

I agree 100% with everything Dino says. Great Analysis..

[Capt. JJ]

It was Gov. Christie getting even with them all for not voting for him during the last election. Teach those little F *&%$#ERS!!!!!

[mahigold]

"Time for a bunker problem in shark river"

[Offshoreafflicted]

Damn Osprey have been dropping the dead bunker in my yard. I guess they think they are alive until they stop in a tree to chow down then decide to drop it off and go find something a little fresher. My dog wouldn't even eat them but the dummy did roll around in it and come inside covered in fish slime and scales. Now even after a bath he smells like a chum bucket.

It's getting ripe down at the river front. I don't know if the tide is going to flush out all the dead fish.

[dfish28]

Ya it is getting stinky, had a pile under each space between the floats on my dock- found a 2x6 and worked em out- phew weee!!!