WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - If you've spent time along or on the Hudson River in the last week, you may have witnessed a shocking — and smelly — phenomenon: Thousands of dead fish stretching along the water.
The fish are Atlantic menhaden, or "bunkers," a coastal fish that uses the Hudson estuary as a nursery. Riverkeeper reports that the fish have been seen on and along the Hudson River from New York Harbor to Haverstraw Bay.
According to the environmental organization that keeps watch on the Hudson, the fish are succumbing to reduced levels of dissolved oxygen.
Basically, the fish are suffocating.
"We have to realize that all aquatic creatures require oxygen to breathe. The amount of oxygen that is present in a water body is an indicator of a body of water's health," said George Jackman, senior habitat restoration manager at Riverkeeper.
Hot, sunny days can cause the river to heat up, Jackman said. The warmer water holds less oxygen. Low or no oxygen — called hypoxia and anoxia, respectively — also are fed by large algal blooms that occur from excess fertilizer and sewage runoff.
The large-scale die-off, Jackman said, is a sign that the river is out of balance.
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Sewage is throwing off oxygen levels. Natural cleansers, like the oyster beds that once filled the area around New York Harbor, are all but wiped out.
When millions of menhaden swim into the estuary and consume the limited oxygen, "they will suffocate themselves," Jackman said.
"This potentially hints at an alarming new normal," Jackman said. "The river is very fragile. ... The bunker are showing us that there's a problem."
Bob Walters of Yonkers, who retired last year as director of the Yonkers Science Barge, has seen the phenomenon before. "This is an extraordinarily large die-off," Walters said. "It doesn't happen every year, but it happens."
Walters has been on, near and around the Hudson his whole life.
"I live 139 steps above the river," said the 72-year-old. "I'm blessed."
Because the menhaden is a "schooling fish" that swim in large numbers, the die-off looks dramatic, Walters said.
But, Walters said, it's not so easy to ascribe the die-off to a sign of a declining Hudson. "The river's a complex system."
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Walters said that the die-off is concentrated on the menhaden. "If I looked out my back door and saw perch, striped bass, sturgeon," he said, he would be more worried. "It's still terrible, but it's not the demise of the river."
Still, he said, it's unpleasant — "the smell of the dying fish is so bad" — and alarming — "it's a sad thing."
A request for comment from the state Department of Environmental Conservation was not returned.
Menhaden are a key part of the ecosystem, Jackman said. "They are the favorite forage of striped bass, even whales — that is why we are seeing so many whales in the (New York) harbor." The foot-long oily fish are also harvested for fish oil capsules.
But, Jackman said, the die-off also fulfills a role in the life cycle. "I was at Piermont the other day," he said, and saw birds "enjoying the bonanza of a menhaden buffet. It really doesn't go to waste."
Follow Nancy Cutler on Twitter at @nancyrockland.
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