Thread: Bull Red fish kill in Mobile Bay

I heard from a local charter boat captain that he saw at least 100 dead bull reds floating in Mobile Bay yesterday. Does anyone know what causes this? I've heard the same thing reported several times in the past.

https://www.obawebsite.com/state-off...t-redfish-kill

This was the article I saw

That’s not good.

Scuttlebutt is all over the place as to causes, but nothing definitive is known yet.
As far as anecdotal reports are from hundreds to perhaps a thousand dead redfish (ONLY 'bull reds') floating around and in the mouth of Mobile Bay, north to Pelican Point (mouth of Weeks Bay), and westward along the Gulf side of Dauphin Island.
Similar kills occured in the past (notably in 2012 & 2013). And no clear cause was found then.
At this point ANY claims to the cause(s) are strictly speculative, and to say otherwise would be callously irresponsible IMHO.

At the expense of being accused if being irresponsible, I'd like to point out that the State Marine Department is responsible for monitoring our waters. Why else do our taxes pay them? It's certainly a good bet that they've taken appropriate action to find out the reason for the dead fish. Only takes a day or two. Since there's apparently no public results reported it can only be assumed they dont want us to know. On the other hand it could be that their not smart enough to figure it out. Either way, somebody sure as heck knows why. It's not speculation to say that tens of thousands of mature Redfish are destroyed in late Fall off the coast of Louisiana during their spawning. This is a bycatch issue caused by large shrimpboats fishing for large white shrimp in abundance there at the same time. It isn't reported as a general rule. Its speculation that those redfish were killed in nets but once again, their dead none the less. I would respectfully call upon everyone to insist on being told what the states consensus. Is about the loss. Otherwise, we fall victim of being treated like mushrooms. Fed crap and kept in the dark. Now, that's irresponsible.

... or maybe they just don't know!

From AL MRD FB page:

On Sunday March 20th, the Marine Resources Division began to receive information on a fish kill event comprised almost exclusively of adult red drum. Reported locations of the dead fish ranged from Point Clear and other locations on the Eastern Shore to Fort Morgan, Dauphin Island and Grand Bay. It is difficult to determine the cause of this fish kill. We contacted our partners at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and Alabama Department of Public Health to determine if the fish kill was a result of a harmful algal bloom. Our partners had collected water samples last week and determined their samples indicated low counts of organisms which have been known to kill fish. The fish floating in the water or washing up on area beaches are in advanced stages of decomposition which makes it challenging to conduct any pathological examination. The dead fish do not show signs of entanglement in fishing gear and waters in Mississippi were not open to purse seines and waters in Louisiana were open to a small fishery in western Louisiana. A fish kill consisting primarily of red drum is not unusual as Alabama has previously experienced red drum mortality events in the spring but those have typically occurred in late April or early May. There are currently no health advisories for consumption of fish, but it is always a good practice to thoroughly cook your catch. If you catch a large red drum with lesions or observe a large red drum with abnormal swimming behavior please collect it, immediately store it on ice and call Marine Resources - Dauphin Island: (251)861-2882 or Gulf Shores: (251)968-7576.

Once again, it seems, that we are left with speculation. The afore mention statement stated the fish were in an advanced stage of decomposition. That suggests that they were dead for quite some time. My conclusion is primarily based upon water temperature. It's well known that the channel into mobile bay experiences strong currents. It's very conceivable that the fish either drifted south or north. One major point to note is we're talking about adult fish. Poison or other contaminants would not just kill adult fish. Certainly not just bull reds. No, these were adult reds which strongly suggests they were either targeted or suffer from some natural issue. Well, in my opinion, something is rotten in Denmark. Far easier for me to suspect commercial fishing rather than some ridiculous event associated with swamp gas from Venus. The use of words like irresponsible sit down and keep your mouth shut isnt helpful. Common sense should never be relegated in that way. I grew up on the water. Gill nets leave visible evidence. Trawlers leave little. Ted's (turtle exclusion device) do a good job but if a net covers a school it can AND does clog It. Think those fish drifted from their spawning grounds. My opinion. I'm sticking to it.

If the tin foil hat was meant to denigrate my opinions regarding this matter then please forgive my petulant behavior. Respectfully, SFC Frank W. Davis, US Army, retired.

Speculation is how we come to terms with a lack of information, just trying to make sense of the matter. It was reported that there were dead bull redfish (I didn't hear reports of dead slot-sized or undersized fish), numbering possibly in the thousands in Mobile Bay, but also reported in Weeks Bay and MS Sound (and maybe other nearby areas). I think that the localized nature of the phenomenon points to a natural event, as opposed to a man-made one. If they were all in one place, I'd likely speculate differently. Consider your reaction to the hypothetical death of another species (even land animals) where all of the victims were of advanced age and they were found in generally related areas, but not all together, as would be the case, it would seem, from a single event. It's interesting that there didn't seem to be any oversized black drum in that fish-kill, which leads one to believe that this was an elderly redfish-specific phenomenon. But that's where I have to leave it, without other evidence. When I see the occasional summer elderly L-Y die-off, which happens to varying degrees, I regard it as something particular to this one species and a natural event. While it's not an exact parallel, it's as close as I could come to a comparison.