Algal Bloom Blamed For Mass Fish Kills In Bay Area Waters

A bizarre fish kill epidemic has stricken the waters around the San Francisco area. It’s believed an algal bloom is to blame for the deaths. Here’s more from KQED in the Bay Area:

It’s a mass-death event the San Francisco Bay hasn’t seen the like of in years, says Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist at environmental group SF Baykeeper.

“From a fish’s point of view, this is a wildfire in the water,” he said.

By SF Baykeeper’s count, the amount of fish dying off in the San Francisco Bay could easily exceed hundreds of thousands, and that Rosenfield said might even be a “low” estimate.

His field investigator confirmed “easily tens of thousands of fish dead” in Lake Merritt alone. But Rosenfield cautioned, “what you see is just the hint of what’s actually happening further beneath the water surface and in places, you’re not getting to on the shoreline. So it’s really an uncountable number.”