More fish turn up dead in Neuse

Nearly 2 million dead fish in the Neuse River and discolored, stinky water in Fairfield Harbour appear to be a result of a “natural upwelling,” state and private waterway observers said Friday.

Estimates of a fish kill in the Neuse River from Green Springs to Carolina Pines — a 10-mile stretch east of New Bern — first involved 8,000 menhaden. But that number has grown to an estimated 1.9 million fish.

It is the second major fish kill in the Neuse in as many weeks. On Aug. 21, an estimated 3.4 million fish died. Officials pointed to upwelling, runoff from flooding rains on Aug. 12 and lack of oxygen caused by an algae bloom as possible causes.

Neuse Riverkeeper Larry Baldwin and the N.C. Division of Water Quality Rapid Response Team observed the Neuse River kill and water discoloration in Fairfield Harbour on Friday.

Samples were taken and are being sent to state labs for testing, said Tony Butz, a member of the response team. Because of the holiday weekend, samples are not expected to be processed before next week.

The first assessment from both water quality groups was that the discoloration and kill were caused by an upwelling event due to strong northerly winds.

“For the past several days, wind velocities averaging a consistent 10 to 25 mph have blown across the river from north to south,” Butz said.

“The wind pushes the surface water toward the other shore, pulling up deeper water in its place. The deeper parts of the river do not carry as much oxygen due to the stratification caused by salty water. Fish swimming in the area during an upwelling event are caught in this zone — which contains low levels of oxygen — and die.”

 Baldwin said his group agrees, but “to qualify the statement on natural phenomenon, we still believe we are making matters worse by what we have put into the rivers over the years. This needs to be looked at as a water quality issue as well.”

Butz and Baldwin said their agencies received numerous calls from property owners along the waterway about the kill.

The water quality division reports two lines of dead fish and two stages of fish decay, indicating one group of fish may have died two to three days ago, while the other may have died within 24 hours.

Butz said dead fish — mostly juvenile Atlantic menhaden about two to six inches long and without sores or lesions — are likely to continue to float up from the north side of the river toward shore if north winds continue to take low oxygen to the surface.

Baldwin said the Fairfield Harbour situation is still much as it was Thursday, with a prominent hydrogen sulfide smell and water the color of “pea soup.”

He said that it probably does not present a health problem.

“The real danger is that if you are at a low enough level and we have had some calls that there are fish in trouble over there, too,” he said. “All attempts should be made to avoid long-term exposure to the gasses.

“It is an eerie looking event to drive your boat through. September 2002 was the last time something similar happened in Fairfield Harbour.”