100 Tons of Dead Fish Wash Ashore in Brazil Following Massive Arkansas Fishkill

Millions of dead fish measuring an estimated 100 tons began washing ashore along Brazil's coastal beaches last Thursday, Dec. 30, alarming local officials. According to Parana Online, the regional coordinator of Civil Defense, Captain Edson Oliveira Avila, issued a warning and temporarily suspended the sale of fish in the area as a precaution. The sudden appearance of dead fish in Brazil follows the disturbing report out of Arkansas of a fishkill that numbered nearly 100,000, an occurrence officials there believe was caused by disease.

Officials in the Parana region of Brazil said that dead sardine, croaker, and catfish began appearing Dec. 30 and were a cause for concern, considering that nearly 3,000 fishermen in the area depended on the local seafood for their economic survival.

"We will wait to see what happened," Avila said said earlier this week, "but speculations suggest that fish may have died due to an environmental imbalance, dropping a fishing boat or leakage of chemicals."

Other theories advanced as to what killed such a large number of fish included a type of algae entering the water that is known to deprive its environment of oxygen and the pumping of raw sewage into the water from coastal villages.

The deaths of such massive numbers is worrisome on a local scale, impacting not only the lives of the locals but also their environment. The fear often is that whatever caused the deaths might not be isolated or might impact other areas over the long-term.

And then there is the question of a global impact. The fish die-offs in Brazil and Arkansas seem to have only been one of a growing number of fishkills throughout the world. Following the almost 100,000 fish along the Arkansas River and the Brazilian fishkill a few days before the new year, a massive 2 million-fish die-off was reported in the Chesapeake Bay of Maryland. More reports have surfaced in South Carolina and New Zealand.

Most of the fishkills are being blamed on the unseasonably cold winters being experienced, especially in the dead fish populations found in the U.S. However, dead fish found in the southern hemisphere are dying for other reasons, because the theory of "winter stress" will not float in a tropical climate or in an area where it is seasonally summer.

Investigations into the dead fish populations -- as well as a growing number of dead bird populations throughout the world -- continue.

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Source:

Leonardo Coleto, "Mysterious of killing of fish coastal," Parana-Online.com.br