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The FWC Fish Kill Hotline—Monitoring Florida's Fish Kills

Summer is heating up and as water temperatures increase, so does the potential for hot-weather fish kills. The Florida climate and landscape offer many other potential hazards for aquatic animals. While fish kills occur year-round in our state, summertime conditions increase the likelihood of certain kinds of kills such as those related to high temperatures, low water levels, cloudy days, and sudden heavy rainfall and the associated nutrient-loaded runoff from lawns and urban areas.

A fish kill is an incident in which dead or dying fish are observed in a water body. Fish kills can occur in fresh or salt water. Some kills involve a small number of fish, while others may involve hundreds, or even thousands of fish. Fish kills occur for many reasons including disease, low dissolved oxygen, and sudden changes in water quality factors, such as temperature and salinity. Low dissolved oxygen can be especially problematic in the summer and can be influenced by many factors including weather, decomposition of organic matter, and algae blooms.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) monitors fish kills in the state of Florida. Researchers in the FWRI Fish and Wildlife Health group maintain a toll-free, statewide, fish kill hotline and an online fish kill reporting database. The hotline allows the public to report the locations of fish kills and diseased or abnormal fish.

The information provided to the hotline is communicated to researchers investigating fish kills and is used by researchers studying long-term environmental health. Reporting observations to the hotline ensures a coordinated response to incidents.

The FWC response to fish kill events varies depending on the specifics of the incident. It may involve relaying the message to another appropriate authority or it may result in an investigation by FWC staff. When investigating a fish kill, researchers try to obtain recently-deceased fish or fish in the process of dying. Researchers take these specimens back to the laboratory where they perform necropsies (non-human autopsies) to try to determine the cause of death. Researchers often use water quality instruments in the field to determine the condition of the water at the time of a fish kill They may also obtain a water sample to examine in the laboratory for microorganisms that could have harmed the fish.

To report fish kills, visit the FWC Web site at http://research.MyFWC.com/fishkill/submit.asp and complete the online form or call the FWC Fish Kill Hotline at 1-800-636-0511 and leave a brief message with your contact information as well as your observations about the fish kill. Researchers follow up with callers and online reporters to gather additional details, if needed, and to provide them with information about the fish kill.

For more information regarding fish kills and the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, please visit the Fish Kills and Fish Kill Hotline section.