A search for clues after a dozen large fish found dead

Kyle Johnson, an avid angler, happened upon a fish kill that puzzled and saddened him Saturday. It was about one mile south of Cat Island.

There were a dozen large fish — tarpon weighing up to 80 pounds and jack crevalle — washed into a tide line. No small fish. On Monday, he talked with the Sun Herald wondering what had killed these game fish, some of them larger than he had seen before.

He ruled out bacteria or algae because he said there were only large fish dead — no bait fish or smaller ones like mullet. In fact, he traveled for miles, into Louisiana water, to see if there might be a trail of smaller fish dead but found none. The game fish had been dead a day or two by his estimate.

Boat captains, commenting on photos Johnson posted on Facebook, suggested Omega Protein boats had been fishing for menhaden in the area last week. One fisherman suggested to the Sun Herald that tarpon and jack crevalle, while fun to catch, are boney, hard to clean and not so much fun to eat and might have been offloaded by some recreational fishermen before they returned to shore.

DMR Finfish Bureau Director Matt Hill weighed in Tuesday.

He said the fish kill most likely occurred between the middle and end of last week.

“Because of the amount of time that has passed, we do not know the exact cause of the fish kill,” Hill said. “We spoke with representatives at Omega Protein, and they did not have menhaden boats in that area at the time we believe the fish kill took place. It’s possible that there was a menhaden boat in Louisiana.

“There could have been a small algal bloom in the waters in Louisiana or Mississippi that caused the fish kill. MDMR asks the public to call the agency as soon as anyone sees dead fish in the water. The sooner that we know, the better chance we have of discovering the cause.”

He suggested people call 374-5000 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and 523-4134 after hours or on the weekends.

Don Abrams, who saw Johnson’s post on Facebook, told the Sun Herald the Coast used to be a hot spot for tarpon fishing.

“In the past few years, tarpon sightings have become more and more numerous and research at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory suggests that they may be reproducing here,” Abrams said. “It’s very disappointing that these adult fish were killed, and unusual that so many would be affected at the same time in such a small area.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 5:33 AM with the headline "A search for clues after a dozen large fish found dead."