GLIDE Number: BH-20070725-12518-USA
Date / time: 25/07/2007 03:41:56
Event: Biological Hazard
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of California
City: Unknow
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor
Description:
Millions of tilapia died over the weekend in the annual summertime Salton Sea fish kill in what was described as one of the largest die-offs ever at the giant desert lake. A second mass die-off was narrowly averted Tuesday when high winds provided enough oxygen to revive thousands of air-starved fish, said Salton Sea Authority Project Manager Dan Cain. The weekend die-off was one of the largest he's seen, Cain said. It was too early to estimate how many tilapia died, but the number appears to have surpassed the 3 million that died in August 2006, Cain said. On Tuesday, another round of fish were crowded at the shore, gasping for air, he said. "The top of the water looked like alka seltzer because they were all gasping for air. They were all shoulder to shoulder, there were thousands of fish," he said. "Then, the wind came up." Fish die-offs occur at the lake every summer because of natural biological and chemical reactions that sap oxygen from the water during July heat waves when temperatures soar near 120 degrees. There are an estimated 200 million tilapia in the Salton Sea. The salty desert lake was created in 1905 when floodwaters broke through a Colorado River irrigation canal. It is fed mostly by agricultural runoff. The Salton Sea authority, which has about $45,000 in its budget to remove the fish, was trying to clean up the fish before they sink. Ideally, winds would blow the fish together toward the shore.
More:
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?lang=eng&cid=12518