ELDON —
Hot weather is being blamed for the widest-stretching fishkill in Iowa history, which killed millions of dollars worth of fish last week.
Mark Flammang, fisheries biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and fisheries agents were on the Des Moines River at Eldon for 11 hours, working their way downstream to Farmington. That section has had hot weather-related fish kills before, but never 58,000 dead fish stretching 42 stream miles.
The scientists collected water samples, conducted fish counts and took water temperature readings.
“We didn’t find [indicators] of some sort of spill, so it comes down to water temperature,” said Flammang. “You just don’t see rivers at 97 degrees, and it was 97 degrees at every site that we sampled. I’ve never seen water at that temperature in Iowa.”
There was another problem, too, theorized Annette Wittrock, a naturalist for the Wapello County Conservation Board based at Pioneer Ridge Nature Center.
“It was really shallow. We just had a canoe float there June 30,” she said. “We touched bottom with the paddles quite a few times. I’m not surprised [because shallow water] would make it worse.”
Flammang agreed that the effects of heat were compounded by reduced “stream flows.” But even on June 30, the level was far better than what it would get to on July 7, when the river was even lower than what Wittrock saw.
The less water you have, the easier it is to heat it up.
The majority of fish killed, 37,159, were shovelnose sturgeon, with a value $116.20 per pound, which the DNR found via American Fisheries Society guidelines. The sturgeon alone had a replacement value of $9,865,241.85.
One problem not materializing, Flammang said, was a river bank piled with dead fish. In this heat, he said, the fish “disappear” quickly. Shirley Stacey, mayor of Eldon, confirmed on Tuesday she was unaware of any such problem along their stretch of the Des Moines.
Biologists working in the area did see live fish, so hopefully, Flammang said, anglers won’t notice too much of a difference.
“The shovelnose sturgeon is something we’re concerned about ... this kind of [event] is not something we like to see ... but the river has shown time and time again that it can recover.”
Fish numbers broken down
Around July 7 in the Des Moines River, officials found 37,000 dead shovelnose sturgeon, roughly 12,000 channel catfish, 1,900 walleye, 1,100 flathead catfish, 1,500 freshwater drum, 750 carpsuckers, 370 white bass, 45 shorthead redhorse and 25 goldeye.
If the public sees dead or stressed fish, they are encouraged to contact the DNR at 515-281-8694.
Wapello County
July 11, 2012
Heat kills 50,000-plus fish in SE Iowa
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