MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Suzi Parker – “(Reuters) – Wildlife officials have discovered thousands of dead fish along the Arkansas River in Little Rock and were still counting carcasses on Tuesday, a day after an angler reported seeing dozens of dead white bass.

‘We are on the river trying to determine the extent of the fish kill,’ said Keith Stephens, public information coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Wildlife investigators said the dead fish were mainly white bass, which are common in the river, and were between 5 and 8 inches long. Most were found near the foot of the Two Rivers Bridge, an 80-foot pedestrian bridge that opened in July.

An Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology official said toxins had not been eliminated as a potential cause and that oxygen levels had tested normal so far. Other test results for disease and parasites could take a month to conclude.” Read more.

There have been reports in the past of large oarfish and even whales beaching themselves just days before a large earthquake.  Could squid now be doing the same thing? …

“SAN DIEGO — Hundreds of Humboldt squid washed up on Black’s Beach over the weekend.

San Diego lifeguard Sgt. Ben Lewis said the squid rode the tide in on Saturday afternoon.

‘It was quite a scene to see with the beach strewn with hundreds of dead and dying squid,’ said Lewis.

Lewis said the squid were each about a foot long and appeared to weigh a few pounds. He added that it was much more than just a sight.

‘Of course, as you might imagine, there were some odors associated with that,’ he said. ‘The only thing left on the beach right now is the scent of dead squid and seagull footprints.’

The squid, which are native to South America and can grow to be six feet, appeared on the beach Saturday afternoon until early Sunday morning, when high tide washed away all but 50 of the squid.

Lewis said seagulls flocked to feast on the remaining dead squid.” Read more.

“Visitors to the beach of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority at South Poleg, near Netanya, were surprised to see hundreds of dead fish lying on the sand. Authorities are trying to determine whether fish died from infection or disease. The Director of beaches in Netanya, Zion Sadeh, confirmed the details and told Walla News that ‘South Poleg beach was covered by hundreds of dead fish. At 1st we thought it was poisoning or contamination of the water and told authorities to check. We are not accustomed to such spectacles.’ The affected fish are reportedly rabbitfish Siganus luridus, originally a Red Sea species introduced into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, usually found mainly in the reefs. The tests are meant to enable defining the etiology of the event: water contamination or by a virus. Netanya Municipality stated that the issue is being examined by the authorities.” Read more.

“RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – The state Division of Public Health is warning citizens to avoid eating or touching dead fish in response to numerous fish kills in eastern North Carolina in the past week.

State Health Director Dr. Jeff Engel said officials cannot say what specifically caused the fish kills, so people are being discouraged from eating any fish found dead.

Engel said fish kills often result from low oxygen levels in the water, but after a hurricane and flooding, chemical contamination cannot be ruled out. He also recommended that people and animals avoid swimming in water where dead fish have been found.

Many of the state’s shellfish harvesting areas have been reopened since Hurricane Irene, following water sampling that indicated a return to acceptable bacteria levels.” Source.

“XIAMEN, Fujian – Fish farms along the Minjiang River in the Shuikou Township section of East China’s Fujian province have been hit by a wave of fish kills in recent days, but the cause has yet to be determined, local authorities said on Sunday.

Some 9,000 tanks of fish, including about 8,000 in Shuikou town and some 1,000 in Huangtian town, were reported dead as of Saturday, according to a release from the government of Gutian county, which administers the two townships.

One tank usually holds 3,500 to 5,000 fish.

‘We’re calculating the number of the dead fish and economic losses,’ said Zeng Lisheng, a Gutian publicity officer.

The river’s Shuikou section is Fujian’s largest freshwater fish cultivation base, and it provides local markets with about 100,000 kilograms of fish a day during harvest seasons.

Zeng said that local fishery and environmental protection departments are investigating the case and examining the water, but the reasons for the fish die-offs are unknown.

‘We’re mobilizing people, ships and vehicles to scoop up the dead fish, and we will bury them deeply under nearby hills with quicklime to prevent them from harming the environment,’ he said.

An expert accompanying an official investigation team to the sites on Saturday said that a low level of dissolved oxygen in the water might have killed the fish, the local newspaper Southeast Express reported.

But Huang Zhongfa, a resident of Shuikou’s Xilan village, said a lack of oxygen would not kill that many fish.

‘Only hundreds of fish in a tank would die if the level of dissolved oxygen is insufficient. We also found that the fish turned white after they died. That is abnormal, and that phenomenon doesn’t occur with deaths from oxygen insufficiency,’ he said.

‘The water is black and has something like oil on the surface.'” Read more.

“OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a lack of oxygen has killed dozens of rainbow trout in western Nebraska’s Lake Ogallala (oh-guh-LAH’-luh) .

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission biologist Darrol Eichner told North Platte television station KNOP (http://bit.ly/n9s7ap) there’s a lack of oxygen in water near the lake bottom.

