Fish kill 1770!!!! Help!

[rando]

Good luck I hope you find the source of the kill. Ihope its an accidental occurrance and not some act of stupidity!!
rando

[lippa]

any rain up there lately tony? big tides? is it starting around tom's creek? those salt flats up there could make the water pretty yukky. drive into tom's creek from wistari crt (the road willo lives on) and check the flats down there. just a tought.

cheers

lippa

[Ozwald]

It might be a little late by now but a few water samples from the affected areas might be useful too? Not a WQ expert but keeping any samples cool and in an air tight container might be the go.
regards
Oz

[DICER]

I don't see any big fish in the pics posted. So my guess at the momment is not a poisoning but more likely viral or bacterial infection. It is interesting there are pillies in amongst them. Are the fish just turning up in this esturary? If not I'd contact AAHL, as posted above.

[woodchopper]

It may be a bit late but i reccommend taking a water samples/s as well. Put the samples in a sterile plastic container 500ml-1 litre and place it underwater to put the cap back on to eliminate any air which can affect the end results. take it home and put it in the fridge and try to keep light off it as light can also deteriorate the sample.

better to collect the samples now then wait untill EPA gets back to work on monday.

good luck
Ben

[Lucky_Phill]

Tony will post more here I am sure.

Tony, Sandi and I put the boat in last night and went up stream for a couple of K's and found dead fish all the way. Found them in Tom ( Tom's ) creek, but not far up. They were also further upstream than Tom Creek. The fish were downstream a way.

Noted, no fish other than Herring and Yakka ( Yellowtail ). We did not see any obvious pollutants on the water. There hasn't been enough rain here to have any effect, and Tony has been here 12 years and never seen anything like this, even after very heavy rains.

We did see many Gar, Mullet and prawn active, as well as Bream. These species seem to be not affected. We are still unsure of the Cause. There have been a few theories tossed around:-

Trawler By-Catch
Virus
Rain
Pollution

We have been trying to contact authorities for a while now with no luck.

I have made contact with Sunfish and they are keen to get a hold of this and do what they can. I have also contacted the media and are awaiting their response.

Further information has come to hand that the baitfish population in Eurimbula and Middle creeks have not been as prolific as has been in very recent times, but certainly no dead or dying fish there. Personally, I think this is not related in any way.

I have also been up to the saltpans out the back ( Wistari, Innaminca etc ) and found no problems there.

I travelled up to Eurimbula Creek and the beach area there and found no dead fish.

This, In My Opinion only, seems to be a localised kill. The fish are seen in a 3 kilometre area of shoreline. Given wind and tidal conditions and including drift speed observations, the fish died IN the creek system. No evidence that they came from offshore.

Water samples were not taken due the length of time since the kill, big tides, no physical evidence and total inexperience in these matters.

Updates to continue.

Cheers Phill

[gif]

I was asked for some help so I stuck my nose in.

Well doen to those making an effort so far.


Would you all please write down what you saw and when, who you called and what happened / what they said? A sort of diary.

I just wrang fishwatch hotline - Neither Brisbane nor 1770 are answering.

I would appreciate it if the locals doing the work please give me a call or send me you rumbers?

Gary
0412 111 573

[HBK]

seen similar things around moreton bay . I used to work for a local council and would occasionally receive calls about fish kills. It was always associated with trawler by-catch - 1 species thoug hcould be something else...

[lippa]

glad to see the salt pans checked out allright. one off the list any way. best a luck with it blokes. throw a tinny willo's way when ya see him for me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cheers

lippa

[major-defect]

That's how the beach here at Mission used to look when the trawlers used to work in close.There not allowed now.

[DICER]

Hi Tony,

If it were trawler by-catch I'm sure you'd see some other species in there:

My best guess still, is it is a virus or bacterial infection, followed by other biotic factors (eg. rain or anoxia). Though even in the other two later possibilites you would also have larger fish mixed within the kill as opposed to what you have seen.

AAHL in Geelong have the ability to test very rapidly for the presence of particular types of viruses, such as the virus observed in the WA ans SA pilchard kill. I believe you may recieve a result within 24 h or less after they have analysed the samples. If you are asked to provide material they may be able to determine the type of virus from a small frozen sample you have collected.

Since pilchards, herring and a few other bait species are the majority of the kill I would certainly give AAHL a call. They should be able to help you and provide a contact person there.

Cheers, Adam

[Az]

doesn't look good at all

well done Tony, Phil and Sandi for doing something about it, i'll be keeping a close eye on this thread.

Cheers
Az

[agnes_jack]

G'day Guys
The latest is... Friday night was I was unable to get any response from Authorities regarding this issue, and despite leaving my phone number at various authorities, did not get any replies over the weekend. The Epa have been contacted again this morning so we are waiting for a reply from them, and again I have left a message witha contact number the DPI gave me, I also sent an E-mail to the Great Barrier Marine Park Authority this morning. It will be interesting to see how quick, if at all, the authorities act on this issue.

News flash..
It has been stated that, on GOOD authority, that these fish were the result of a LOCAL netter, having a shot at what he thought were a school of mullet, and that he did not realise what he had, and that he then dumped these fish at the 1770 marina!!!

I will not say at this stage where that came from, but it sounds incredible to me! On saturday night we found heaps of dead fish still floating around in the estuary, and when a spotlight was shone on the bottom over the sand flats, there was tonnes of dead, decaying fish rolling back down the creek on the bottom!! How many tonne can a local netter hold on his boat, considering this was supposed to be one shot that turned out to be mistaken identity????
And this boat would also have to be small enough to negotiate it's way to the marina???? Something smells fishy with that story,

Updates as they occur!!

Regards, Tony

[gif]

I made a few phone calls.


DPI&F are investigating why phone calls to the fishwatch hotline were not returned. It seems as if the problem is with the paging service. My message left at 3:43 yesterday was only passed on at 9am today. Not good enough and DPI management are on to it.


It seems that EPA did send down an officer (Helen) on Friday afternoon and collected samples from someone at the Marina. They are being sent off for testing.

It also seems that she did not follow procedure – to call back the caller to tell them that action has been taken.

Anyway - the tree has been shaken and lets not stop calling when such a thing happens.


Along the way I heard from the Local member Rob Messenger that he had shamed the Minister into closing down an open sewerage pit some 300m from the creek, and this was in recent months.

Again – full praise to the guys at 1770 who were on the ball and did all they could. Tony Phill and others – well done


Gary

[agnes_jack]

I was just contacted by the EPA who said that they have sent samples away to a Queensland health laboratory for testing, they should take a few weeks to get results back. And the DPI have samples as well, and they are likely to have results within a week.
Gunna be interesting, whichever way this goes.

Regards, Tony