MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“When Myrna Moore took her customary walk along the beach Wednesday morning, she was surprised to find more than a dozen dead seabirds in the surf.

‘I’ve never seen that many dead birds at one time, and I’ve lived here 40 years,’ Moore said. She found the birds along the beach in Daytona Beach Shores during a three-mile walk.At least 75 birds have been found dead along the beach since the weekend, said Joanne Magley, a Volusia County spokeswoman, including at least 20 on Wednesday.

The birds are shearwaters, a family of birds generally found offshore over the open ocean, officials said. Several varieties of shearwaters can be seen offshore of Volusia County including sooty, greater and Audubon’s.

About 10 shearwaters were found alive this week and taken to the County’s Mary Keller Seabird Rehabilitation Sanctuary at the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, said Capt. Tammy Marris, spokeswoman for the Volusia Beach Patrol.

‘They’re coming in extremely exhausted if not dead.’ Science center staff members believe the birds were probably downed by high winds over the ocean this week, Magley said.

They say the phenomenon isn’t that uncommon, with sick, very young and aging birds falling prey to the weather.

Marris said science center staff told her dead seabirds have been found along the coast and not just in Volusia County.” Source – The Daytona Beach News Journal.

“Hundreds of dead fish have been found in the Red Hill Creek.

The fish – some floating and others stuck in the sludgy weeds on the bottom of the creek bed – were noticed by a nearby resident walking her dog this morning.

‘There’s usually live fish all over,’ said Dianne Stuart, who made the discovery near King Street East. ‘There’ll always be the odd dead thing – and that’s life. But nothing like that.’

Stuart, who lives nearby on Glennie Avenue, said she walks her German Shepherd cross, Molly, in the Red Hill Valley several times a week. They were at the creek Sunday, and didn’t notice any dead fish at that time.

This afternoon, live fish were few and far between, while dead ones littered the water flowing from Queenston Road to King Street East. There were no strange substances visible in the water, and no unusual smells.

It’s still unclear what’s behind the incident. Keep watching thespec.com for updates.” Source – The Spec.

By Rick Windham – “Hundreds, possibly thousands, of dead carp were washing up on the north shores of Sutherland Reservoir, a caller said.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said they were aware of the problem and biologists were in the process of collecting dead fish for analysis. Their initial thoughts were that it was not an environmental factor like heat, lack of dissolved oxygen or a chemical spill that caused the problem.

When I got to the reservoir, I noticed that the die-off was very species specific. The vast majority of the fish I saw dead were carp. This intrigued me because carp can usually survive the worst water conditions. The fact that I saw only a few other species, really no more than I would expect, to see on any given day around the reservoir, makes me think the die-off is due to some sort of disease that affects carp.

I’m not a fisheries biologist, but I’m going to guess we will find out that it was something like the three or so koi herpes viruses or a similar ailment that killed these fish. Another common name is ‘carp pox.’

The virus causes the gills of the fish to be unable to extract oxygen from the water. The fish basically suffocates.

It will be a few days before the official findings will be back and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission can make a definitive statement of the cause of this fish kill.” Source – North Platte Bulletin.

CBC News – “Scores of dead fish have surfaced in a canal near Lake Manitoba.

The canal runs several kilometres between Lake St. Francis and Lake Manitoba. The area is near Twin Lakes Beach, which was devastated by flooding in 2011.

As far as the eye can see down the channel are the white bellies of dead fish, mostly carp.

‘I’m told by locals they just started appearing yesterday,’ reporter Sean Kavanagh said.

‘The best explanation I’ve heard from experts so far is the fish got trapped by flooding last year and ran out of oxygen in the shallow cannel.

‘There are perhaps thousands of live fish still in the channel that may face a similar fate. I’ve got calls into provincial officials for more information, but likely this is part of the flood story from last year that just keeps on being told.'” Source – CBC News.

Fukushima Diary – “Following up this article..A few tens of tones sardines washed up on fishing port in Chiba

10 thousand sardines were found dead on the beach in Minami shitaura machi Miura city Kanagawa as well.

Public Interest Incorporated Foundation staff reported it to the city government around at 15:00 6/14/2012.

Probably it’s been a few days since they were washed up.

From the result of simple water quality testing, nothing abnormal was found. Prefectural government is going to investigate more.

Staff talks there is a possibility that the sardines were chased after large predators from offshore, but a farmer near this area talks he hasn’t seen such a thing before.” Source – Fukushima Diary.

By Mitch Weber, KSHB – “BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. – Missouri conservationists are trying to solve a mystery in an area lake.

What started as a couple dozen dead carp turned into more than 10,000 in Blue Springs Lake.

Conservationists took water samples and couldn’t figure out exactly what caused the deaths. Their samples have now gone onto a national lab for further analysis.

Between 500 and 1,000 carp have been killed everyday. Jake Allman, a biologist with the Missouri Conservation, started noticing carp with lesions under their scales the last few weeks.

‘There’s a little bacteria on the fish, but not enough to really have caused this,’ Allman said. ‘This feeding activity where they are brushing up against each other can actually spread whatever is making them sick.’

If Allman had his way, this kill would only continue.

‘Their spawning activity disrupts spawning of other fish. They root around in the shallows and uproot aquatic vegetation which is beneficial to native fish,’ Allman explained.

But it seems the carp are now starting to recover.

Lake officials are now keeping an eye on the E. coli levels in the water.

They had to close a swimming area during Memorial Day Weekend because of a threat of E. Coli from of all the dead fish.” Source – KSHB.

The Sentinel – “THOUSANDS of fish have died after the lake they were in was contaminated.

Residents discovered the dead fish at Madeley Pool yesterday morning and spent the rest of the day trying to oxygenate the water to save other fish which were still alive.

Buckets, paddling pools and even a baby bath were brought in to house the rescued fish.

It is not yet known what caused the death of the others.

The pool has been closed to fishing and upcoming matches will be cancelled.

Ralph Parsons, chairman of Madeley Pool Angling Club, which manages the pool, said: ‘We normally have between 7,000 and 10,000 fish in the pool. At least 5,000 of them must have died.

‘The whole pool looked like a carpet with fish on the surface struggling to breathe.

‘It is a close-knit community and we are a local club so everyone has pulled their finger out to try to do what they can.

‘We have tried to take out as many alive fish as we can, but there is only so long they will last in paddling pools.

‘They have been dying by the minute but we can’t take them anywhere in case they contaminate other fish.’

Representatives from the Environmental Agency and Newcastle Borough Council were contacted.

Tests are being carried out to determine the cause, but the results have not yet come back…

‘Loads of us went out to try to catch the ones which were still alive. Even little kids were out with their fishing nets. We put them into boxes, containers and even paddling pools to try to keep them alive, but they’ll be lucky if they survive. It’s awful.’

Parish councillor Ann Spilsbury said: ‘This is catastrophic. It is a well-stocked pool and a lot of cost, time and effort goes into looking after it.'” Read more.