Eichner believes the spillway that releases water from Lake McConaughey (muh-KAHN-uh-hay) into Lake Ogallala is the problem. The mechanics of the release mechanism doesn’t allow much air to mix with the water as it is discharged from a gate at the bottom of the outlet chamber.” Read more.

“GRAPEVINE (CBSDFW.COM) – Just days before Labor Day weekend Lake Grapevine has had a massive fish kill.

Thousands of dead fish dot the lake’s shoreline, and floating atop the water.

‘It was biblical, it was really weird,’ said Michael Ott, who keeps his boat at Silver Lake Marina on the southeast side of the lake. ‘Just walk up and found all these fish floating around, it was really strange.’

Ott noticed fish of all species and sizes grouped around boat slips and washed up along the shoreline, when he came to get his boat ready for the holiday weekend.

‘I saw catfish, alligator gar, bass,’ he explained, ‘fish that usually compete with each other for food, they were all congregating in the same area trying to get air.’

The Texas Parks and Wildlife surveyed the lake Tuesday afternoon to determine how many fish were killed. Biologists believe low levels of oxygen in the water caused the fish to die.” Read more.

By LAURIE WHITWELL – “State Fish and Game wardens are trying to figure out why so many brown pelicans are appearing along California’s Central Coast with huge puncture wounds in their chests.

Fifteen birds have washed up dead in recent days, displaying wounds that could have been caused by a knife or other sharp object, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports.

Three were brought into the Pacific Wildlife Care centre in Morro Bay last Thursday and two had to be euthanised because the injuries were so bad. The third is being treated.

The pelicans could be injuring themselves on rocks as they dive for baitfish in Port San Luis and Avila Beach, but officials say more sinister causes could be to blame.

‘We can’t rule out foul play,’ Warden Sean Kenady told the San Luis Obispo.

The wounds are more serious than typical injuries from fish hook and line entanglements, according to centre director Jeanette Stone.

‘These are wounds that are huge, gaping and ripped open at the chest,’ she said.” Read more.

“A SIGNIFICANT fish-kill was discovered in the River Bandon in Cork after a member of the public alerted staff of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

More than 350 salmon and trout were found dead over a one-mile stretch of the river. The fish kill included salmon of up to 2.7kg (6lb). Many of the fish were decomposing.

An extensive search revealed no source of pollution and it was concluded that the event that caused the kill had passed by the time investigations began.

Head of fishery operations Dr Greg Forde, said: ‘During the summer, rivers are particularly vulnerable and factories and farmers must be particularly careful. There have already been three fish kills in the Cork and Kerry area.’

Inland Fisheries is calling on the public to be alert to the threat to waters by pollution and to report any instances immediately to local IFI offices or the 24-hour hotline 1890-347424.” Read more.

By Jeffrey Allen – “So, maybe there were some local victims of Tuesday’s earthquake after all.

That’s a possibility Loganville resident Carl Wiessel can’t help but wonder about. Wiessel woke up Wednesday morning to find 60 or 70 dead fish floating in his pond. The small lake, located off Broadnax Mill Road and Lake Edmund Drive, is home to several different species of fish, including large catfish, smaller brim and crappie and largemouth bass. It was the bass that suffered the most, as nearly all the deceased fish were bass.

‘I’ve been taking care of this lake for 18 years,’ Wiessel said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this.’

Wiessel said he called the Environmental Protection Agency and they wouldn’t address an issue that was contained on private property, unless there was a problem upstream or downstream.

So he called the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife division. He was told the likely cause was a phenomenon known as ‘stratification.’ Typically, the warm water in a pond is near the surface, while the colder air is near the bottom. Stratification occurs when these temperatures suddenly invert for a brief time. This causes an abrupt drop in oxygen near the bottom, causing the fish there to effectively suffocate. Hardier species such as catfish will be less affected as the large bass that prefer the cooler waters near the pond bottom. Authorities say it is a more common occurrence than one might think.

Still, given the timing of the demise of his fish population being so soon after the earthquake, Wiessel isn’t so sure it’s a coincidence.” Read more.

I almost want to classify this in the Good News category …

By Matt McGrath – “Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are disappearing in some parts of Africa, but scientists are unsure as to why.

Figures indicate controls such as anti-mosquito bed nets are having a significant impact on the incidence of malaria in some sub-Saharan countries.

But in Malaria Journal, researchers say mosquitoes are also disappearing from areas with few controls.

They are uncertain if mosquitoes are being eradicated or whether they will return with renewed vigour.

Data from countries such as Tanzania, Eritrea, Rwanda, Kenya and Zambia all indicate that the incidence of malaria is dropping fast.

Researchers believe this is due to effective implementation of control programmes, especially the deployment of bed nets treated with insecticide.

But a team of Danish and Tanzanian scientists say this is not the whole story. For more than 10 years they have been collecting and counting the number of mosquitoes caught in thousands of traps in Tanzania.

In 2004 they caught over 5,000 insects. In 2009 that had dropped to just 14.

More importantly, these collections took place in villages that weren’t using bed nets.” Read more.