Bdott33
Senior Member
Username: Bdott33
Post Number: 330
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 8:17 am: | |
News from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. July 21, 2003 Volume 33, Number 2001
Contact: Roy Miller, Fisheries Administrator, phone: (302) 739-3441 or Maria Taylor, Communications Office, phone: (302) 739-4506
Fish Kill Discovered at Torquay Canal : Second Inland Bays Fish Kill this Season; Poor Water Quality is Suspected Cause
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control today investigated a fish kill of approximately 6,000 juvenile menhaden in
Torquay Canal near Rehoboth Bay. The dead fish measured between three
inches and five inches in length and showed no signs of lesions. It is believed that the fish kill occurred early this morning and the suspected causes are low dissolved oxygen and/or excessive hydrogen sulfide.
Torquay Canal is a dug out lagoon that is an extension of Bald Eagle Creek which empties into Rehoboth Bay, west of Rehoboth Beach, Del. This is the
second reported fish kill in the Inland Bays area this summer. The first
one occurred last Thursday, July 17 at Love Creek, located just east of Bald Eagle Creek. Both fish kills were in areas marked by poor circulation and multi-species, non-toxic alga blooms.
According to Roy Miller, DNREC Fisheries Administrator, "Torquay Canal was the scene of several, much larger fish kills in the summer of 2000. It is a deep narrow canal with poor circulation that make it susceptible to low levels of oxygen and high levels hydrogen sulfide in these weather conditions."
According to Miller, a stiff breeze may have caused a turnover or circulation that brought water laden with hydrogen sulfide to the surface. Dr. George Luther, a scientist at the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies reported to Miller that he had noted elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide in Torquay Canal last week.
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