Thousands of dead fish wash up on WA beaches
Thousands of dead fish have been washing up on WA beaches
- From: PerthNow
- March 09, 2011 7:17PM
EXPERTS say that record temperatures and low oxygen levels are to blame for dead fish being washed up on riverbanks and beaches across WA.
Dead fish, eels and crayfish have been found on shores with the coastline of Green Head, some 290km north of Perth, being covered in washed up carcasses.
Green Head resident Rod Wilson said: "It's very heartbreaking. I've been here for 28 years and I've never seen anything like it. To us it's a local ecological disaster."
Reports state that in a clean up operation at Green Head, 20km north of Jurien Bay, more than 15000 dead fish were collected.
"Our biggest concern is how long is this going to take to right itself," Mr Wilson added.
Experts say WA's coastal waters have seen the highest rise in temperature in the world with up to 4C rise than normally seen this summer.
Dr Brian Jones from the Department of Fisheries said: "Anybody who as sat in Perth for the last few months without air conditioning knows what heat does.
"Fish are the same. They are cold blooded so they feel the heat."
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Tony Halliday
Posts: 2500
Date Joined: 14/06/07
welcome to global warming in
welcome to global warming in our back yard...
these high temps in the ocean off Perth / WA may have brought us the marlin and game fish, but that 4 to 5 deg higher than average temps have now taken the toll on fish that are use too lower average temps and higher oxygen content ( yes warm water has less oxygen than cold water)combine this with rotting weed etc and more toxins in the water,
Nothing we can do about it, too late for any tears, just we have to live with it.
Tony Halliday: ~Meals on Reels ~
It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it
"It is always in season for old men to learn." Aeschylus (525-456 BC)
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Adam Gallash
Posts: 15610
Date Joined: 29/11/05
Corals
Wait till you see some of the corals at the Muirons. Sad thing to see, hopefully they come back but there will be a good chance it will take quite some time.
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alexangler
Posts: 82
Date Joined: 24/12/10
What do you mean Adam, is it
What do you mean Adam, is it bleaching, just dying???
Is there much of it affected up there, would be very sad if it is?
Brooka14
Posts: 63
Date Joined: 12/07/10
i'v been watching the
i'v been watching the bluelink web site for few months now and we have been getting some really warm water our way..even all the way to albany..
http://www.bom.gov.au/oceanography/forecasts/idyoc10.shtml?region=10&forecast=1
Lockie
Posts: 171
Date Joined: 29/05/08
I was up at jurien over the
I was up at jurien over the long weekend didn't get out for a fish so we went 4wd allong all the beaches up to Greenhead and there was fish kills all along the beach.
You haven't smelt anything like it in your life i say thousands of flathead eels crays you name it all over the beachs. we went bay hoping and it was crazy bay after bay there were more and more dead fish and sea life.
we spoke to some locals and it was due to such high water temperatures in the bays it was as high as 30 degrees and in the past two weeks that has apparently had hardly any wind and it has be above 35 degrees everyday it was a build up of stagnet water and rotting sea weed which de-oxgenated the water
It was the most devestating thing i have ever seen in my life but it was a complte natural desaster. a very sad sight i just hope it hasn't hurt the stocks to much.
CHeers DAve
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
had a feeling something like
had a feeling something like this was going to happen, the bumper metro pelagic season just couldn't be without consequence.
saltatrix
Posts: 1075
Date Joined: 30/03/08
This is what makes Western
This is what makes Western Australia unique in its annual current flows. With the La Nina event producing all that rain in Queensland the hot water flow was to be the same.
Western Australias biology has a history of these events as we climb out of the last ice age 18000 years ago where the river mouth was the Rottnest trench. The ocean has another 20 metres to rise to reach its prior peak of warming.
Shark bay sees these fluctuations annualy except ist biology is adapted.
This has happened before, it will happen again.
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Captn_McAWSOME
Posts: 11
Date Joined: 10/03/11
i was supposed to go up next
i was supposed to go up next weekend with my old man and show him the spot.....all the fish are dead now...typical, and why would sharks go for my bait if there is loads of meat around with no hooks in em....sad sad thing
carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Coral spawn
Heard that the coral round the Abrolos isles spawned in that period as well as copping the high water temps, dragging even more oxygen from the ocean.