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"Get Hooked on Massachusetts"

  
Fish Kill on the Charles Comments

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User: anything_for_points
Comment: Nice fish man!
Date: 09/09/15 07:38 PM
User: thorn168
Comment: I think the toxic algae blooms are related to the road salts that where used this past winter. Keep in mind that the snow farms did not all melt until about the end of July.

The parking lot across from the hotel on Soldiers field road was a dumping place for snow. I drive by it all the time and it took them about a month using a ice melting machine to melt the snow. All of that waste water was discharged into the Charles.
Date: 08/24/15 02:19 PM
User: albert.pinto
Comment: Oh interesting to know that algae are a part of their diet. I thought they were bottom feeders but I suppose in conditions of very low oxygen they might swim closer to the surface for feeding.

Yes, its certainly possible that toxins produced by algae affected them. This particular algal blooom contained about 90% Anabaena and less than 2% Microcystis aeruginosa. Both produce dangerous toxins and that was partly why the MA dept. of health cautioned river users. It would be useful if the MA Fisheries biologists did an autopsy of the dead carp and investigated any bioaccumulation of specific algal toxins in the liver. That would be the smoking gun in my opinion. But MA Fisheries has so far been unwilling to do an autopsy and thinks that the fish kill were due to bacterial infections.

You can have a look at the links between the fish kill and algal bloom here:
http://bit.ly/1h7jejG
Date: 08/23/15 08:28 PM
User: fishma519
Comment: Such a shame. Since it is mostly carp could that mean a toxic algae problem? I know aquatic vegetation and algae are a large part of their diet, compared to most other fish.
Date: 08/22/15 03:17 PM
User: albert.pinto
Comment: I've added your Fish Kill photo and reports to the Charles River Watershed Association's 2015 Fish Kill Monitoring website
http://goo.gl/photos/Vz5OZ4f7G7

Apparently in August, there have been between 60-100 dead fish, reported pimarily as carp and large-mouth bass, observed between the Galen Street bridge in Watertown and the Longfellow Bridge in Cambridge/Boston.

http://blog.crwa.org/blog/fish-kill-lower-charles

The fish kill seems especially concentrated in the stretch between the Watertown dam and Lars Andersen bridge in Cambridge.

Unlike the cyanobacteria blooms last week which have recurred in the Charles for the last few years, fish kills of this magnitude are an unusual occurrence.
http://blog.crwa.org/blog/algal-bloom-lower-charles

Fish kill could be due to low dissolved oxygen due to the heat waves in late July and early august. The combination of oxygen and heat stress could have stressed the fish making them more susceptible to bacterial/virus infections. Or perhaps the fish kill is related to the algal bloom outbreak in the Charles between roughly July 27th - Aug 15th. Here is some water quality information from the EPA charles river buoy
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BybR_Neydw6eWG5lVmdnNWEyOVU
Date: 08/22/15 03:08 PM


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