10

Photo: Peconic Estuary Program

The
Truth
About
Fish
Kills

One water related story above all else that seemed to

The question about why so many fish have died in the

get the publics attention for the past two spring

mouth of the Peconic River has been debated in the

seasons was the threat of large-scale dieoffs of

press and the culprit has been mostly identified as a

Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) or

bunker

lack of oxygen in shallow warm waters, exacerbated

in the mouth of the Peconic River. Online and written

by elevated nutrient levels. However, the question of

stories from 2015 showed masses of dead and decaying

why there are so many bunker in the first place has

fish littering the shoreline creating a horrific scene. On

never really been explained well. This is the positive

its surface (no pun intended), this story is a cautionary

story, the good story, the story that should be talked

tale of coastal eutrophication, but there is an

about more. This story tells us that proactive fisheries

interesting and possibly more important side to the

management decisions can lead to increases in fish

story that did not receive much, if any, attention at all.

populations, therefore having significant effects on the

ecosystem.

Local bunker are members of the herring family, a

group of species that spend part of their life offshore

Bunker, like other commercially and recreationally

in ocean waters and come into shallow estuaries to

harvested fish, is managed cooperatively by the

spawn. Long valued as a source of fertilizer and oils,

Atlantic seaboard coastal states through what is called

bunker have been harvested by the ton offshore by

the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. This

large factory vessels plying the Atlantic. Old East End

body meets regularly to assess current fish stocks and

maps and charts with places names such as

Bunker

assign catch quotas to ensure survival and sustainable

City show areas where onshore processing plants

management of each species. CCE s own Emerson

dotted the shoreline in the 1800s to render down the

Hasbrouck, who heads up our Fisheries Program, is

fish to a usable commodity.

Governor Cuomo s designee on this

11

Atlantic Menhaden
Brevoortia tyrannus

Drawings provided courtesy of the Maine

Department of Marine Resources
Recreational Fisheries program and the Maine
Outdoor Heritage Fund

suffocation, and death. This is

not something new, fish kills can
Photo: NYSDEC

be a natural phenomenon and

This isnt just

a cautionary
tale, it is also
a success
story in some

Council. He represents the

have been happening for

interests of all New York State s

millennia. In this day and age of

residents including commercial

24 hours/day news cycles, and

and recreational fisherman as

everyone having a camera it is a

well as consumers. The fishing

big story. The fact that there are

quota for bunker has been

so many fish in our estuary is the

reduced for the past number of

point that is often overlooked

years so that more fish would be

[Editor s Note: The fish killed as

available to spawn and bolster

a result of the anoxic event

stocks. This change has resulted

represented only a fraction of the

in a huge increase of bunker

overall population in the Peconic

entering our waters with mixed

Estuary last year].

results. In fact, the population

Bunker are an essential food

of bunker has risen to such a

source for important recreational

high level that catches can again

and commercial species such as

be modestly increased.

striped bass, bluefish, and

weakfish. Even dolphins, which

ways.

The most obvious effect of the

we have been seeing more

increased bunker population has

regularly in the Peconic Estuary,

been the fish kills in the Peconic

get in on the act. So, this isn t

River; too many fish in a

just a cautionary tale, it is also a

confined space equals anoxia,

success story in some ways.