"It's something I've never seen in my career, and I've been here for more than 17 years, I think what we're mainly dealing with here are the extremely low flows and this unparalleled heat." Mark Flammang, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Nebraska's Platte River from Kearney in the mid part of the state to Columbus in the east dried up and killed a "significant number" of sturgeon, catfish and minnows. The warm, shallow water has also killed an unknown number of endangered pallid sturgeon exclaimed fisheries program manager Daryl Bauer. Bauer said
Around 40,000 shovelnose sturgeon died in Iowa last week as water temperatures were elevated to 97 degrees due to the excessive heat this year. Nebraska fishery officials said that thousands of sturgeon, catfish, carp, and other species in the Lower Platte River, including the endangered pallid sturgeon have been killed. And Illinois biologists said the hot weather was responsible for killing tens of thousands of large- and small mouth bass and channel catfish while threatening the population of the greater red horse fish, a state-endangered species.
So many fish died in one Illinois lake that the carcasses clogged an intake screen near a power plant, causing water levels to be at levels so low to the point that the station had to shut down one of its generators
The cause of this tragic fish tale is thought to be because of this being one of the driest and warmest summers in history. The federal U.S. Drought Monitor reveals nearly 2/3 of the lower forty-eight states are suffering from the drought, and the Department of Agriculture has declared more than 1/2 of the nation's counties nearly 1,600 in 32 states as natural disaster areas. More than three thousand heat records were broken over the last month.
Some have suffered a huge financial loss with one state being Iowa as the DNR officials reports of the dead sturgeon in the Des Moines River estimated worth of $10 million, because of their delicatessen of their precious eggs sold for caviar at $110 dollars per pound.
Kansas fisheries chief Doug Nygren of the Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism reports seeing water levels that drove younger, smaller game fish away from the thick vegetation shore lines and forced them to form groups of clusters, making them easier prey.
South Dakota officials report that there have been isolated fish kills in its manmade lakes on the Missouri River and various places in the eastern part of the state. But they don't know how much of an effect the heat had on the death of the fish.
Many of the carp at Lewis and Clark Lake in the state's southeast corner had lesions, a sign they were suffering from a bacterial infection. The fish are more prone to illness with lower water levels and excessive heat.
"When we're in a drought, there's a struggle for water and it's going in all different directions," Adams said. "Keeping it in the reservoir for recreational fisheries is not at the top of the priority list."
Geno Adams, a fisheries program administrator in South Dakota,
Read More articles by Kim Gerred here.
Nebraska's Platte River from Kearney in the mid part of the state to Columbus in the east dried up and killed a "significant number" of sturgeon, catfish and minnows. The warm, shallow water has also killed an unknown number of endangered pallid sturgeon exclaimed fisheries program manager Daryl Bauer. Bauer said
Around 40,000 shovelnose sturgeon died in Iowa last week as water temperatures were elevated to 97 degrees due to the excessive heat this year. Nebraska fishery officials said that thousands of sturgeon, catfish, carp, and other species in the Lower Platte River, including the endangered pallid sturgeon have been killed. And Illinois biologists said the hot weather was responsible for killing tens of thousands of large- and small mouth bass and channel catfish while threatening the population of the greater red horse fish, a state-endangered species.
So many fish died in one Illinois lake that the carcasses clogged an intake screen near a power plant, causing water levels to be at levels so low to the point that the station had to shut down one of its generators
The cause of this tragic fish tale is thought to be because of this being one of the driest and warmest summers in history. The federal U.S. Drought Monitor reveals nearly 2/3 of the lower forty-eight states are suffering from the drought, and the Department of Agriculture has declared more than 1/2 of the nation's counties nearly 1,600 in 32 states as natural disaster areas. More than three thousand heat records were broken over the last month.
Some have suffered a huge financial loss with one state being Iowa as the DNR officials reports of the dead sturgeon in the Des Moines River estimated worth of $10 million, because of their delicatessen of their precious eggs sold for caviar at $110 dollars per pound.
Kansas fisheries chief Doug Nygren of the Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism reports seeing water levels that drove younger, smaller game fish away from the thick vegetation shore lines and forced them to form groups of clusters, making them easier prey.
South Dakota officials report that there have been isolated fish kills in its manmade lakes on the Missouri River and various places in the eastern part of the state. But they don't know how much of an effect the heat had on the death of the fish.
Many of the carp at Lewis and Clark Lake in the state's southeast corner had lesions, a sign they were suffering from a bacterial infection. The fish are more prone to illness with lower water levels and excessive heat.
"When we're in a drought, there's a struggle for water and it's going in all different directions," Adams said. "Keeping it in the reservoir for recreational fisheries is not at the top of the priority list."
Geno Adams, a fisheries program administrator in South Dakota,
Read More articles by Kim Gerred here.
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