If you’re planning on taking the family down to the Gulf Coast for a little vacation this summer, you might want to prepare to have a conversation with your kiddos about life.
Thousands of dead fish have been washing up onto the shores of the Gulf Coast, which experts say is prone to happen this time of year
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Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Lerrin Johnson told CNN in a statement, “Fish kills like this are common in the summer when temperatures increase. If there isn’t enough oxygen in the water, fish can’t ‘breathe.’”
Apparently, there is less oxygen in warmer water, and with natural events and pollution the summertime makes it more difficult than normal for the fish to breathe.
Patty Brinkmeyer, park supervisor at Quintana Beach County Park, has worked at the park for 17 years and told CNN this is only the third time she’s seen something like this before.
She said there could have likely been “hundreds of thousands” of fish washed up on a six-mile stretch of beach since she first observed the event Friday morning. “You could literally see a straight-across mass of fish floating on the water,” she said. “It looked like a big blanket. This is by far the most.”
According to wildlife officials, the Gulf menhaden, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says has the largest fishery yield in the Gulf of Mexico, has been the most-impacted species by this fish kill.
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