Thousands of dead fish washed up along a 6-mile stretch of Texas coast
Residents were urged to stay clear of the beach after enormous quantities of dead fish were discovered along the coastline in Brazoria County, Texas, over the weekend. Officials and AccuWeather meteorologists weigh in on what was behind the stinky mess.
Hundreds of dead menhaden fish line the beaches of Freeport, Texas, on June 9, as a result of rising water temperatures. You can see the dead fish carried by the waves during cleanup.
A weekend trip to the beach turned into a distressing event as thousands of dead fish washed ashore on Texas's Gulf Coast in biblical proportions. According to officials, a low dissolved oxygen event was the culprit.
Photos and videos shared online this past weekend showed massive amounts of dead fish inundating the shoreline of Quintana Beach, which is located roughly 61 miles south of Houston. Wave after wave that crashed ashore pushed more dead fish onto the beach.
At one point, dead fish spanned from Quintana Beach to the mouth of the Brazos River, which is a distance of approximately 6 miles.
"This is an ecological disaster," one person wrote on Twitter.
"There’s hundreds of thousands of dead fish floating at Quintana beach. You can see them floating as far as the eye can see. And the smell is so pungent it gives people headaches," another Twitter user wrote.
Quintana Beach officials warned residents to stay out of the water as the thousands of dead fish raised bacterial levels.
According to the Texas Parks & Wildlife (TPWD) Kills and Spills Team, low dissolved oxygen was to blame for the swarms of dead fish.
"If there isn't enough oxygen in the water, fish can't 'breathe.' Low dissolved oxygen can be the result of human activities, but in many cases, it's a natural occurrence," the agency wrote on its website, noting that this is one of the most common causes of fish kills in Texas.
An excessive amount of algae can often be to blame for a low dissolved oxygen event. As algae decompose, they consume dissolved oxygen, making it difficult for fish to absorb. This can be exacerbated by warmer ocean waters, which create conditions favorable for the growth of toxic algae.
AccuWeather Senior Weather Editor Jesse Ferrell said water temperatures in the ocean along Texas's coastline were generally running 2.8-3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, according to NOAA buoys.
"Fish kills like this are common in the summer when temperatures increase," according to a statement from TPWD shared by Quintana Beach County Park's Facebook page.
Water samples taken from the area and other nearby locations, including the Brazos River, which feeds into the Gulf, revealed an alarming absence of dissolved oxygen, the TPWD said.
According to the TPWD, the Gulf menhaden, a species of fish prevalent in the region, were the most affected by the event.
Quintana Beach County Park reported that the pedestrian beach was largely cleared as of Sunday but urged residents to "give it a couple more days" for everything to clear out.
Just two months ago, millions of dead fish washed up in a river in the small Australian town of Menindee. Like this most recent event in Texas, officials in Australia said the cause of the fish deaths was related to low oxygen levels in the water.
These massive fish kills have drawn attention to climate change. A 2019 report from the United Nations indicated that human-induced climate change and the warming of ocean waters were leading to oxygen loss. Marine organisms, including fish, are among the wildlife most vulnerable to these changes.
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