12-01-2005, 09:49 PM
[font "Arial"]JACKSON, MS—After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, widespread reports of fish kills began to emerge from the coastal and delta regions of Mississippi, and thorough investigations of those occurrences recently began. [/font]
"We were inundated with phone calls reporting fish kills, starting in the Pascagoula Basin," says Henry Folmar of DEQ Field Services. "There were also calls from the lower Pearl River and Biloxi River areas. Then, after Rita, we had the same sort of kills all through the delta."
Biologists attribute the kills to a lack of oxygen brought on by large amounts of debris (mostly vegetative) blown into the streams and rivers. When the leaf litter and branches begin to decay, the oxygen in the water is consumed, killing large numbers of fish.
"People will probably see a lot of electrofishing and net boats on the water in those (affected) areas," says Ron Garavelli, chief of fisheries.
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks fisheries biologists are using pre-hurricane data as a comparison to what is now being found. The department will begin restocking in some of the affected areas once evaluations are complete.
[signature]
"We were inundated with phone calls reporting fish kills, starting in the Pascagoula Basin," says Henry Folmar of DEQ Field Services. "There were also calls from the lower Pearl River and Biloxi River areas. Then, after Rita, we had the same sort of kills all through the delta."
Biologists attribute the kills to a lack of oxygen brought on by large amounts of debris (mostly vegetative) blown into the streams and rivers. When the leaf litter and branches begin to decay, the oxygen in the water is consumed, killing large numbers of fish.
"People will probably see a lot of electrofishing and net boats on the water in those (affected) areas," says Ron Garavelli, chief of fisheries.
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks fisheries biologists are using pre-hurricane data as a comparison to what is now being found. The department will begin restocking in some of the affected areas once evaluations are complete.
[signature]