Why hundreds of dead fish keep washing up on Galveston beaches - Chron

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Hundreds of dead fish washed up on the west end of Galveston on Sunday morning. 

Shelly Migas Maddox

Something fishy is going on in the Texas Gulf Coast. While walking along the Galveston Island shoreline on Sunday, some beachgoers noticed an abundance of dead fish drawn to the surf by the waves. Sugar Land resident Shelly Migas Maddox, who described the smell left behind as "horrible," said the hundreds of dead fish were strewn about all along the west end of the island for several miles. "As the day went on and the sun heated up, the stench was awful," she said. Penny Perebroom of New Braunfels also encountered the dead fish across from the Terramar subdivision on Galveston's west end around 7 a.m. on Sunday.

"It's absolutely devastating," Perebroom said.

Hundreds of dead fish washed up on the shores of Galveston beaches again on Sunday. 

Penny Perebroom

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While the size of the most recent fish kill in Galveston can be concerning, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) said it was largely attributed to a localized low dissolved oxygen event, which tend to happen more frequently in the late spring and early summer. "Low dissolved oxygen events are often the result of a complex set of environmental factors that exist in the right combination that ultimately induce mortality in certain fish species," said TPWD spokesperson Stephanie Garcia. "Some years are hotter and drier than others, and in the case of this summer we've had a suite of environmental conditions causing added stress to aquatic resources along the Texas coast."

Hundreds of thousands of dead fish washed up on beaches near Freeport, Texas in June. 

Karri McKim

Low dissolved oxygen events mostly impact shallow bodies of water with poor or low water circulation, including private detention ponds that don't have adequate aeration and dead-end canal subdivisions that run perpendicular to to the contour of the coastline, Garcia explained. This year, the majority of fish kill reports TPWD has received have been from residents with private detention ponds, with three to four fish kills having been reported along the upper Texas coast. In this region, most of fish kills—including Sunday's event—have primarily impacted Gulf menhaden or shad. 

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Hundreds of thousands of dead fish were found floating in the Dickinson Bayou in July. While the cause has not been determined, officials said it was likely as a result of dissolved oxygen levels. 

Paula Dearman Graves

"In the case of the 3-4 larger fish kills, these were still largely isolated events that were likely in spots where there was a 'perfect storm' of the environmental factors that can drive a low DO," Garcia said. "We do observe fish kills of the size we've seen this summer every few years, particularly during periods of prolonged drought coupled with the high heat like we are experiencing this summer." 

Fish kills this summer have all been isolated events, rather than wide-spanning coastal impacts such as those witnessed during Winter Storm Uri in 2021, Garcia said. Typically fish kill events like the ones observed this summer tend to resolve themselves in a matter of days. "In most instances, fish populations do tend to recover relatively quickly, and the dead and decaying fish serve as forage for birds and as a nutrient source to systems," she said.

Hundreds of dead fish washed up on the west end of Galveston on Sunday morning. 

Jeannie Malcolm Plass Collier

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Field biologists and staff at TPWD have been monitoring fisheries through sampling and efforts and angler surveys, data of which helps the Coastal Fisheries Division identify species trends. Garcia encourages the public to reach out to TPWD's 24-hour reporting hotline at 512-389-4848 to report any fish kills, adding, "timely reporting is critical to a successful investigation."

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Why hundreds of dead fish keep washing up on Galveston beaches - Chron
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