UNDIAGNOSED DIE-OFF, FISH - NEW ZEALAND: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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Date: 5 Jan 2011
Source:Stuff.co.nz [edited]
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4512779/Hundreds-of-snapper-wash-up-on-beaches?>
Hundreds of dead snapper have washed up on Coromandel beaches, leaving holidaymakers perplexed. People at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, on the north east of the peninsula, were stunned when children came out of the sea with armfuls of the fish and within minutes the shore was littered with them.
A resident, whose family have lived at Little Bay for the last 30 years, said she had never seen anything like it. "It was so surreal," she said.
"It's such an incredible waste -- it could've fed the whole northern tip of the Coromandel."
People with binoculars said the snapper stretched as far as they could see and boaties reported "a carpet of floating fish further out to sea all along the coast".
"We initially thought 'woohoo a free feed' but they had really cloudy eyes and you could see the birds had been at them. Some of them had no eyes,"
the Little Bay resident said.
Her parents called the Department of Conservation and were told it was most likely the fish had starved due to weather conditions, but Pearsall did not think that was the case as many of the fish looked big and healthy. The Fisheries Ministry are currently investigating the situation and said they could not yet say what the cause was.
"Any commercial operators must record and report their catch," said ministry field operations officer for Waikato, Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel Brendon Mikkelsen. "They're equally as concerned as we are ...
it's not in anybody's interests for fish to be abandoned at sea."
Mikkelsen said it had happened before but given the quantity of fish it was very concerning. People saw floating snapper in the water as early as 5:00 am yesterday [4 Jan 2011] but the ministry only received reports 12 hours later. Mikkelsen urged people to get in touch as soon as they saw anything amiss.
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Surely some of these fish have been sent to a laboratory for proper
necropsy and testing. I might suggest red tide, but there have no reports
of red tide this time of year near New Zealand. Hopefully we will have an
authoritative report soon.
A map of the area may be found at
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4512779/Hundreds-of-snapper-wash-up-on-beaches?>
- Mod.TG]
[see also:
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (03): (AR), RFI 20110107.0085
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (02): (MD) 20110106.0058
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA: (AR), freshwater drum 20110104.0035
2010
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Undiagnosed die-off, fish - Kenya (02): water poisoning susp. RFI
20100915.3349
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (16): (NE, NY) 20100828.3068
Undiagnosed die off, fish - USA (15): (MS) 20100807.2694
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (14): (CA) 20100805.2640
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (13): (MN) catfish 20100804.2630
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (12): (MN) catfish 20100731.2573
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (11): (NC) 20100728.2532
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (10): (PA, ID) corr. 20100718.2410
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (09): (PA, ID) corr. 20100718.2409
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (08): (WA) natural causes 20100718.2408
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (07): (HI) puffer fish 20100716.2384
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (06): (PA, ID) 20100716.2373
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA: (NY), viral hem. septicemia susp.
20100519.1649
Undiagnosed die-off, fish - Kenya: (Lake Naivasha) 20100221.0592
2009
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Undiagnosed die-off, fish - China: (FJ) RFI 20090715.2520]
....................sb/tg/ejp/sh/ll
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