Fish Kill Reported in Louisiana: Related to the Gulf Oil Spill?

A Massive Fish Kill Found in Louisiana and Officials Worry it Could Be Related to the BP Oil Spill

It is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Videos

Fish kill, Plaquemines parish

see larger video

sourced by Amy Judd

These pictures of a massive fish kill in Louisiana look at first glance to be a gravel road. However, if you look closer, you can see that it is not gravel you are looking at, but thousands and thousands of dead fish, crabs, stingray, eel and even a whale.

Bob Warren from The Times-Picayune first reported on this fish kill on Monday September 13 after the fish kill on the west side of the Mississippi River was found last Friday. There were actually two fish kills last week alone.

The cause of this fish kill has not been determined and although they are fairly common along the Gulf Coast, a kill of this size involving so many different species is not normal and residents are worried it may be related to the BP oil spill. This area is an area that was impacted by the spill.

A fish kill occurs when an area experiences sudden oxygen depletion and they are common during the summer near the mouth of the Mississippi.

Although no testing is planned to find out what caused this kill, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser and residents have asked the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to investigate what happened.