More than one million salt water fish found dead in fresh water creeks in New Jersey

Desdemona Despair

24 August 2016 (The Big Wobble) – The borough has been cleaning up dead fish for three days in a fish kill that is now estimated to be in the millions of fish.

What is strange, very strange is, the peanut bunker fish are salt water fish and Waackaack Creek is fresh water?

Mayor George Hoff said the public works department is using a beach rake vehicle and front end loaders to pick up the tiny peanut bunker off Keansburg beach as they wash out from Waackaack Creek.

They are then tossing them in dumpsters. […]

Peanut bunker, the young of menhaden, an oily bait fish that plays a crucial role in the marine ecosystem, typically weigh a few ounces each.

They started to die in large numbers on Saturday due to low dissolved oxygen levels in the water, officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection said.

The highest concentration was in the Waackaack Creek, which feeds Raritan Bay.

Officials from the DEP said the creek can get stagnant during certain tides and with so many fish concentrated in a small body of water, the fish deplete the oxygen. [more]

Millions of “salt water fish” have been found dead in a “fresh water creek” in Jersey, US

KEANSBURG, 24 August 2016 (News12 New Jersey) – Crews are nearly done cleaning up thousands of dead fish that washed ashore in Keansburg earlier this week.

Crews from the state Department of Environmental Protection were out Wednesday using large vacuums to suck up all of the fish from the waterways. Officials say the raking of the beach stopped around mid-afternoon due to high tide coming in, but the majority of the fish were picked up.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation says the recent heat wave caused the water temperature to rise, creating a lack of oxygen in the Waackaack Creek. The fish then suffocated and started piling up on the shore.

“This is primarily a natural phenomenon, but it is exacerbated by polluted runoff, including fertilizers from lawns, which is why preserving stream corridors and buffers is important,” said NY/NJ Baykeeper Deputy Director Greg Remaud in a statement.

Dead fish were also found in Natco Lake, Thornes Creek, and along the Raritan Bayshore, according to officials.

Officials are expected to monitor the area over the next few days to make sure more fish do not wash up.

Cleanup of thousands of dead fish in Keansburg nearly complete

KEANSBURG, 25 August 2016 (News12 New Jersey) – Crews have finished removing more than a million dead fish that recently appeared in the creeks and waterways near a Monmouth County shore town.

Keansburg Mayor George Hoff says that public works crews on Thursday morning picked up the last of the peanut bunker fish that began washing on shore at the Waackaack Creek earlier in the week.

Officials with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection raised the estimate of dead fish from hundreds of thousands to more than a million.

They say the scores of fish were likely chased into the Raritan Bay by other fish. Once there, they apparently were killed off by low levels of oxygen in the water. [more]

Crews finish cleanup of massive fish kill at Jersey Shore